AFTN becomes media partner of TSS FC Rovers

AFTN is delighted to announce today that we will be an official supporter driven media partner of TSS FC Rovers for the club’s upcoming inaugural USL PDL season, working closely with the club on a number of initiatives to bring fans the best coverage around of the newest team in the lower mainland.

As regular readers and listeners of AFTN will know, our love of football goes far beyond just covering Vancouver Whitecaps and the top flight level of the game here in Canada.

Throughout the year we cover the ‘Caps at all levels from MLS to USL to Residency, along with coverage of the Canadian national team. That comprehensive coverage already sets us apart from other sites covering the Whitecaps, but when you add in our coverage of college soccer at SFU and UBC, local action from the VMSL and the Provincial Cup, and more, AFTN is proud to be a unique site in a crowded market.

We do it because we enjoy it, and we do it because those teams and those leagues deserve to be brought to the attention of a wider audience.

And now we hope to do that with TSS FC Rovers.

The announcement last month that there was going to be a new PDL team in town was a welcome one and an exciting one. More football to watch on these beautiful spring and summer days and nights, and a team solely made up of (primarily local) Canadian talent to boot. What more could anyone ask for?!

The TSS season kicks off with a trip to reigning PDL Western Champions Calgary Foothills on May 5th, with their first home game a week later when they host Lane United at Swangard Stadium.

We’ll be bringing you comprehensive coverage of the team all season long on AFTN, on the TSS site, and through all of our social media channels.

From the open tryouts in Richmond on March 16th, to First Kick less than two months later, till hopefully the last kick in August, we’ll have game previews, reports, post match reaction, players interviews, and all the news and info you’ll need to get behind the team and follow their progress all season long.

TSS will be streaming all of their home matches, and we’ll be part of their matchday broadcast team. I’ll be providing colour commentary from those games. We’re also looking at what away matches we can do as well, and there’s some other irons in the fire from a broadcasting standpoint.

We’ll also have other members of the AFTN team providing coverage on matchdays.

We’re currently in the process of taking on a new photographer to shoot TSS games, and if any writers out there want to be our matchday correspondent on the ground, then get in touch.

We’re also exploring the possibility of doing a weekly or monthly TSS specific show on AFTN’s Mixlr channel, but failing that there will be regular coverage of the Rovers on our CiTR radio show and podcast.

But we also want your involvement and your engagement.

We want you to become supporters of the team, whether that means in person at games or watching from home. Hopefully the former. That’s where the supporters driven aspect of our coverage will come in. Tell us what you want to read, see, and hear. Tell us what kind of stuff you want us to bring you over the course of the season.

We want soccer fans in the lower mainland to not only know about the team but to actually be interested in how they’re doing. And we want the Juan de Fuca Plate to be known as a desirable trophy to win amongst fans and players alike.

We’ll be championing the reintroduction of the Plate back into the local soccer scene with a fanfare and building up the rivalry for it between TSS and the Victoria Highlanders. You can find out all about the history of the Plate on the link above.

Exciting times ahead. We’re delighted to be along for the ride and hope you will be too, and let’s all have a lot of fun along the way.