River FC will begin play in 1LeagueBC starting in May 2022 (Image Credit: Rivers FC)

By Chad Klassen

RIVERS FC SOCCER

Rivers FC newest Kamloops sports team to begin play next summer

Nov 5, 2021 | 2:42 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Tournament Capital is home to a new semi-professional soccer team.

The newest team Rivers FC was revealed on Friday by a group of well-known individuals in the Kamloops soccer community who will run the team, including general manager Keith Liddiard.

Starting next summer, Kamloops will be one of seven teams in the newly-formed League1BC soccer league, featuring both a men’s and women’s team.

“I think it’s going to be massive,” said John Antulov, the current TRU WolfPack men’s soccer coach who will step in and coach the Rivers FC men starting in 2022. “Aside from the university, being able to bring this level into Kamloops, and not just Kamloops but the Okanagan, I think it’s going to be huge for soccer in Kamloops.”

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League1BC will be a semi-professional development league that hopes to attract the best players from B.C., including quality amateur players in Kamloops and even players with the TRU WolfPack.

BC Soccer, which initiated the idea of such a league starting in 2016, says it has noticed a gap in the sport from grassroots to the professional game.

“Our vision for League1 is to create a level of competition that provides opportunities for players, coaches and officials to get into professional environments, into higher advancements into the game,” said Director of Operations for BC Soccer Gabriel Assis. “We look at League1 being a platform that can springboard players, coaches and referees into the CPL [Canadian Premier League], a new women’s professional league, and our national programs.”

Rivers FC will be run by a non-profit society made up of a board of directors. According to Liddiard, it will cost about $150,000 a year to run the team, most of which will be for travel to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

For TRU women’s coach Mark Pennington, the league may serve as a great recruiting tool for the program, but also keep current WolfPack playing during the offseason if they’re good enough.

“We can play anybody in this league. Who we deem [can play] at the level will be a good asset to the team,” said Pennington. “So we can have youth players, we could have alumni. It will give a good scope. Some of the alumni can come back and act more as mentors to maybe some of the younger players.”

Liddiard says Rivers FC will likely lean on university players, including WolfPack talent, in the first couple years of the league.

“The great thing about it is it gives us year-round quality, competitive soccer,” said TRU goalkeeper Jackson Gardner. “Obviously towards the end of the summer, we’ll start preseason with our [TRU] team, then in the fall we dive into the USPORTS season. This is just a great alternative to keep us fit year-round. It starts May 1, so it’s just a great high-level thing to have throughout the year.”

It will take the Kamloops-based squad a couple years to build up talent to compete.

One of the three teams that’s been announced is the Vancouver Whitecaps, which will have its reserve squad in the league. Another team that will play out of Richmond is in the process of recruiting a couple former Major League Soccer players.