April 16, 2025 • 36 mins
Canadian soccer legends Christine Sinclair and Diana Matheson are here to get you pumped for the launch of Canada's new professional women's soccer league, the Northern Super League (NSL), tonight in Vancouver. The duo joined Sarah to discuss their roles in the league -- Diana as co-founder and chief growth officer and Christine as a co-owner of Vancouver Rise FC -- plus Christine explains why she’s living her best life as a retiree and Diana shares her attempts to end Christine’s tenure on the sidelines.
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Watch the first game in Northern Super League history TONIGHT! Vancouver Rise FC hosts Calgary Wild FC at 10pm ET on ESPN+
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The full NSL schedule can be found here
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Send us a note at goodgame@wondermedianetwork.com
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Follow Sarah on social! Bluesky: @sarahspain.com Instagram: @Spain2323
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're looking
at a map of Canada and learning for the very
first time that there's a province called Nunavut.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I googled it and I learned a bunch of facts
about it. I didn't know any of them. You could
say I knew Nunavut.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's Wednesday, April sixteenth, and on today's show, we'll be
skipping the need to know and jumping straight into my
conversation with Canadian soccer legends Christine Sinclair and Diana Mathieson
about the Northern Super.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
League, which kicks off today.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's a new Canadian women's pro soccer league that Diana
co founded and serves as chief growth officer for, while
Christine is a co owner of one of the teams,
Vancouver Rise FC. We caught up with them last week
to talk through when Diana and her colleagues knew that
our neighbors up north needed their own women's league, how
controversy around the national team at the Olympics has affected
Canada's soccer landscape, the NFL players and storylines to watch
(00:49):
for in the.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Inaugural season, and trying and failing to get Christine to
suit up. It's all coming up.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Right after this, it's time for a little group chat
where we take the tea from the text and put
it on the airwaves. And I'm not gonna lie to y'all.
I'm not on a group chat with these two. I
wish I was. Maybe after this I will be. But
(01:17):
we're still going to have a group chat with these
two superstars joining us now. She's the co founder and
chief growth officer of Canada's new women's professional soccer league,
the Northern Super League aka the NSL. A former player
for the Canada national team from three to twenty twenty,
winner of two Olympic bronze medals, including scoring the game
winning goal in the ninety second minute of the twenty
twelve bronze medal match, securing Canada's first ever medal in
(01:39):
women's soccer. She played for multiple pro women's teams, including
the Washington Spirit in the Utah Royals, and was a
star at Princeton. She wears a size five and a
half shoe, makes a great Sonny Bono, and is married
to an Olympic speed skater turned sports broadcaster super Babe.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Talk about a power couple. It's Diana Matheson.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Hi, Diana, Hi.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
At the best intro I've ever seend. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
That is the tiniest foot I've ever heard of. Your
shoes must be so cheap. Just go straight to the
kids section.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Joining her.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
She's a co owner of the Vancouver Rise FC of
the NSL and one of the greatest soccer players of
all time. She recently retired as the highest scoring player
in international history of any gender, with one hundred and
ninety international goals, and one of the most capped international
players ever with three hundred and thirty one appearances. Her
twenty three years playing for Team Canada included six World
Cups and four Olympics. She helped the team to a
(02:29):
gold and two bronze medals. At the club level, she
led the Portland Thorns to three NWSL championships. In twenty seventeen,
she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada,
the second highest award a civilian can receive. She's been
on a postage stamp, she famously blocked the US women's
national team on social media, and she's got a tattoo
of a soccer playing maple leaf.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's Christine Sinclair.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Where do you get all your infirmation, but not great
at a group chat.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Though, I'll consider that before I start stocking you via
text whether you can hold up your end of the chat.
Thank you so much to both of you for joining us.
Before we get to the NSL, which I'm so excited
to talk about, I do have to check in with you.
Sink on retired life. It's been about five months. How
is the other side?
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Okay? Everyone was super concerned about me because I've played
soccer since I was four, But honestly, it's been like
the best five months ever. I've been able to travel,
do things I want to do, not have to work
so hard, see my family. Yeah, it's been nice. I'm
not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I think a lot of folks like have that great
relief of like, oh my gosh, I can just wake
up and decide what to do. But I've also talked
to folks like Sue Byrd, who after retirement said I've
never had to make my own schedule literally since she
was about five or six. She's like, I feel like
a kindergartener. I even get breaks for snacks. So how
have you handled that part of it?
Speaker 5 (03:55):
I mean, my agents have been keeping me pretty busy.
I still out, but I think I mean I retired
when I was forty one. Like, I played literally as
long as I physically could, and so like when I
was done, I was done. And now I enjoy sleeping in,
(04:16):
staying up late, having as much coffee as I want. Right,
d It's it's been nice.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
It's such a good feeling to be like getting to
go out on your own terms and your body sure
held up.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Damn, what's your secret? Can we learn from it?
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I think genetics unfortunately great, so no, yeah, no, no,
there's no help there. Sorry.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I also heard an interview where you said you tried
to stay out of like too many scrums. You weren't
going head to head with goalies. You were trying not
to injure yourself. So I failed at that. In every
sport I ever played, I sought out contact. I might
as well have been playing football. So I really screwed
up American.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Football with all the tackling.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
No, none of that.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Now we're onto the NFL, which is just the most
exciting project. And Diana, I had the pleasure of hosting
the first espnW Summit Canada two years ago and heard
all about this new pro soccer league you were starting
going by the name Project eight, now known as the NSL.
So take us back to when you first thought that
we need a league here in Canada our.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Own Oh, I think we've known forever, I guess, and
within the national team, I think it just became more
and more of a conversation while Sink and I were playing.
When we first made the team, there's probably only like
what half a dozen players maybe playing pro sync. And
then obviously, by the time.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
We retired, the rest of the world had.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Been investing, and it was more and more clear than
less Canada started to invest too, than even though we'd
been winning Olympic medals, we weren't to be able to
keep competing in five ten years when people were investing
in the day to day environments their players are playing in,
and we were still exporting one hundred percent of our
professional players and something.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Needed to be built at some point.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
And then for me, I mean, we used to say, too,
maybe we just need a team or two in the NWSL.
Maybe that's how we get women's professional soccer started here,
and for me that shifted. Carmeline Moscato is another former
player who really started looking into it, and then for me,
when you started digging deeper into just the numbers around
(06:19):
the industry, the numbers in Canada, like we have the
third largest player pool in the world. We produce literally
goats along with other players. We have a culture that
supports girls and women in sport like the US that's
world leading. And if we did a team or two
in the NWSL, it was probably going to be Toronto,
It's probably going to be Vancouver. But those are and
(06:42):
have been, two of the three cities we have in
Canada that have a pathway to the national team, that
have national development centers. So you'd maybe impact a few
players in those two cities, but that was it, and
we weren't really creating pathways for this massive player pool
we have across the country. And it seems more and
more clear that the answer to if Canada wants to
(07:03):
win a World Cup in the future, it's because we
have a professional system from coast to coast and we're
getting players from across Canada that are representing our country
in the future.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I learned so many facts over the last two years
of hosting the Canada Summit, and maybe back there in
June again, so I'm sure I'll learn more, But one
of the most fascinating was that some insane number like
seventy five percent of Canadians live on the US Canada border,
Like that's where the majority of the population is. And
even though we have about the same acreage, we have
three hundred million more people than you do, which is
(07:36):
also insane to me. So how is this pool so
big when you're pulling from such a smaller population.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, we live close to the border because we're just
trying to stay warm down there. And to be clear,
you guys also have way more players, Like I think
when it goes to how many girls and women play
soccer in the world, you guys have like a million
more players than everyone. And then after that it's the
lesson Years and Sweden and so we're there's a drop,
(08:05):
there's a drop there. But when we're comparing to the
rest of the world, where you know, we've got a
few hundred thousand girls and women that are registered to play,
and that's still well beyond a lot of what the
rest of the world is doing. I think, like our
our VP sport here is Portuguese. He moved over from
their football federation, and I think there's like twenty thousand
girls in Portugal that play soccer compared to here. So
(08:28):
it's it's the culture. I think we put same as
the US. You know, we put our girls in sports
at much higher rates, and it's not Soccer's just not
for the men, which still in a lot of the
world it is and they're still kind of figuring out
that women are pretty great at it.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Did there was there a specific moment that felt like
a breakthrough where you were like, Okay, we've been thinking
about this, talking about this, but this is actually going
to happen.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, I don't know when the the like the moment was.
We knew for sure it was going to happen because
it was like we went startup route. We were building
this thing from scratch and independent league, which is a
huge strength in the global landscape. So I don't know
when it went from maybe happening for sure happening, but
for sure. We announced the thing in December of twenty
(09:15):
twenty two that we were going to do it Sink
and I.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
So that was a big moment. It was a little
bit no turning back after that.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
We got like we got this six teams the minimum
we needed to start a league, and they all the
owners signed on the dotted line of May of twenty four,
so that was a big one too. We brought in
our league president, Christina Litz. She was at the NHL,
she was at the CFL up here the other football
That was a big moment. So probably May of last
year was the big, big one and then now we've
(09:45):
just been sprinting towards kickoff coming up around the corner here.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Christine, you're in the ownership group for the Vancouver Rise.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
When did you first get involved? Was it still Project
eight when you said I'm.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
In, I mean D. I think D is not taking
enough credit, like when this woman sets her sights on something. Yeah,
there was a void obviously playing for Canada and realizing
what's going on in your home country and do you
like I remember just being like, well, I'm going to
solve it. It's like okay, So she's not taken enough credit. Obviously.
(10:18):
I have ties to Vancouver. I'm from Vancouver. I grew
up playing for the white Caps. My uncle's play for
the white Caps, so my ties to the club run
very deep. I've never really left the Pacific Northwest, and
when the opportunity presented itself to be part of the
ownership group with Greg Kirkfoot. For me, it was a
(10:39):
no brainer. In my retirement, I've decided I've given myself
a year to kind of figure out what I want
to do. But in the meantime, I want to continue
to help grow this sport in Canada and do everything
I can, especially in Vancouver, to help create a successful team.
(11:00):
Kind of taken. People are like, what role do you have? Like,
you know, even talking to Steph Lobby and she's like,
what do you want to decide how we play? It's like,
absolutely not, that's the coaching staff. So for me right now,
it's just been trying to gain momentum, get fans in
the in the seats week in and week out, and
then you know, create an epic launch on April sixteenth
(11:22):
at PC Place.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I love that you're only giving yourself a year to
figure out what you want to do with your life.
I think I'm still working on it and I've spent
my whole life figuring it out. Also, you weren't kidding
about never leaving the Pacific Northwest. I was listening to
another interview with you, and you went to Portland for college,
but your family already knew the coach there before you
were like born. Yeah, so it was like it was
always meant to be, Like before you even came out,
(11:46):
it was like, well, you're going to play soccer, then
you're going to go to Portland, then you're going to
stay in Portland, then you're.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Going to go back to Canada.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So I guess, I guess that's why you're convinced you
can decide what you want to do in a year.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You've never had to think about it before.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
No.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
I mean I've had a very fortunate career. And I
mean me from an athletic family where uncles played pro. Yeah,
I mean the coach at the University of Portland, Clive Charles,
used to rent out a house to my parents before
I was born because his wife was from Vancouver and
they moved to Portland. So it's just crazy how things
work out. Yeah, I've had it. It's been I've been
(12:17):
very fortunate. The path I've had.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Is it bittersweet at all to retire before you have
the chance to play in the nsl.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
OH, believe me, we tried. I've tried one more, but
Greg Kerfect tried, Semi LaVey tried. Everyone's tried, random people
on the street. I think I've tried, had sink. Why
not just five minutes in each market, one game.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Oh, it's gonna sell some tickets. Announce it right now, right, No, this.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Is not an announcement.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
No, I just Sarah.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Spain has tried. Everyone's tried, everyone now has tried.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
It's not gonna happen. You try, you can try. No.
I think for me, it's kind of fitting. Actually, it's
kind of like perfect. Like I mean, it's sad that
some of US players that represented Canada for so long
D included, they never got a chance to play pro
at home. But it's kind of perfect. I mean, D
(13:17):
for the longest time we said we wanted to inspire
the next generation leave the sport in a better place.
And now the next generation have the reins and I
can't wait to see what happens.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, it's not uncommon, seventeen years with the national team,
twenty three years with the national team. Like, those players
that really changed the game often aren't the ones that
benefit from all the work that they put in.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
We've seen it in so many women's.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Sports in the US, whether that's the WNBA players who
recently retired and now all the people behind them are
making tons of money and taking charter flights and nil
deals in college. But if not for them, we wouldn't
be here and so bittersweet for sure, But there's so
much pride to take in the game that you have
to create.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Obviously, we got to take a quick break.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
When we come back more with Diana and Sick stick around.
Dina want to talk about April sixteenth, Vancouver Rise FC
hosting Calgary Wild FC at BC Place, the first professional
(14:23):
women's soccer game on Canadian soil in a professional women's league.
What do you think the emotions will be?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Like, Oh, I don't even I don't even know all
the feelings we're gonna feel that day. That's been, that's
been kind of the it's not the end, but it's
the beginning, but the end in mind of the last
two and a half years, like any of the most
stressful times, the moments of uncertainty. It was picturing opening
day and Vancouver is the perfect city. There's been so
(14:51):
many incredible women's soccer moments in that city.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
They were the first team in.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I think it's gonna have a buzz i I wasn't
lucky enough to go to the first PWHL game because
I ended up getting super sick that day.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I supposed to, but my wife was out the game.
She worked it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I know lots of people that are the game. I
think the buzz in the building that day was something special,
and I think we're going to feel that in Vancouver and.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
At the first game for the p DUB too.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
It was only about three thousand people because it was
at Madamy, not big, big venue, so we're going to have,
you know, four or five six times the crowd in Vancouver,
so even more tangible buzz.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I think that day.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Gosh, I'm kind of getting chills thinking about it, and
I'm super bummed. I was really trying to get out
there for it. I just it's so cool to be
there for the first of anything, and I can't make it,
but I can't wait to see the scenes.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
It's just going to be so cool.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You mentioned that you had six teams to start this league, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal,
Ottawa and Halifax. What were the most important factors Dine
in choosing those first six.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, we looked at we looked at a number of things. Population, obviously,
but there's not really a straight line to a big
population is the best team, so we're looking at smaller
markets too. We needed somewhere to play from day one.
We've got a huge gap in Canada when it comes
to soccer infrastructure. There's just not enough mid sized stadiums
(16:18):
to play in. So we had to go somewhere where
there were at least an option to play in early
years before we can invest in the long run, and
being geographically dispersed. Being like I said, across Canada in
places that haven't had the pathway to go all the
way to pro or professionally before was super important. So
Toronto Vancouver no brainer. We wanted a team in Quebec,
(16:41):
our French speaking region. They've got so much talent there,
but they tend not to go play abroad as much,
so a team of mantial Eastern Canada. There's not a
top tier professional sport team in Atlantic Canada until now,
and they've got such incredible culture out there, fantastic soccer city.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
So we love that.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
We're in Atlanta, Canada and Halifax to start, Autowa, the
nation's capital, and then Calgary, so we got our Prairies
team one to start, we're a little light in the
middle of Canada. We need to add another Prairies team
and again first women's professional sports franchise in the Prairies,
So super excited to see how they do. But soccer
infrastructure trying to be in the biggest and best parts
(17:27):
of Canada. We'll get to the rest of them. Yeah,
those were those were probably the main ones.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, I hadn't really thought about that, but yeah, in
the US, of course, we have a lot of football
stadiums that you can use for soccer. You're not using
an ice rink for a soccer game, no size, matt
go work.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
That would be an interesting sport.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Also, I think you know what we've learned with the
NWSL and the States is there are some big cities
with a ton of sports options that do well, and
then often it's the cities that don't have a ton
of other professional sports that really come out and show
out for their women's pro teams.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
So it's interesting always to see the balance.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Obviously, you need a big population to get fans to
come out, but you also it's hard to compete, you know,
being a minority owner of the Chicago team, our stadium
is not in the city.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
It was so hard to drive people out there.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
And then they've got eleveny other teams to go see
and things to do, So that'll be interesting to see how.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
That works out for y'all.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Also a big travel distance for just the six to
start out with without a lot more in the middle,
But it'll grow, it'll grow, Christine, The twenty to twenty
five person NSL rosters are gonna be limited to eight
international players, So what does that opportunity mean for Canadian
players and why was it so important to make sure it.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Was just eight.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
I think with the eight, you know, it's important to
bring world class talent to Canada, and I you know,
it's exciting for fans to see, you know, the talent
that is global in the women's game. But then with
the Canadian talent like do you mentioned, and I mean,
for the longest time, we've had to you know, go
overseas to play or go down to the US to
(19:06):
play or The sad reality is a lot of players
were forced to retire and that should not be the
case for these very talented soccer players, but there's just
there hasn't been opportunities for them. So for these players
to you know, first of all, come back home if
you were overseas and you want to play back home.
(19:28):
Obviously the opportunity is there now. But then also for
the younger players, there's a pathway. You know, there's an
opportunity after college or now you're seeing it more and more,
there's an opportunity after high school for you to continue
your career without having to go internationally. And I think
(19:49):
you know, obviously d and I both lived through the
NWSL and the amount of players that were discovered in
that league that weren't on youth national teams and grew
and developed and flourished in that professional environment and are
now representing the US for instance. That's the opportunity that's
(20:09):
now available for Canadians that you might at a certain age,
you might not have been recognized as a top top talent,
but maybe you developed late and your twenty five year
old that gets called into a national team. So I'm
not as exciting for that larger crop of Canadian players.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, and to not have to come to the US
is looking better and better by the day.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
So everyone's welcome up here if they just need a
little bit of a break.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I've really enjoyed Canada and I plan on coming back,
yeah soon and as often as possible.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Dana.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Let's talk about the controversy for Canada soccer in recent months.
They had the sort of drone gate that shook up
last year's Olympics team, resulted in multiple coaches and the
staff were dismissed. How has that affected the soccer world
in Canada as you get ready to launch, Has it
impacted anything you've been trying to do.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah, it's a good question that that was really I mean,
Canada's soccer, unfortunately, has had the last half dozen years.
There's been a string of negative news stories from different places,
and they were they were never about the women's team
really until the drone incident in Paris.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
So then that felt worse because now I was like, oh,
now the women too.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
It doesn't help because there's there's just been kind of
bad news stories about Canadian soccer for a while.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I can say as.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Someone who's been living it more from the inside in
different ways, is you know, as part of the players
association with Kill Soccer and then what we're doing now.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
So I feel like I've got a good view of what's.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Going and you have to coach a bit right whence
Bev Priestman and others were out, you stepped in a
little to help.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
I came in to support, but I was supportive. Yeah, yeah,
but it's we're we're in better shape than we've been
in for a while. I would say we've got great
leadership now at Canada Soccer. We were all very excited
in Canada that we managed to get Casey Stoney here
(22:04):
as women's National Tech. She's super excited to help us
build the NSL and the pathways that feed in. We've
got the Northern Who League started and of course you
know FIFA twenty twenty six in all three countries here,
So we're it feels like we're on the most solid
ground we've been in a while. So we just got
to stand at the news for a bit. But yeah,
(22:25):
we'll see, we'll see what we can do it.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Sometimes the burn it all down method is not fun
while you're burning, but when you get on the other
side of it, you do hopefully have a better system
in place, you know, Christine. A few years ago, the
Canadian team had launched protests against the federation inequality of
travel and staffing and gear, and they were slashing budgets.
Even as you were succeeding, there was negligence in their
negotiations of marketing and sponsorship rights and things like that.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
There was a strike, there was a lawsuit, There's a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Can you catch us up on where the team and
the federation currently stand, the women's team and the fed well.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Obviously, I mean I've been removed for five months, six months,
and then obviously from the national team for longer. But
it's just actually just met up with a bunch of
the players because they played in Vancouver, and you know,
I'm like, how's it going? And they seem happy. They
seem to be in a good place. Like de you mentioned,
(23:19):
the leadership in the CSA has changed a lot. Obviously,
there's there are still some things that need to be
worked out, but in terms of pay equality, like the
standards within camp and travel, a lot, a lot of
progress has been made and it's exciting to see and
the players are finally able to just focus on plane.
(23:41):
I think that's you know, do you mentioned the past
like six years as players, we were never able to
just focus on playing. There was I mean, we're women,
There's always going to be a battle and something to
fight for. But it was fun to meet up with
some of the players and just see them being able
to focus on playing and representing Canada. Yeah, I think
(24:02):
progress has been made.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
It does feel too like the NFL will help change
the view of women's soccer players in the country because
it'll be right under everyone's nose.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
It's not just during the cycles for the World Cup
and Olympics.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
It's not when they're succeeding in the NWSL and the
news is coming back home, but it's in leagues in
their cities in front of them, and they'll get to
know the players well and really want to fight for
them more, maybe when it's a constant as opposed to
during those big cycles. So hopefully that also impacts the
pressure on the federation to treat y'all right and put
the funding behind the kind of work you're looking to
(24:35):
do at the international level. Christine, can you give us
an athlete or two that we would like to watch
for on the rise that we'll be excited about?
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Oh boy, oh my god. I mean I think first
and Portant. You got to look for Quinn. They made
the decision to come back to Canada after having a
you know, obviously a very successful career in the NWSL,
and just I wanted to come back and play. Obviously
a world class player, probably going to be the face
(25:05):
of the rise, and I can't wait to see them
take that leadership role to another level and you know,
dominate this league.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, were you and Quinn pretty tight when you played
against each other or was there a bit of that
rivalry still from being up in the Pacific Northwest?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Okay? I mean, obviously there's like the rivalry Portland Seattle
and it's like same like Canada US, Like you put
your jersey on and it's like all right, let's go
and then your friends after. Quinn is one of those
players you love to have on your team and you
hate to play against because they're just that competitive and
it's just not fun to play against. But so happy
(25:45):
they're on the rise. And yeah, I mean, obviously Quinny
was part of the players Association and player reps towards
the end of my national team career, so to be
able to see them take a more of a leadership
role both on and off the field, it's been very
exciting and can't wait to see what they do.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Diana, any other players that fans should be excited to
see in the league.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Well we got I mean for the let's go for
the Canadian fans out there. We got a few other
legends we talked into playing one more year Sink Desiree
Scott of course Canadian legends with Ottawa and Aaron McLeod
with Halifax Tides. Aaron's also there with the wonderful Gunny
John Satter. Gunny places for Iceland and also used to
(26:31):
play in the NWS Cell as well.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
We were roommates for a while.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Fantastic in terms of the maybe American crowd. I'll give
you a few shout outs Jasmine Spencer in Vancouver. Also
we were your one teammates way back with year one
Washington Spirit, which was a very special experience of itself.
And Nikki Stanton of course, who I played against love.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
There.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
She's the best.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Yeah, we've got we've kind of got obviously a younger
generation of Canadian two. We've got national team players, Emma Reagan,
Maya Jones, super exciting player in the league. I'm honestly
most excited about, like saying said, the players that we
don't even know yet that are going to be discovered
by us and by Canadians because now they have a
(27:18):
place to play and they get to develop here and
they're the next national team star and we haven't even
met them yet.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
That's the one that I think excites me the most.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
And then we've been lucky to we've had a lot
of interest from international players that wanted to come to
a league built by women, by former players and kind
of be a part of that year one experience to start,
and we've got great feedback from them so far on
all the awesome the standards across the clubs, So we've
got a good crop of international players as well, which
(27:48):
is exciting.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
I think Desi Scott was our first retirement announcement and
then unannouncement on this show because we've only been around
for like nine months or so, so the big announcement
then not take back.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
Yeah yeah, she changed within like a week.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Are there any special rules or format to the league
we should keep an eye out for?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Is it pretty standard?
Speaker 4 (28:09):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (28:09):
It's pretty standard. We've got a similar season to the NWSL.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
We kickoff in.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Mid April, we go to mid November. Our playoffs are
going to be four teams make it and then we're
going to do a home and away, so a two
leg semi final with the two teams for us going
to a pre determined location for the championship. So pretty
run of the mill, twenty five game standard format season
to start here. And then we're super excited too. We've
(28:35):
had great conversations with Jessica Berman, with the leadership from
the Mexican League. I think everyone in our region is
very excited about w champions Cup, about the opportunities for
our leagues to help build the region together. I think
that's something that excites us all because we know, you know,
we've got three of the best women's soccer countries in
(28:56):
the world in our region, and I think that can
be a pretty special thing we have going on globally
that we can help build together.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Super fun for sure. I learned about that two leg
thing in Canada too. That's home and away here in
the States, but you call it two legged? Is there
a decision day that's the last day of the season
where everybody's playing and it helps figure out the standings.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Not in your one couldn't make it happen in year
one again. The stadium constraints are very real and it
was a challenge even just to make sure all our
teams played each other for the same number of times,
so we couldn't get a decision day in year one.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
But we'll be looking towards it near too.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Diana ware fans going to be able to watch the
NSL in Canada, and I know there's a newly announced
deal with the ESPN Plus for the US.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
So how's everyone being able to watch the games?
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Yeah, if you're in Canada, we've got two fantastic partners
up here, CBC, which is our public broadcaster. If you're
seeing games on CBC, they're free to air for everyone,
available in French and English, or their streaming platform is
CBC Gem, also free to air. And then our other
media partner where you get to watch opening game is
TSN's like art ESPN up here or streaming on TSN Plus.
(30:03):
So we're going to have a bunch of games on
traditional linear broadcast through those two partners. And then just announced,
as you said, ESPN Plus is going to be our
US streaming partner. So for the folks in the US
they want to watch their favorite Canadians or Americans or
whoever else, you can check it out on.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
ESPN plus I love that.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I just it just occurred to me, is your wife
going to be covering any of this? I'm not sure
what she covers specifically.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
No, not in a professional capacity covering the games. We've
had a bit of like a firewall there. But she's
coming to all the home openers with me, so she'll
be She'll be my own social media team for the
month because I'm terrible at social media, so everyone can
see my social media will be much better for the
next month.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
So that will be Anastasia.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
Can she please do some soccer demos too?
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Some soccer demos? She can. She's got a pretty good
first touch. It's not bad.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I love that. Christine.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
You and d you were teammates for many years with
Team Canada. You're now teammates again in this new venture.
What kind of teammate was and is Diana?
Speaker 5 (31:10):
I mean, just like an absolute rock star. I think
we talk about players that like just like this never
say die attitude. I remember, do you when she first,
like as a little kid, joined the national team and
she was just willing to absolutely do anything to help
(31:31):
the team win, to make the team to start and
then just one of the most clutch players that you'll
ever have the honor of sharing a pitch with. I
think as some of the biggest moments within our national team,
and he's always a main focal point in whether it's
a highlight or a moment, and then just off the pitch,
(31:54):
like just like the best Canadian you can ask for,
that honestly has built league from scratch. But then just
as a person, just yeah, just absolute quality and we
are so fortunate to have her.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Aw I love that, all right, Diana. What kind of
teammate was and is sync?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
First of all, I'd like a hat that says the
best Canadian I would hear that. I mean those that
have played with sinc No sink, terrible texter, other you
know what, a great sense of humor, very quick with
(32:37):
a joke. If she's if she's teasing you, means she
likes you. And I'm on the field. Just the easiest
player to play with, because anything you could think of
as a player that you think the forward should be doing,
Sinks already doing that and more. You could get her
(32:58):
any ball and you knew it would be safe and
she'd make magic with it. She's literally the type of
player everyone wanted to be where the closer she got
to goal, like the slower her heart rate got, and
just had the unending drive to continually make herself better,
make her team better.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Was always the hated to, you know, be the loud voice.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
In the locker room, but I think really really grew
into that and learned how to really use her voice
and is still doing that now with the NSL and
Vancouver Rise. So learn the power of her voice, even
though she's such a bad Texter.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Sounds like the NFL is in very, very good hands.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how each of you
use your unique set of skills to lead the way,
especially you Sink, since it sounds like you're leaning away
from becoming the de facto coach slash ambassador slash influence
that I imagine you will just inevitably become as a result
(33:59):
of all the.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Knowledge that you have up there. But it's going to
be fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Good luck with the launch and the big opening day,
and we look forward to watching.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Thank you for having us, Thanks so much for having
us and come up here. We'll catch a game in
the summer.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Thanks so much to Diana and Christine for joining us.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
We got to take another break when we return the
most remote Tim Horton's on Earth.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Welcome back slices.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
We love that you're listening, but we want you to
get in the game every day too, So here's our
good game play of the day. Fire up that ESPN
Plus and catch the first game in Northern Super League
history tonight as Vancouver rie'se FC hosts Calgary Wild FC
at ten pm Eastern.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And look at a damn map?
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Would you don't be a dumb American like me learn
stuff like that place?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Nuna It despite it.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Being the largest territory in the entire country, it only
has one city called Echalcowit And if you're going there,
you can actually say the old Doc Brown line.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Roads where we're going.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
We don't need roads because there aren't any roads at
all that connect the rest of Canada to noon of it It. Seriously,
you got to get there by plane or by boat.
But once you're there, there's a cathedral shaped like an igloo.
There's a curling rink, an eighteen whole disc golf course,
an emergency services station with one engine, one ladder and
(35:25):
just three ambulances, and of course a Tim Horton's show
field trip. We'd love to hear from you. Hit us
up on email. Good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, and
don't forget to subscribe a rate and review. It's easy
watch fig Jam with Crackers and Cheese rating six thousand
out of six thousand Taste Buds doing backflips review, I
(35:48):
mean need essay more. It's fake jam, crackers and cheese.
If you're looking for a snack, that'll take it a
flavor town, look no further. It's sweet, a little savory, crunchy, salty.
I'd love to use a black pepper flavored cracker just
for a tad more pizzaz or one of those Fi's
oatcake biscuits with some nice cheddar. I'm telling you try
(36:09):
it if you haven't already. And if you don't like
fig Jam, well I'm sorry for you.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Now it's your turn. Rate and review. Thanks for listening,
See you tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Good game, Dina and Sync, Good game, NSL you Rhoads.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
We don't need you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network.
Our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
Our editors are Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, and Grace Lynch.
(36:50):
Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host
Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're looking
at a map of Canada and learning for the very
first time that there's a province called Nunavut.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I googled it and I learned a bunch of facts
about it. I didn't know any of them. You could
say I knew Nunavut.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's Wednesday, April sixteenth, and on today's show, we'll be
skipping the need to know and jumping straight into my
conversation with Canadian soccer legends Christine Sinclair and Diana Mathieson
about the Northern Super.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
League, which kicks off today.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's a new Canadian women's pro soccer league that Diana
co founded and serves as chief growth officer for, while
Christine is a co owner of one of the teams,
Vancouver Rise FC. We caught up with them last week
to talk through when Diana and her colleagues knew that
our neighbors up north needed their own women's league, how
controversy around the national team at the Olympics has affected
Canada's soccer landscape, the NFL players and storylines to watch
(00:49):
for in the.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Inaugural season, and trying and failing to get Christine to
suit up. It's all coming up.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Right after this, it's time for a little group chat
where we take the tea from the text and put
it on the airwaves. And I'm not gonna lie to y'all.
I'm not on a group chat with these two. I
wish I was. Maybe after this I will be. But
(01:17):
we're still going to have a group chat with these
two superstars joining us now. She's the co founder and
chief growth officer of Canada's new women's professional soccer league,
the Northern Super League aka the NSL. A former player
for the Canada national team from three to twenty twenty,
winner of two Olympic bronze medals, including scoring the game
winning goal in the ninety second minute of the twenty
twelve bronze medal match, securing Canada's first ever medal in
(01:39):
women's soccer. She played for multiple pro women's teams, including
the Washington Spirit in the Utah Royals, and was a
star at Princeton. She wears a size five and a
half shoe, makes a great Sonny Bono, and is married
to an Olympic speed skater turned sports broadcaster super Babe.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Talk about a power couple. It's Diana Matheson.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Hi, Diana, Hi.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
At the best intro I've ever seend. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
That is the tiniest foot I've ever heard of. Your
shoes must be so cheap. Just go straight to the
kids section.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Joining her.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
She's a co owner of the Vancouver Rise FC of
the NSL and one of the greatest soccer players of
all time. She recently retired as the highest scoring player
in international history of any gender, with one hundred and
ninety international goals, and one of the most capped international
players ever with three hundred and thirty one appearances. Her
twenty three years playing for Team Canada included six World
Cups and four Olympics. She helped the team to a
(02:29):
gold and two bronze medals. At the club level, she
led the Portland Thorns to three NWSL championships. In twenty seventeen,
she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada,
the second highest award a civilian can receive. She's been
on a postage stamp, she famously blocked the US women's
national team on social media, and she's got a tattoo
of a soccer playing maple leaf.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's Christine Sinclair.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Where do you get all your infirmation, but not great
at a group chat.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Though, I'll consider that before I start stocking you via
text whether you can hold up your end of the chat.
Thank you so much to both of you for joining us.
Before we get to the NSL, which I'm so excited
to talk about, I do have to check in with you.
Sink on retired life. It's been about five months. How
is the other side?
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Okay? Everyone was super concerned about me because I've played
soccer since I was four, But honestly, it's been like
the best five months ever. I've been able to travel,
do things I want to do, not have to work
so hard, see my family. Yeah, it's been nice. I'm
not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I think a lot of folks like have that great
relief of like, oh my gosh, I can just wake
up and decide what to do. But I've also talked
to folks like Sue Byrd, who after retirement said I've
never had to make my own schedule literally since she
was about five or six. She's like, I feel like
a kindergartener. I even get breaks for snacks. So how
have you handled that part of it?
Speaker 5 (03:55):
I mean, my agents have been keeping me pretty busy.
I still out, but I think I mean I retired
when I was forty one. Like, I played literally as
long as I physically could, and so like when I
was done, I was done. And now I enjoy sleeping in,
(04:16):
staying up late, having as much coffee as I want. Right,
d It's it's been nice.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
It's such a good feeling to be like getting to
go out on your own terms and your body sure
held up.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Damn, what's your secret? Can we learn from it?
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I think genetics unfortunately great, so no, yeah, no, no,
there's no help there. Sorry.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I also heard an interview where you said you tried
to stay out of like too many scrums. You weren't
going head to head with goalies. You were trying not
to injure yourself. So I failed at that. In every
sport I ever played, I sought out contact. I might
as well have been playing football. So I really screwed
up American.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Football with all the tackling.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
No, none of that.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Now we're onto the NFL, which is just the most
exciting project. And Diana, I had the pleasure of hosting
the first espnW Summit Canada two years ago and heard
all about this new pro soccer league you were starting
going by the name Project eight, now known as the NSL.
So take us back to when you first thought that
we need a league here in Canada our.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Own Oh, I think we've known forever, I guess, and
within the national team, I think it just became more
and more of a conversation while Sink and I were playing.
When we first made the team, there's probably only like
what half a dozen players maybe playing pro sync. And
then obviously, by the time.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
We retired, the rest of the world had.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Been investing, and it was more and more clear than
less Canada started to invest too, than even though we'd
been winning Olympic medals, we weren't to be able to
keep competing in five ten years when people were investing
in the day to day environments their players are playing in,
and we were still exporting one hundred percent of our
professional players and something.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Needed to be built at some point.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
And then for me, I mean, we used to say, too,
maybe we just need a team or two in the NWSL.
Maybe that's how we get women's professional soccer started here,
and for me that shifted. Carmeline Moscato is another former
player who really started looking into it, and then for me,
when you started digging deeper into just the numbers around
(06:19):
the industry, the numbers in Canada, like we have the
third largest player pool in the world. We produce literally
goats along with other players. We have a culture that
supports girls and women in sport like the US that's
world leading. And if we did a team or two
in the NWSL, it was probably going to be Toronto,
It's probably going to be Vancouver. But those are and
(06:42):
have been, two of the three cities we have in
Canada that have a pathway to the national team, that
have national development centers. So you'd maybe impact a few
players in those two cities, but that was it, and
we weren't really creating pathways for this massive player pool
we have across the country. And it seems more and
more clear that the answer to if Canada wants to
(07:03):
win a World Cup in the future, it's because we
have a professional system from coast to coast and we're
getting players from across Canada that are representing our country
in the future.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I learned so many facts over the last two years
of hosting the Canada Summit, and maybe back there in
June again, so I'm sure I'll learn more, But one
of the most fascinating was that some insane number like
seventy five percent of Canadians live on the US Canada border,
Like that's where the majority of the population is. And
even though we have about the same acreage, we have
three hundred million more people than you do, which is
(07:36):
also insane to me. So how is this pool so
big when you're pulling from such a smaller population.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, we live close to the border because we're just
trying to stay warm down there. And to be clear,
you guys also have way more players, Like I think
when it goes to how many girls and women play
soccer in the world, you guys have like a million
more players than everyone. And then after that it's the
lesson Years and Sweden and so we're there's a drop,
(08:05):
there's a drop there. But when we're comparing to the
rest of the world, where you know, we've got a
few hundred thousand girls and women that are registered to play,
and that's still well beyond a lot of what the
rest of the world is doing. I think, like our
our VP sport here is Portuguese. He moved over from
their football federation, and I think there's like twenty thousand
girls in Portugal that play soccer compared to here. So
(08:28):
it's it's the culture. I think we put same as
the US. You know, we put our girls in sports
at much higher rates, and it's not Soccer's just not
for the men, which still in a lot of the
world it is and they're still kind of figuring out
that women are pretty great at it.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Did there was there a specific moment that felt like
a breakthrough where you were like, Okay, we've been thinking
about this, talking about this, but this is actually going
to happen.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, I don't know when the the like the moment was.
We knew for sure it was going to happen because
it was like we went startup route. We were building
this thing from scratch and independent league, which is a
huge strength in the global landscape. So I don't know
when it went from maybe happening for sure happening, but
for sure. We announced the thing in December of twenty
(09:15):
twenty two that we were going to do it Sink
and I.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
So that was a big moment. It was a little
bit no turning back after that.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
We got like we got this six teams the minimum
we needed to start a league, and they all the
owners signed on the dotted line of May of twenty four,
so that was a big one too. We brought in
our league president, Christina Litz. She was at the NHL,
she was at the CFL up here the other football
That was a big moment. So probably May of last
year was the big, big one and then now we've
(09:45):
just been sprinting towards kickoff coming up around the corner here.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Christine, you're in the ownership group for the Vancouver Rise.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
When did you first get involved? Was it still Project
eight when you said I'm.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
In, I mean D. I think D is not taking
enough credit, like when this woman sets her sights on something. Yeah,
there was a void obviously playing for Canada and realizing
what's going on in your home country and do you
like I remember just being like, well, I'm going to
solve it. It's like okay, So she's not taken enough credit. Obviously.
(10:18):
I have ties to Vancouver. I'm from Vancouver. I grew
up playing for the white Caps. My uncle's play for
the white Caps, so my ties to the club run
very deep. I've never really left the Pacific Northwest, and
when the opportunity presented itself to be part of the
ownership group with Greg Kirkfoot. For me, it was a
(10:39):
no brainer. In my retirement, I've decided I've given myself
a year to kind of figure out what I want
to do. But in the meantime, I want to continue
to help grow this sport in Canada and do everything
I can, especially in Vancouver, to help create a successful team.
(11:00):
Kind of taken. People are like, what role do you have? Like,
you know, even talking to Steph Lobby and she's like,
what do you want to decide how we play? It's like,
absolutely not, that's the coaching staff. So for me right now,
it's just been trying to gain momentum, get fans in
the in the seats week in and week out, and
then you know, create an epic launch on April sixteenth
(11:22):
at PC Place.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I love that you're only giving yourself a year to
figure out what you want to do with your life.
I think I'm still working on it and I've spent
my whole life figuring it out. Also, you weren't kidding
about never leaving the Pacific Northwest. I was listening to
another interview with you, and you went to Portland for college,
but your family already knew the coach there before you
were like born. Yeah, so it was like it was
always meant to be, Like before you even came out,
(11:46):
it was like, well, you're going to play soccer, then
you're going to go to Portland, then you're going to
stay in Portland, then you're.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Going to go back to Canada.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So I guess, I guess that's why you're convinced you
can decide what you want to do in a year.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You've never had to think about it before.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
No.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
I mean I've had a very fortunate career. And I
mean me from an athletic family where uncles played pro. Yeah,
I mean the coach at the University of Portland, Clive Charles,
used to rent out a house to my parents before
I was born because his wife was from Vancouver and
they moved to Portland. So it's just crazy how things
work out. Yeah, I've had it. It's been I've been
(12:17):
very fortunate. The path I've had.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Is it bittersweet at all to retire before you have
the chance to play in the nsl.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
OH, believe me, we tried. I've tried one more, but
Greg Kerfect tried, Semi LaVey tried. Everyone's tried, random people
on the street. I think I've tried, had sink. Why
not just five minutes in each market, one game.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Oh, it's gonna sell some tickets. Announce it right now, right, No, this.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Is not an announcement.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
No, I just Sarah.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Spain has tried. Everyone's tried, everyone now has tried.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
It's not gonna happen. You try, you can try. No.
I think for me, it's kind of fitting. Actually, it's
kind of like perfect. Like I mean, it's sad that
some of US players that represented Canada for so long
D included, they never got a chance to play pro
at home. But it's kind of perfect. I mean, D
(13:17):
for the longest time we said we wanted to inspire
the next generation leave the sport in a better place.
And now the next generation have the reins and I
can't wait to see what happens.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, it's not uncommon, seventeen years with the national team,
twenty three years with the national team. Like, those players
that really changed the game often aren't the ones that
benefit from all the work that they put in.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
We've seen it in so many women's.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Sports in the US, whether that's the WNBA players who
recently retired and now all the people behind them are
making tons of money and taking charter flights and nil
deals in college. But if not for them, we wouldn't
be here and so bittersweet for sure, But there's so
much pride to take in the game that you have
to create.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Obviously, we got to take a quick break.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
When we come back more with Diana and Sick stick around.
Dina want to talk about April sixteenth, Vancouver Rise FC
hosting Calgary Wild FC at BC Place, the first professional
(14:23):
women's soccer game on Canadian soil in a professional women's league.
What do you think the emotions will be?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Like, Oh, I don't even I don't even know all
the feelings we're gonna feel that day. That's been, that's
been kind of the it's not the end, but it's
the beginning, but the end in mind of the last
two and a half years, like any of the most
stressful times, the moments of uncertainty. It was picturing opening
day and Vancouver is the perfect city. There's been so
(14:51):
many incredible women's soccer moments in that city.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
They were the first team in.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I think it's gonna have a buzz i I wasn't
lucky enough to go to the first PWHL game because
I ended up getting super sick that day.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I supposed to, but my wife was out the game.
She worked it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I know lots of people that are the game. I
think the buzz in the building that day was something special,
and I think we're going to feel that in Vancouver and.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
At the first game for the p DUB too.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
It was only about three thousand people because it was
at Madamy, not big, big venue, so we're going to have,
you know, four or five six times the crowd in Vancouver,
so even more tangible buzz.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I think that day.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Gosh, I'm kind of getting chills thinking about it, and
I'm super bummed. I was really trying to get out
there for it. I just it's so cool to be
there for the first of anything, and I can't make it,
but I can't wait to see the scenes.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
It's just going to be so cool.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You mentioned that you had six teams to start this league, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal,
Ottawa and Halifax. What were the most important factors Dine
in choosing those first six.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, we looked at we looked at a number of things. Population, obviously,
but there's not really a straight line to a big
population is the best team, so we're looking at smaller
markets too. We needed somewhere to play from day one.
We've got a huge gap in Canada when it comes
to soccer infrastructure. There's just not enough mid sized stadiums
(16:18):
to play in. So we had to go somewhere where
there were at least an option to play in early
years before we can invest in the long run, and
being geographically dispersed. Being like I said, across Canada in
places that haven't had the pathway to go all the
way to pro or professionally before was super important. So
Toronto Vancouver no brainer. We wanted a team in Quebec,
(16:41):
our French speaking region. They've got so much talent there,
but they tend not to go play abroad as much,
so a team of mantial Eastern Canada. There's not a
top tier professional sport team in Atlantic Canada until now,
and they've got such incredible culture out there, fantastic soccer city.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
So we love that.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
We're in Atlanta, Canada and Halifax to start, Autowa, the
nation's capital, and then Calgary, so we got our Prairies
team one to start, we're a little light in the
middle of Canada. We need to add another Prairies team
and again first women's professional sports franchise in the Prairies,
So super excited to see how they do. But soccer
infrastructure trying to be in the biggest and best parts
(17:27):
of Canada. We'll get to the rest of them. Yeah,
those were those were probably the main ones.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, I hadn't really thought about that, but yeah, in
the US, of course, we have a lot of football
stadiums that you can use for soccer. You're not using
an ice rink for a soccer game, no size, matt
go work.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
That would be an interesting sport.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Also, I think you know what we've learned with the
NWSL and the States is there are some big cities
with a ton of sports options that do well, and
then often it's the cities that don't have a ton
of other professional sports that really come out and show
out for their women's pro teams.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
So it's interesting always to see the balance.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Obviously, you need a big population to get fans to
come out, but you also it's hard to compete, you know,
being a minority owner of the Chicago team, our stadium
is not in the city.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
It was so hard to drive people out there.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
And then they've got eleveny other teams to go see
and things to do, So that'll be interesting to see how.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
That works out for y'all.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Also a big travel distance for just the six to
start out with without a lot more in the middle,
But it'll grow, it'll grow, Christine, The twenty to twenty
five person NSL rosters are gonna be limited to eight
international players, So what does that opportunity mean for Canadian
players and why was it so important to make sure it.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Was just eight.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
I think with the eight, you know, it's important to
bring world class talent to Canada, and I you know,
it's exciting for fans to see, you know, the talent
that is global in the women's game. But then with
the Canadian talent like do you mentioned, and I mean,
for the longest time, we've had to you know, go
overseas to play or go down to the US to
(19:06):
play or The sad reality is a lot of players
were forced to retire and that should not be the
case for these very talented soccer players, but there's just
there hasn't been opportunities for them. So for these players
to you know, first of all, come back home if
you were overseas and you want to play back home.
(19:28):
Obviously the opportunity is there now. But then also for
the younger players, there's a pathway. You know, there's an
opportunity after college or now you're seeing it more and more,
there's an opportunity after high school for you to continue
your career without having to go internationally. And I think
(19:49):
you know, obviously d and I both lived through the
NWSL and the amount of players that were discovered in
that league that weren't on youth national teams and grew
and developed and flourished in that professional environment and are
now representing the US for instance. That's the opportunity that's
(20:09):
now available for Canadians that you might at a certain age,
you might not have been recognized as a top top talent,
but maybe you developed late and your twenty five year
old that gets called into a national team. So I'm
not as exciting for that larger crop of Canadian players.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, and to not have to come to the US
is looking better and better by the day.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
So everyone's welcome up here if they just need a
little bit of a break.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I've really enjoyed Canada and I plan on coming back,
yeah soon and as often as possible.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Dana.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Let's talk about the controversy for Canada soccer in recent months.
They had the sort of drone gate that shook up
last year's Olympics team, resulted in multiple coaches and the
staff were dismissed. How has that affected the soccer world
in Canada as you get ready to launch, Has it
impacted anything you've been trying to do.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah, it's a good question that that was really I mean,
Canada's soccer, unfortunately, has had the last half dozen years.
There's been a string of negative news stories from different places,
and they were they were never about the women's team
really until the drone incident in Paris.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
So then that felt worse because now I was like, oh,
now the women too.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
It doesn't help because there's there's just been kind of
bad news stories about Canadian soccer for a while.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I can say as.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Someone who's been living it more from the inside in
different ways, is you know, as part of the players
association with Kill Soccer and then what we're doing now.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
So I feel like I've got a good view of what's.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Going and you have to coach a bit right whence
Bev Priestman and others were out, you stepped in a
little to help.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
I came in to support, but I was supportive. Yeah, yeah,
but it's we're we're in better shape than we've been
in for a while. I would say we've got great
leadership now at Canada Soccer. We were all very excited
in Canada that we managed to get Casey Stoney here
(22:04):
as women's National Tech. She's super excited to help us
build the NSL and the pathways that feed in. We've
got the Northern Who League started and of course you
know FIFA twenty twenty six in all three countries here,
So we're it feels like we're on the most solid
ground we've been in a while. So we just got
to stand at the news for a bit. But yeah,
(22:25):
we'll see, we'll see what we can do it.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Sometimes the burn it all down method is not fun
while you're burning, but when you get on the other
side of it, you do hopefully have a better system
in place, you know, Christine. A few years ago, the
Canadian team had launched protests against the federation inequality of
travel and staffing and gear, and they were slashing budgets.
Even as you were succeeding, there was negligence in their
negotiations of marketing and sponsorship rights and things like that.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
There was a strike, there was a lawsuit, There's a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Can you catch us up on where the team and
the federation currently stand, the women's team and the fed well.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Obviously, I mean I've been removed for five months, six months,
and then obviously from the national team for longer. But
it's just actually just met up with a bunch of
the players because they played in Vancouver, and you know,
I'm like, how's it going? And they seem happy. They
seem to be in a good place. Like de you mentioned,
(23:19):
the leadership in the CSA has changed a lot. Obviously,
there's there are still some things that need to be
worked out, but in terms of pay equality, like the
standards within camp and travel, a lot, a lot of
progress has been made and it's exciting to see and
the players are finally able to just focus on plane.
(23:41):
I think that's you know, do you mentioned the past
like six years as players, we were never able to
just focus on playing. There was I mean, we're women,
There's always going to be a battle and something to
fight for. But it was fun to meet up with
some of the players and just see them being able
to focus on playing and representing Canada. Yeah, I think
(24:02):
progress has been made.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
It does feel too like the NFL will help change
the view of women's soccer players in the country because
it'll be right under everyone's nose.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
It's not just during the cycles for the World Cup
and Olympics.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
It's not when they're succeeding in the NWSL and the
news is coming back home, but it's in leagues in
their cities in front of them, and they'll get to
know the players well and really want to fight for
them more, maybe when it's a constant as opposed to
during those big cycles. So hopefully that also impacts the
pressure on the federation to treat y'all right and put
the funding behind the kind of work you're looking to
(24:35):
do at the international level. Christine, can you give us
an athlete or two that we would like to watch
for on the rise that we'll be excited about?
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Oh boy, oh my god. I mean I think first
and Portant. You got to look for Quinn. They made
the decision to come back to Canada after having a
you know, obviously a very successful career in the NWSL,
and just I wanted to come back and play. Obviously
a world class player, probably going to be the face
(25:05):
of the rise, and I can't wait to see them
take that leadership role to another level and you know,
dominate this league.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, were you and Quinn pretty tight when you played
against each other or was there a bit of that
rivalry still from being up in the Pacific Northwest?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Okay? I mean, obviously there's like the rivalry Portland Seattle
and it's like same like Canada US, Like you put
your jersey on and it's like all right, let's go
and then your friends after. Quinn is one of those
players you love to have on your team and you
hate to play against because they're just that competitive and
it's just not fun to play against. But so happy
(25:45):
they're on the rise. And yeah, I mean, obviously Quinny
was part of the players Association and player reps towards
the end of my national team career, so to be
able to see them take a more of a leadership
role both on and off the field, it's been very
exciting and can't wait to see what they do.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Diana, any other players that fans should be excited to
see in the league.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Well we got I mean for the let's go for
the Canadian fans out there. We got a few other
legends we talked into playing one more year Sink Desiree
Scott of course Canadian legends with Ottawa and Aaron McLeod
with Halifax Tides. Aaron's also there with the wonderful Gunny
John Satter. Gunny places for Iceland and also used to
(26:31):
play in the NWS Cell as well.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
We were roommates for a while.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Fantastic in terms of the maybe American crowd. I'll give
you a few shout outs Jasmine Spencer in Vancouver. Also
we were your one teammates way back with year one
Washington Spirit, which was a very special experience of itself.
And Nikki Stanton of course, who I played against love.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
There.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
She's the best.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Yeah, we've got we've kind of got obviously a younger
generation of Canadian two. We've got national team players, Emma Reagan,
Maya Jones, super exciting player in the league. I'm honestly
most excited about, like saying said, the players that we
don't even know yet that are going to be discovered
by us and by Canadians because now they have a
(27:18):
place to play and they get to develop here and
they're the next national team star and we haven't even
met them yet.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
That's the one that I think excites me the most.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
And then we've been lucky to we've had a lot
of interest from international players that wanted to come to
a league built by women, by former players and kind
of be a part of that year one experience to start,
and we've got great feedback from them so far on
all the awesome the standards across the clubs, So we've
got a good crop of international players as well, which
(27:48):
is exciting.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
I think Desi Scott was our first retirement announcement and
then unannouncement on this show because we've only been around
for like nine months or so, so the big announcement
then not take back.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
Yeah yeah, she changed within like a week.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Are there any special rules or format to the league
we should keep an eye out for?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Is it pretty standard?
Speaker 4 (28:09):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (28:09):
It's pretty standard. We've got a similar season to the NWSL.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
We kickoff in.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Mid April, we go to mid November. Our playoffs are
going to be four teams make it and then we're
going to do a home and away, so a two
leg semi final with the two teams for us going
to a pre determined location for the championship. So pretty
run of the mill, twenty five game standard format season
to start here. And then we're super excited too. We've
(28:35):
had great conversations with Jessica Berman, with the leadership from
the Mexican League. I think everyone in our region is
very excited about w champions Cup, about the opportunities for
our leagues to help build the region together. I think
that's something that excites us all because we know, you know,
we've got three of the best women's soccer countries in
(28:56):
the world in our region, and I think that can
be a pretty special thing we have going on globally
that we can help build together.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Super fun for sure. I learned about that two leg
thing in Canada too. That's home and away here in
the States, but you call it two legged? Is there
a decision day that's the last day of the season
where everybody's playing and it helps figure out the standings.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Not in your one couldn't make it happen in year
one again. The stadium constraints are very real and it
was a challenge even just to make sure all our
teams played each other for the same number of times,
so we couldn't get a decision day in year one.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
But we'll be looking towards it near too.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Diana ware fans going to be able to watch the
NSL in Canada, and I know there's a newly announced
deal with the ESPN Plus for the US.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
So how's everyone being able to watch the games?
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Yeah, if you're in Canada, we've got two fantastic partners
up here, CBC, which is our public broadcaster. If you're
seeing games on CBC, they're free to air for everyone,
available in French and English, or their streaming platform is
CBC Gem, also free to air. And then our other
media partner where you get to watch opening game is
TSN's like art ESPN up here or streaming on TSN Plus.
(30:03):
So we're going to have a bunch of games on
traditional linear broadcast through those two partners. And then just announced,
as you said, ESPN Plus is going to be our
US streaming partner. So for the folks in the US
they want to watch their favorite Canadians or Americans or
whoever else, you can check it out on.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
ESPN plus I love that.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I just it just occurred to me, is your wife
going to be covering any of this? I'm not sure
what she covers specifically.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
No, not in a professional capacity covering the games. We've
had a bit of like a firewall there. But she's
coming to all the home openers with me, so she'll
be She'll be my own social media team for the
month because I'm terrible at social media, so everyone can
see my social media will be much better for the
next month.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
So that will be Anastasia.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
Can she please do some soccer demos too?
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Some soccer demos? She can. She's got a pretty good
first touch. It's not bad.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I love that. Christine.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
You and d you were teammates for many years with
Team Canada. You're now teammates again in this new venture.
What kind of teammate was and is Diana?
Speaker 5 (31:10):
I mean, just like an absolute rock star. I think
we talk about players that like just like this never
say die attitude. I remember, do you when she first,
like as a little kid, joined the national team and
she was just willing to absolutely do anything to help
(31:31):
the team win, to make the team to start and
then just one of the most clutch players that you'll
ever have the honor of sharing a pitch with. I
think as some of the biggest moments within our national team,
and he's always a main focal point in whether it's
a highlight or a moment, and then just off the pitch,
(31:54):
like just like the best Canadian you can ask for,
that honestly has built league from scratch. But then just
as a person, just yeah, just absolute quality and we
are so fortunate to have her.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Aw I love that, all right, Diana. What kind of
teammate was and is sync?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
First of all, I'd like a hat that says the
best Canadian I would hear that. I mean those that
have played with sinc No sink, terrible texter, other you
know what, a great sense of humor, very quick with
(32:37):
a joke. If she's if she's teasing you, means she
likes you. And I'm on the field. Just the easiest
player to play with, because anything you could think of
as a player that you think the forward should be doing,
Sinks already doing that and more. You could get her
(32:58):
any ball and you knew it would be safe and
she'd make magic with it. She's literally the type of
player everyone wanted to be where the closer she got
to goal, like the slower her heart rate got, and
just had the unending drive to continually make herself better,
make her team better.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Was always the hated to, you know, be the loud voice.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
In the locker room, but I think really really grew
into that and learned how to really use her voice
and is still doing that now with the NSL and
Vancouver Rise. So learn the power of her voice, even
though she's such a bad Texter.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Sounds like the NFL is in very, very good hands.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how each of you
use your unique set of skills to lead the way,
especially you Sink, since it sounds like you're leaning away
from becoming the de facto coach slash ambassador slash influence
that I imagine you will just inevitably become as a result
(33:59):
of all the.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Knowledge that you have up there. But it's going to
be fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Good luck with the launch and the big opening day,
and we look forward to watching.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Thank you for having us, Thanks so much for having
us and come up here. We'll catch a game in
the summer.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Thanks so much to Diana and Christine for joining us.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
We got to take another break when we return the
most remote Tim Horton's on Earth.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Welcome back slices.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
We love that you're listening, but we want you to
get in the game every day too, So here's our
good game play of the day. Fire up that ESPN
Plus and catch the first game in Northern Super League
history tonight as Vancouver rie'se FC hosts Calgary Wild FC
at ten pm Eastern.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And look at a damn map?
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Would you don't be a dumb American like me learn
stuff like that place?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Nuna It despite it.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Being the largest territory in the entire country, it only
has one city called Echalcowit And if you're going there,
you can actually say the old Doc Brown line.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Roads where we're going.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
We don't need roads because there aren't any roads at
all that connect the rest of Canada to noon of it It. Seriously,
you got to get there by plane or by boat.
But once you're there, there's a cathedral shaped like an igloo.
There's a curling rink, an eighteen whole disc golf course,
an emergency services station with one engine, one ladder and
(35:25):
just three ambulances, and of course a Tim Horton's show
field trip. We'd love to hear from you. Hit us
up on email. Good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, and
don't forget to subscribe a rate and review. It's easy
watch fig Jam with Crackers and Cheese rating six thousand
out of six thousand Taste Buds doing backflips review, I
(35:48):
mean need essay more. It's fake jam, crackers and cheese.
If you're looking for a snack, that'll take it a
flavor town, look no further. It's sweet, a little savory, crunchy, salty.
I'd love to use a black pepper flavored cracker just
for a tad more pizzaz or one of those Fi's
oatcake biscuits with some nice cheddar. I'm telling you try
(36:09):
it if you haven't already. And if you don't like
fig Jam, well I'm sorry for you.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Now it's your turn. Rate and review. Thanks for listening,
See you tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Good game, Dina and Sync, Good game, NSL you Rhoads.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
We don't need you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network.
Our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
Our editors are Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, and Grace Lynch.
(36:50):
Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host
Sarah Spain
Host
Sarah Spain
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