Harbourside FC will play their home games at the newly-renamed q'unq'inuqwstuxw Stadium in Nanaimo. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

game on

Semi-pro League1 soccer expands to Nanaimo through new Harbourside FC team

Oct 19, 2022 | 12:36 PM

NANAIMO — The upstart League1 British Columbia soccer league is expanding.

Following its debut season in 2022 which saw seven teams take part, including one from the Vancouver Whitecaps, Nanaimo will join the schedule beginning in 2023 under the name Harbourside FC.

Club executive director Jason Coates said being the league’s first expansion club and second team on Vancouver Island is a huge win for local soccer players.

“The idea is that League1 is really filling that developmental gap,’ Coates told NanaimoNewsNOW. “What does a player do when they’re leaving U17, U18 but still has aspirations of playing in university or potentially play on a provincial or national level, or potentially professionally.”

The announcement includes both semi-pro men’s and women’s teams beginning play in May 2023.

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Coates added while League1 teams are open-aged, meaning no restriction or aging out, they’ll be young and local.

“We’re going to be targeting regional club players that are entering that U23 zone, we’re going to be targeting current university players who are maybe from the region, other adult players who are maybe at that level.”

The new organization is a stand-alone group but will have close working relationships with both Nanaimo United FC as well as the VIU Mariners program.

Home games will be played at Q’unq’inuqwstuxw Turf Field, formerly NDSS Community Field.

Harbourside FC’s logo is loosely modelled on the shape of a ferry and forms an ‘H’, using waves to represent Nanaimo’s coastal location. A lighter blue, dubbed Salish Sea Blue, is paired with the darker Departure Bay Blue in the design.

Seasons in League1 run from May to August, with Burnaby’s TSS Rovers and Vancouver Whitecaps winning the men’s and women’s divisions respectively in the league’s inaugural year.

Other teams are in North Vancouver, Kamloops, Langley, UBC and Victoria.

“The league as a whole is keen to develop those regional communities or hubs of soccer and we’re really keen to do that,” Coates added. “We are without question to serve the players, male and female, of the central Island.”

Information on coaching staff, schedule and ticketing will be public in the weeks and months to come.

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alex@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley