Dear friends,
It would appear that some time has passed since the writing of this communication was started. Having frantically sanitized this space of several lines of indulgent autumnal imagery, digitally scrubbed all traces of pumpkin spice, obliterated weird-at-the-time, even-weirder-now references to Christmas festivities, we find ourselves smack in the middle of the doldrums of winter. Worse still, in the doldrums with a job to do: close the book on a summer season that now seems a lifetime ago. Duty calls, and we will not shirk the responsibility, even if we are grossly guilty of the sin of tardiness.
All These Things That You’ve Done
Before we get into the cold, cold business of our winter season, let’s review the summer exploits of younger (all of us were, technically) gentlemen.
A very belated but nonetheless elated congrats to dominant Saturday league winners, Ed Duncan’s Indigoooal! (Navy Blue) and Founders Cup winners, Mike Hoefler’s I Pink, Therefore I Am (Pink). In Thursday night action, Bruno Paltrinieri’s Toy Soldiers (Green) topped the league table, and the (still-yet-to-be named cup… whoops!) Thursday Night League Cup was won by Askar Umarbekov’s Frozen Fury. Great job, all you champs!
Kudos to Mike Hoeffler’s “I Pink, Therefore I Am” (Pink) and Alex Martel’s “Sons of Bananarchy” (Yellow) for winning the awards for best team names. Ed Duncan’s “Indigoooal” (Navy Blue) and Eben Crofton’s “Men in Blanc” (White) pick up the Team SOTL award for accumulating the fewest cards in their respective seasons. The real winners are the charities you have selected, Kids Up Front, Operation Come Home, and the Ottawa Food Bank, who are all receiving donations in honour of your achievements!
And last, but certainly not least, a hearty bravo to Shawn Snowdon and Askar Umarbekov for winning the Spirit of the League awards for the Saturday and Thursday leagues, respectively. You are true gentlemen on and off the pitch, and we are all lucky to have you as leaguemates!
Bruno Paltrinieri’s Toy Soldiers topped the league table
Thursday Night League Cup was won by Askar Umarbekov’s Frozen Fury
Saturday Founders Cup winners, Mike Hoefler’s I Pink, Therefore I Am
Welcome Newbies!
Again, this is long overdue, but we would be remiss if we did not issue our warmest welcome to the newest members of the BA Soccer League! As we make our way through this winter season, you are hopefully finding out what everybody else here knows, this is a league unlike any other. As you have no doubt been told (hopefully a number of times), we place great emphasis here on keeping things fun, friendly and respectful every single week. You are well into your first season in the league and hopefully enjoying it! We must remind you that the fun and spirit of the league is not Int ern al limited to the pitch; we highly recommend you make at least a few appearances at the (very nearby) Bad Alibi pub to get to know the gents that make this league what it is, be they teammates or future teammates. In addition to the Bad Alibi’s top-notch food and drink, don’t forget: we give away some pretty sweet prizes at the pub each and every week that only pub dwellers… er… goers… are eligible to win.
Such A Great Meeting!
Ok, so SAGM stands for Semi-Annual General Meeting, but we’re allowed to take liberties with our acronyms from time to time! Real talk, do we even have an official consensus on BASL? “Beer After Soccer League”, “Bros Assemble Somewhere Loud”, this league clearly means many things to many people. The next meeting will indeed be great, and more specifically, it will be on Thursday March 5th, at the Bad Alibi, immediately following the Thursday night matches.
We encourage you to attend and have your say, or even just have a listen, to important matters that decide the present and future of the league, as well as one or more dad jokes, courtesy of Denis. As we like to say, there’s always room for improvement (of the league, that is – we have no notes for Denis’ comedy).
On that note, if you have a motion you’d like to propose, we recommend the following: Have a chat with a few members to get an idea of how other members feel about your proposal. If you believe there may be some support for the idea, we invite you to draft up and submit a motion. We will publish the proposed motions 2 weeks before the meeting to allow members to read, think, and/or talk about it and will discuss at the meeting, followed by vote, if applicable.
In short, we want you there and we want you to make your opinion heard.
Our Semi Annual General Meeting (SAGM) is scheduled for:
Thursday, March 5, 2026
10:30 PM
The Bad Alibi
Agenda:
- Opening & Welcome – Denis
- Financials – Matt
- Election – Equipment Manager
- Election – Secretariat
- Motions
There will be some food provided by the league.
If you’d like to submit a motion, please use this link to download the form and send it to info@basoccer.ca
The 3 Rs: Recognize, Rest, Recover!
First, a little recognition for the work Jeff Lewis does to keep things running smoothly on your rosters: Jeff graciously manages the short-term assignments to replace players who have declared themselves unavailable for four consecutive games, or longer. Here’s where you come in: we need you to help your team by recognizing those instances when you will be missing multiple games (particularly due to injury) and telling your manager. This lets Jeff do his thing and get your team a quality (your quality, in fact) replacement. Let’s be honest, even professionals who pull a hamstring or calf muscle, roll an ankle, etc. usually need at least 3 weeks to recover. We urge you to take the time to recover properly and come back strong. Don’t leave your team guessing each week as to whether you will be there. In most cases, they will not be permitted to get a spare for you unless a number of other guys are missing.
The BA Code of Conduct:
New and improved, no slide tackles! Yes, we say this in just about every newsletter in every season, but just call us suckers for the classics. The BASL is known as one of Ottawa’s absolute best recreational leagues when it comes to sportsmanship and camaraderie – this includes equal respect for referees, teammates and opponents alike (remember that within a few years those opponents will be your teammates).
We do love a competitive atmosphere, and recognize that everyone has a bad day from time to time – there will be slip-ups – but anyone who develops a pattern of rash challenges, abusive behaviour, or just general lack of respect for the league’s goal of a fun and friendly atmosphere, will stick out like a sore thumb and will be dealt with swiftly and accordingly. This is our BA code of conduct. In particular, we have had plenty of recent discussion about slide tackles and hope it is universally clear at this juncture: THERE ARE NO SLIDE TACKLE ATTEMPTS IN THE BA! The perfectly-timed, all-ball, textbook slide tackle does not exist ‘round these parts. Merely attempting to slide in the presence of an opponent is a yellow card, at minimum. New players, we now know that you know. Returning members, we know you know we know you know, and we are counting on you to set the example for newer players.
Alright, that’s it for now! Thank you all once again for reading, and for joining us for another great season. We are looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season plays out! Keep yourselves warm and your beverages cold!
Your BA Executive Team