Corner Brook men's soccer league adds new team

As long as Daniel Whitten has the competitive edge for kicking around the soccer ball he plans on being on the pitch.

Whitten was eagerly waiting to see if Western was entering a team in the provincial Challenge Cup men’s soccer setup this summer because he wanted to play the game at a high level, but once he got word that there would be no return for Western he opted to keep himself immersed in the game by forming his own team for the Corner Brook senior men’s soccer league after having a good chat about the possibility of doing so.

He will be a member of the Ford Mustangs in what will now be a five-team senior men’s soccer league in Corner Brook and he’s excited about playing some competitive games against some pretty good teams.

“I think our team will definitely be competitive and that’s one of the reasons why we wanted to put a team together,” Whitten said Tuesday on a sunny day in the city.

The Mustangs roster will feature Whitten and a handful of teammates from last year’s Corner Brook Steers United, a couple of fleet-footed guys who played Challenge Cup on a previous occasion and a couple of international students attending Grenfell Campus who played indoor soccer with Whitten and decided to spend the summer kicking around the ball with their new friends and teammates.

He believes the league will welcome some new faces and an extra team because it will add variety to the league because more people playing the game will keep things fresh, but he’s also quick to point out that the other teams in the league will be better with the rest of the Challenge Cup players from last season dispersed throughout the league.

“It’s not like we just scooped up all the former Challenge Cup players and said alright this is our new men’s league team,” he said. “There is definitely lots of talent dispersed amongst the league and we’re just hoping to be in the mix and just have some fun.”

He admits it wasn’t a lot of fun with the ups and downs of his Challenge Cup career over the past two seasons so he hopes there will be more reason to celebrate this summer.

“We’re definitely hoping that with this squad we’d be able to enjoy a little bit more success that we’ve tasted the past couple of summers,” he said.

League president Pat Fewer, also the coach of the now-defunct Challenge Cup entry from the west coast, was happy to welcome a new team to the fold this summer.

“Any time you can add a team and promote the game of soccer that’s a bonus,” Fewer said. “We look to do that every year … when we lose teams it’s a detriment to the league and really to the whole system.”

Fewer believes the new team will not only boost the numbers, but improve the overall culture and competitive level of soccer in the league overall.

“The calibre of soccer will definitely be a little better and teams will be a little deeper so that helps,” Fewer said.