The W-League’s Senior Director, Melanie Fitzgerald, was gracious enough to answer some questions regarding the current state of the league, its outlook for the future and her thoughts on what’s going to transpire on the field for the 2010 season.

Part Two of our interview deals with why the W-League is the only women’s soccer league with a presence in Canada, foreign players in the league, possible foreign expansion and the possibility of a Women’s U.S. Open Cup. Check out Part One here.

AWK: The W-League is the only women’s league of its kind in Canada. What brought you guys up there and are there any plans to expand in the CONCACAF region?

MF: We definitely have a special niche in Canada. The USL has a total of seven W-League franchises in Canada which is quite a presence. We first expanded into Canada on the women’s side with the Laval Dynamites in 1999, which was four years after the launch of the league, and then we expanded into Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver in 2001. Interestingly enough, Vancouver was brought about through Tammy Gage who was the W-League Director prior to my time. She founded the Vancouver Breakers and additionally played on the Canadian Women’s National Team. Her relationship with Vancouver was part of bringing them into the W-League. As Director of the W-League the Leagues overall profile was enhanced in Canada because networks of contact, being a National Team player, and a team founder as well. Additionally, we’ve been able to move forward in that market because there’s no outside competition. You look at Ottawa and Vancouver today and they are some of our strongest W-League franchises. I believe that our presence in Canada will only continue to grow.

AWK: What’s the fan support up there like? I mean I know in MLS, Toronto FC has a huge following, so is the passion the same on the women’s side as well?

MF: It is. You don’t see the same kind of numbers on the women’s side as you would on the men’s side but they do have strong fan support. Look at the Vancouver Whitecaps Women; they’re getting anywhere between 1,000 and 2,500 a game, which is fantastic for this level. Quebec City was an expansion franchise in 2009 and they were averaging between 1,000 and 2,000 a game. There definitely is a following for it, even on the women’s side. Ottawa has a lot of success and we’ve had success in the other markets as well. It looks like the marketplace will continue to do well.

AWK: And the W-League has seen its fair share of foreign talent. Are they any foreign players you’re excited to see this season?

MF: We’ve had a few player signings start to take place and a multiple players registrations comingin so while there’s not a particular name that we’ve put out there yet I know that the Buffalo Flash is doing a good job at looking at several nationally-ranked foreign players and we’re looking forward to upcoming announcements from other teams. We’ve always looked to bring in great foreign talent. Look at FC Indiana several years ago, with the likes of Laura Del Rio and Monica Ocampo, who are now in WPS. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of it.

I also wanted to go back to your last question about maybe expanding to the CONCACAF region. I think that’s a great question and it’s one I touched on last week in one of my blogs about what’s happening on the men’s side with the Champions League and different competitions. I would love to see more of this start to happen on the female side. USL has done a great job in terms of enhancing our presence in countries that people wouldn’t think of, such as Puerto Rico and Bermuda. There are men’s teams there and is there a possibility there could be on the women’s side? Absolutely. Would we consider it? Absolutely. It has to make sense geographically and financially for our teams, but I would love to see that type of expansion take place.

AWK: And that’s something I’ve been thinking about as well. The CONCACAF Gold Cup Qualifying is happening and the Central American phase occurred last week. And I was looking at some countries like Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador, all countries that people wouldn’t think would have a strong following for women’s football at all. I’m learning about the players and thinking ‘where do these players play? Where are they going to go after the tournament?’ So it would be interesting to see the W-League maybe expand down there. It would mean so much for the growth of women’s soccer in this region and the world, really.

MF: I completely agree.

AWK: You just mentioned your blog, and I read a recent entry about your thoughts on possibly starting a Women’s U.S. Open Cup. I’m really excited about this prospect and if it can take place. So can you elaborate on your thoughts on this and can we make it a reality eventually?

MF: I’m pretty passionate about this topic as well. I think it’s something that’s absolutely needed and would be great for the overall profile of women’s soccer. I just started talking about this concept with some of the W-League owners last year and the interest is very high. We’ve seen what it’s done from a success standpoint on the men’s side and I think we can see the same in the women’s game. How close we are to that is unknown. It’s a little difficult given that WPS has only been in existence for two years. They’re still trying to establish themselves and ensure that longevity, but with that being said, I think there are some interesting concepts that we could get started immediately on the amateur side. There’s already the USASA Women’s Open Cup, but what could be potentially done with that to include more W-League teams. I’ve raised the topic myself with USASA and there’s been some interest, it just hasn’t surfaced beyond that. I think the more people begin to write about it and talk about it, the more people will become interested and they’ll start to realize that something like this does need to take place. What I can continue to do is to see how this works from the W-League standpoint, raise more awareness on it and we’ll just continue to push it on all fronts.

AWK: Right, I think it will eventually become a reality if we can generate the interest in it and if we can propose something that’s practical and can please all sides. I think that it will happen, we just need to make it happen.

MF: I agree, I think we’re close. It’s just a matter of everything being discussed and bringing the issue to the platform at various levels. From operating the men’s side here internally, we have everything set in place to do it. We’re just waiting for it to be officially organized.

Check back tomorrow for the final installment in which Melanie discusses the W-League’s commitment to developing youth and possible storylines for the 2010 season.

View Original Post at allwhitekit.wordpress.com

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