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LIONS
JOIN BEAVERS AT THE DAM
22nd May 2008
Welcome
to the Brampton Lions Football (Soccer) Club to the home of
the Brampton Beavers Rugby Club. BRFC President Kent Tumber
and Lucia Tumber, have been working with Brampton Lions' Phil Ionadi
to welcome the "beautiful game" to our facilities.
The Brampton Lions
have been renting field space for their practices throughout the
Spring, and the Rugby Club will continue to
rent
them field space for the rest of the season.
Brampton Lions' soccer is now in
their 6th year of operation in the Canadian Soccer League (CSL).They
were previously known as the 2005 Champions Oakville Blue
Devils and the Canadian Lions. They have
decided to relocate in Brampton, where there is a thriving sports
community, and their new name will be the Brampton Lions.
They were previously a member of the professional
league’s International Division, but will now play their home
games in Brampton’s Victoria Park in the National Division of the
Canadian Soccer League.
Antonio Carvalho, the president of the new
Brampton Lions FC, would like nothing better than to bring the
Canadian title back to the city that captured the Soccer League
championship as Brampton Hitmen back in 2003. His new
management team includes former Hitmen captain Phil Ionadi
who becomes director of soccer operations, while Barry Goldlist is
the club’s vice president.
The highly regarded Ionadi has a strong background in professional
soccer, including A-League (now USL) experience with the Toronto
Lynx and a stint with Montreal Impact as well as indoor
soccer Club Toronto Thunderhawks before a successful venture
into the Canadian Soccer League.
The team will look to appoint a new coach to take over from the
Goran Miscevic, who has recently accepted a coaching position in the
Persian Gulf state of Qatar’s top division.
“We have always been impressed by how much Brampton and mayor Susan
Fennell supports soccer, so the decision to step into this community
as the professional franchise was an easy one for us,” explained
Ionadi, “There is plenty of young talent here, the local soccer
community is great to work with and Victoria Park is one of the best
grounds in the GTA.”
To aid the Brampton Lions with establishing the new Club,
the organization has appointed Cosmos Sports as their marketing
agency. Cosmos Sports is a diverse sports marketing company located
in Mississauga, which has worked with the Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto
Argonauts and a wide variety of professional sports organizations
throughout North America.
Brampton Rugby Club welcomes the Lions to Beavers'
territory and looks forward to a mutually beneficial arrangement and
every success for the Soccer Club in the coming season.
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