ST JOHN’S, NL – We’re now into the month of April and all traces of winter have begin to subside and with that comes the onslaught of outdoor sports for spring and summer season.
This week the Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer Association (NLSA) announced its list of teams and categories for the upcoming 2025 season. Everything was pretty much business as usual except for one! The division that is, arguably, considered the crown jewel of men’s soccer is the problem as I see it.
The once dominant Challenge Cup League posted many different mixtures of teams throughout the years with mainstays like the St Lawrence Laurentians, Holy Cross Crusaders and St John’s Athletic Association having always stuck around but others have come and gone mostly due to out migration. Especially in the smaller communities.
Long gone are the days of the Lawn Shamrocks, The Burin Eagles, Marystown Mariners and the Grand Bank GB’s. All communities that once flourished with young people have all but dried up. And most of the four mentioned have not competed since at least the mid-90s. So for the past decade or more it had been the Saint Lawrence Laurentians, Holy Cross Crusaders, Fieldians, CBS Strikers and Paradise Soccer Club.
Mount Pearl was in the mix for a number of years but the team was allowed founder and it wasn’t until the last couple seasons that they finally managed to get a team back in the mix.
Not a very competitive team but a team nonetheless so most participants suspected it would be business as usual for this coming summer. But that wasn’t the case. For the first time in a very long time we had not one but two new entrants into the provincial challenge cup League.
For the first time in the history of the organization Portugal Cove – St Phillips will enter into the league alongside St John’s Soccer, who we’ll also see in their first inaugural season in the history of the organization this coming year.
Now you will get many naysayers who will argue that this will water down the league competition and will not make the league any better. I think its quite the opposite. Yes, these teams for the most part will probably flounder around at the bottom of the points table for a couple seasons but like any good program those are the growing pains that come with building a new program.
Hopefully this will help extend the season a little longer and be a solid base for growth. It’s going to be an interesting season for senior men’s soccer here in the province.
Teams, Schedule and stats can be found on the NLSA Challenge CUP web page
