NSL's Calgary Wild look to build on old communities and create new ones for women's soccer
Coach Lydia Bedford embracing challenge of learning about her new city
Canada is a soccer nation. More specifically, Canada is a women's soccer nation. As the debut of the Northern Super League draws near, we are getting an opportunity to explore different regions and different cultures of women's soccer within Canada.
AFC Toronto is firmly planting itself as a prestigious club in the biggest city where the existing market is the largest; Halifax Tides have arguably the best mascot, Jawslyn, who has already generated online buzz.
One of Canada's beloved cities that screams stampede but not necessarily women's soccer is Calgary. The Calgary Wild is one of the six inaugural teams that will begin play in April. I went to Calgary to find out how the Wild are building up a culture of women's sports. At the very foundation is construction. They brought in a leader, club president Lara Murphy, from the construction industry to build it.
In Phil and Sebastian Coffee Roasters, a local coffee company, I sat with head coach Lydia Bedford (first woman to coach in the English Premier League), Murphy, and Chris Dornan, the head of the team's media and communications department.
WATCH | Calgary Wild gear up for inaugural season:
Over flat whites and a lot of Maritimes banter — Murphy is originally from New Brunswick — we talked about how they will fill the stands of McMahon Stadium (home of the CFL Stampeders), how they are assembling a team, and what their hopes are.
"Calgary is the third most diverse city in Canada," Murphy said. "And [we can use this] in a way in which we can create a sense of belonging. That's all any of us want. Whether we're high-performance athletes, we're writing stories, we're leading a team, we're selling tickets, whatever the case is, we jwant that sense of belonging and and it's inspiring."
Construction of a culture relies heavily on connections and understanding. Beford, who grew up in Guilford, England, admits the Canadian soccer landscape is new for her.
"I still think I've got a lot to learn," Bedford said. "But I think that comes with time and meeting people and listening. A lot of listening that I'm going to be doing over the next few weeks; to the players that are local and the people that I meet trying to piece together what it all means."
There are some moments for Bedford where there is a happy coincidence. Guilford has a hockey team and they are called the Guilford Flames. In a previous interview with CBC Sports, Bedford was asked if she was looking forward to going to see the Calgary Flames.
"And I was like, hang on! What's the Calgary team called? Is it like, Flames? Destiny," Bedford said with a smile.
The team has signed local players, including a pair of 17-year old twins, but their first signing was Farkhunda Muhtaj, a seasoned player who has a deep history of advocacy work in sports.
That combination of local and global talent may be the winning formula for a city like Calgary that boasts numerous successful athletes, although mostly in winter sports.
The power of relatability and familiarity in sports shouldn't be underestimated and can be crucial when you're building — something that Bedford thinks she is drawn to. Coming from an education background, her first full-time coaching job was as an international youth coach. Beyond lineups, Bedford is thinking about long-term growth of the team.
"One of the things I say to [the players] consistently is everything about what we do has great intentions behind it," Bedford said. "You're coming to a club where we plan to try and look after you and do things the right way, but at the same time, you're coming to a startup. So there's going to be an element where it isn't going to be perfect, but the intentions behind how we'll interact with you and what we'll put in place will be as good as we can make them."
Ensuring that the Wild players are meshing well with the team as a whole, and their identities and personalities connect is essential to the practice of belonging. Bedford has studied New Zealand coach Owen Eastwood's work from Māori tradition that focuses on belonging. It is rooted in a sense of communal acceptance and belonging based on genealogy. But this principle can be applied to sports teams and any high-achieving group of people. It's also about connecting as a community, something that the leadership team at the Wild seems to have as a practice.
Building on old communities and creating new ones for women's soccer is exactly how the team is planning to build up its own supporter base.
"The multicultural element of Calgary is going to be huge," Dornan said. "Calgary is a big city with a small city mentality that's built on community. And I think at the core of all of this is people."
Dornan said the team's announcements about its players have focused on their stories.
"They're human interest stories," he said. "So it's all about people's stories, and that's what's going to connect with the community."
Although Calgary has a small town feel, it doesn't mean it isn't looking for winning and fierce competition with the other teams in the NSL.
Murphy asserts that the league has strong leaders and although there is competition, there is also support among the different teams as they build. She says that the league, and league president Christina Litz, have set a tone of collaboration in which teams can share information about sponsorship, ticketing, website traffic, and investments.
Murphy and Dornan believe that Calgarians will embrace a new women's soccer team, that the community will want to see local players who have new opportunities. Calgary has a robust scene of university and college women's teams and also a competitive League 1 women's league. But as in the case of other cities across Canada, having a professional women's team will bring it to the next level.
But the importance of building something up nationally and each team having their own part to play in that greater ecosystem is an important part of sports history in Canada.
As the country's epicentre for winter sports development, Calgary could very well also be fuelling some of the best women's soccer in Canada.
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