The Infamous Book of Unwritten Rules

People have tried to put together lists of unwritten rules for various sports ever since the term came into sports culture. Writing a list of unwritten rules (ignore the obvious irony) has often sparked serious debate among those involved in sports over what should be expected of athletes, coaches, fans, the front office and owners in specific situations. These rules and controversies vary from sport to sport, but in team sports there is one that is generally universally excepted.

If you're playing in a game that is useless for you, but means something for your opponents and other teams in the league, you play a full squad.

If you don't know which event I'm talking about yet, last night Toronto FC won the Voyageurs Cup after beating a Montreal "B" squad 6-1. Toronto went into the game needing at least a four goal win to prevent Vancouver from taking home the Voyageurs Cup. Montreal had lost every game in the tournament up to this point and had nothing at stake (except the apparently irrelevant factors of dignity and pride).

Last night's performance from the Montreal Impact showed a lack of respect for the Voyageurs Cup, and Canadian soccer. Montreal's 2008 Voyageurs Cup victory was considered by many supporters to be their greatest moment in club history. It also became the stepping stone for a successful CONCACAF Champions League run in which the Impact played a quarterfinal in front of 55,000 people at the Big O. Just to put this in perspective on average there are two sporting events in Canada every year that attract this type of audience, the Grey Cup and the Blue Jay's home opener. After Montreal realized the potential that winning the Voyageurs Cup presents one would have thought they would have shown more respect to the other two teams in the competition by playing a full squad.

This disrespect for the competition was not one shared by Vancouver in 2008, in fact Vancouver played a big part in helping Montreal win the tournament. They beat Toronto 1-0 at BMO Field, then tied Toronto 2-2 at Swangard, giving Montreal an opportunity to close out the tournament against Toronto which they did. Vancouver played these games after they had lost both their opening games to Montreal, which essentially eliminated them from the competition. Vancouver was apparently wrong in assuming that Montreal would have remembered this favour.

Even if these factors weren't evident, even if this match had been a useless friendly the prospect of a Toronto-Montreal match should have been enough to yield a full line up from both of these teams. These two cities share a rich history of sports rivalries with the Habs and the Leafs, as well as the Argos and the Alouettes. This rivalry between the Impact and Toronto FC seemed to be shaping up nicely, but Marc De Santos, the Impact coach, seems to have deemed that games against the likes of Miami and Austin to be more important.

Now maybe De Santos believed the team he put out against Toronto had the ability to beat them, or at least hold them to a three goal win. If this is true then he was well in his right to send out a team that could benefit from the experience, while maintaining the competition's integrity. It would have been evident at 3-1 that Toronto had some chance of pulling off this improbable victory. Maybe it took until 4-1, but eventually it would have been obvious that Toronto was in with a shout. So why not bring on the array of talent available on the bench to calm the match down a little if nothing else. Team MVP Sandro Grande, the team's top forward Roberto Brown, and young Canadian standout defender Alex Surprenant, were all on the bench to start the match. They were all still there after the ninety minutes were up.

With all this being said, last night obviously was an embarrassing night for the Impact, a disappointing night for Vancouver, but before anyone says that last night was bad for the competition, look again. It was by far the most drama that this Nutrilite Canadian Championship tournament has provided. The football Toronto played last night was not only entertaining, but a display of some of the best quality they've shown in a long time. In the final game of the Canadian Championship, the man who really lifted Toronto to the Cup was a Canadian, Dwayne DeRosario, who scored the first ever hat trick in Toronto FC history. Most importantly the biggest club in terms of fan support, media attention, and cash is going to the CONCACAF Champions League which can only mean more exposure for footy in Canada.

[Cross-posted to The Canadian Stretford End]

Goodbye, Greg

It is be a big day for hockey fans, thanks to the Phoenix mess continuing to play out in court and Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final going tonight, and it's also a big day for Canadian basketball fans with Jason Kapono traded from the Raptors (Michael Grange, The Globe and Mail) for Reggie Evans, but there's some important soccer news as well. Toronto FC announced today (John F. Molinaro, CBC Sports) that they had released veteran goalkeeper Greg Sutton (pictured) and traded a 2010 third-round draft pick to the San Jose Earthquakes for American defender Nick Garcia and the MLS rights to Canadian striker Ali Gerba. Analysis on what it all means and some links after the jump.

This is a move that had to be made. Sutton is a talented goalkeeper, but he's been replaced in the TFC starting lineup by rookie Stefan Frei this season, who has been spectacular so far. Sutton may well be picked up by another MLS club and perhaps even have a chance to start, but he wasn't particularly needed in Toronto after Frei emerged as a star and his guaranteed contract of $165,000 was just too high for a backup goalkeeper in the strict salary cap world of MLS. His release opens a roster spot and adds cap room, plus it should give younger goalkeeper Brian Edwards more playing time to develop as Frei's backup. Gerba and Garcia are nice pickups as well, and Sutton's departure paved the way for their entrance.

Ideally, it would have been nice to get something for him in trade, but general manager Mo Johnston didn't have a lot of leverage. MLS has more depth at keeper than any other position; most teams have at least one solid netminder, and many of them are American, which helps with the roster limits on imports. The U.S. has actually been more successful at bringing up talented keepers than most countries, and certainly has done a better job of developing star goalkeepers than other players; Tim Howard and Brad Friedel are two of the best keepers in the English Premier League (for Everton and Aston Villa respectively) and there are plenty of other American standouts in MLS, including Seattle's Kasey Keller. Thus, no MLS team would be too desperate to trade for a 32-year-old Canadian with a history of concussion problems who was likely to be released anyway thanks to his contract; why pay for what you can get for free? If they are interested, he can be claimed quite easily now.

Toronto fans should thank Sutton for his service. He was one of the original members of the club and was their starting goalkeeper for their first two seasons. He played quite well during that time and turned in some solid performances with the Canadian national team as well. Unfortunately, he suffered a severe concussion at the 2007 Gold Cup, which kept him out for a significant amount of time and appeared to affect his play to a degree when he returned to the TFC lineup. He battled back from that, though, and seemed to be back in fine form lately, but he wasn't playing as well as Frei and was very expendable due to his contract. Despite that, he will be fondly remembered by many TFC fans, and he may be again cheered by national team fans in the future depending on where he winds up.

Where will Sutton wind up? It's hard to say. In MLS, D.C. United is most well-known as a side with goalkeeping problems, but many of those appear to be because of their inability to choose and stick with a number-one keeper. I'm not sure Sutton is the answer there. Another MLS side may take a flier on him, perhaps initially as a backup, but his Canadian passport and contract expectations may hurt those chances. He could also wind up overseas.

One intriguing possibility is another Canadian side. Matt Jordan of the Montreal Impact has looked rather shaky lately and was unimpressive in Sunday's match against the Whitecaps. Sutton's Canadian passport would be attractive to Montreal and his tenure with the national team would likely make him a popular player there. The lack of a salary cap in the USL and Montreal owner Joey Saputo's willingness to pay for quality players might also help. It's pure speculation at this point, but it would make a good bit of sense.

Some reaction from around the intertubes:

• Duane Rollins says it's unfortunate, but logical news about Sutton. He also likes the acquisition of Gerba and Garcia (The 24th Minute).
  
• Sam ponders what this might mean for Canada's Gold Cup team (The Canadian Stretford End).
  
• Ben Van Weelden is happy to see these moves after all the recent bad news for the club (TFC Connected)
• J thinks this move could work out for both Sutton and TFC. (Out of Touch)

Blatant Advertising Introduction & Frontenac Season Tickets

First off I want to introduce myself as a new writer here on Out of Left Field. I currently write for a Canadian soccer blog called The Canadian Stretford End where I cover everything Canadian soccer and Man. United. Aside from following soccer I also watch a lot of Queens Football, and Kingston Frontenacs games. As Don Cherry would say "He's a good ol' Kingston boy." On second thought Don Cherry would not approve of the soccer.

Last season was one of the worst in recent memory for the Frontenacs finishing second last in the OHL, but as the new season creeps around the corner I have the first Mavety story of the year.

On Saturday, I went to the K-Rock Centre to pick up season tickets for the Frontenacs. I've been a long-time fan, but never actually bought season tickets so going to pick up tickets in April was a first for me. The Fronts were hosting an open house where people were allowed to go into the arena pick out seats they liked and buy them at the front desk.

When I walked in I was greeted by a woman who talked to me for a bit about buying seasons seats, and a minute later I was in the arena scouting out my favourite seats. After a few more trips back to this woman running the ticket office and back into the arena finding seats that weren't taken I finally found what I wanted.

So I filled out a form with contact information and such (the advertising ploy the Fronts are using this year is "The Gilmour Era: Be a Part of It"). Then I went to pay for my tickets, and on the way out I had a few questions for the woman I had originally been talking to. She was very helpful and answered everything I needed to know. Finally she said, "If you have any more questions you can reach me here."

She handed me her business card and the first think that popped out to me was the name, Brenda Mavety. The administrator for the Frontenacs is life-long GM/ex-coach, Larry Mavety's relative.

I'm pretty sure that tells you everything you need to know about the Frontenacs and their sad history, along with a seemingly bleak future. It has almost come to the point that it is redundant saying this, but until something changes with the ownership and overall set-up this hockey club will remain a perennial loser.

So here's to another year with the Frontenacs not so different from the rest, while many people all across Ontario will be enjoying lengthy playoff runs, next April I will once again be inside an empty K-Rock Centre talking to some relative of our good friend Larry Mavety.

(Neate chips in: The second Mavety story of the day: The Belleville Bulls' Mike Murphy, the Kingston minor hockey product whom the Frontenacs passed on twice in the OHL draft, was named the league's top goalie today, for the second season in a row today. Granted, Murphy's Bulls are done for the season and the goalie whom Mavety took 44 picks ahead of him in the 2005 draft, Daryl Borden, is still playing ... for Brantford in the Ontario Junior B championship. Huzzah!