During a historic week of solidarity for North American professional sports, the Canadian Premier League made its own mark.
Every CPL player, all eight coaches, and league officials came together in a show of solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement, racial equality and social justice after the recent shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.
Each CPL player took to the field and took a knee for the Canadian national anthem followed by a moment of silence prior to the Cavalry and Atlético Ottawa’s kick-off at the Island Games Tournament on P.E.I. on Aug. 27.
“That’s what puts this (Atlético) game into perspective, the result is irrelevant to what’s going on in the world,” said Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. following the 2-0 loss. “There’s a lot of sadness out there, there’s a lot of hate that needs to be brought to justice, there’s a lot of social injustice and prejudice that’s not being addressed in the world, in particular our neighbours to the south, but not exclusive to them.
“For us, as the players stood together on this, all the clubs stood together on this I think it sent a powerful message. We might not have as big a voice as say an NBA or maybe even the MLS, but it’s an important one because we can start effecting the circles we can control.”
The Ottawa and Cavalry players also stopped playing, took a knee and raised a fist at the 8:46 mark of the first-half, in honour of George Floyd.
Cavalry wingback Nathan Mavila, born in London, England to parents from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said it meant a great deal to have the full support of the players, teams, officials and league on display.
“It helps you not feel alone,” said Mavila at the post-match press conference. “At times you do feel like it’s a massive world and you’re not understood and you feel like no one understands what you’re going through and, to be honest, no one will ever understand.
“But the fact you’ve got support helps and the fact that this morning all the players got together, met up with the commissioner (David Clanachan) and really said what’s on their hearts and the commissioner took it into account and credit to him, he helped us and we’ve done something so powerful and I couldn’t be more proud of the players and the league.”
The Cavalry gaffer credited all of the black leaders on the team — the likes of Mavila, Jordan Brown, Elijah Adekugbe, Tofa Fakunle, Mohamed Farsi and Bruno Zebie — for their powerful leadership on the matter.
“That speaks volumes to the black players on our team and the diversity amongst the group,” he said. “We’ve got players of different colour, players of different ethnicity and religion, but when we put on the jersey and we’re kicking the ball around I think we don’t see colour, we see each other as human beings and that’s how the world should be.
“It’s not, but we’ve got to continue to be the positive effect on the society that we’re involved in.”
Once the action on the pitch resumed the Cavs saw their bid for an undefeated first-round record at the Island Games tournament come to an end.
“To have gone through an undefeated first round would have take some doing given the amount of games that there are, the shortened turnover, the rotation of the squad and the strength of the opposition,” the coach said.
Ottawa, the new addition to the CPL in its second season, earned the first victory in its short history with the 2-0 result on a pair of second-half tallies from Ben Fisk and Malcolm Shaw.
“Atlético you’ve got to give them credit, they played a very good game, sat deep and tried to hit us on the counter,” Wheeldon Jr. said. “We’ve won a lot of games in the past and know what it’s like to feel like that first one, they’re a welcome addition to the league and credit to them.”
The Cavalry wrapped up the week in a 2-1 loss to Pacific FC with Mavila scoring the lone goal on a second-half penalty kick. Alejandro Díaz Liceága and Marco Bustos found the back of the net for Vancouver Island squad.
Sitting in second place, one point back of Forge FC, the Cavs (3-1-2) complete the first-round of the Island Games in a Sept. 5 versus York9 FC.
The top four teams from the first round move on to the group stage of the competition.
For more information go to cavalry.canpl.ca
