THE AFTN TEAM
Writer
Taya was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada. She started playing football at the age of 4 in her hometown of Langley, BC.
Having played with local clubs all through her youth, Taya graduated a year early from high school and planned to attend the TOVO Academy in September of 2022. Although her love of Spanish football drives her style, she was signed to Altitude FC for the inaugural League1BC season and she opted to begin college in the fall of 2022 instead.
Taya’s passion for literature called her to pursue creative writing during her first semester at Douglas College. Writing is an outlet for Taya to share her experiences and ideas – without it, she’s certain she’d go insane.
Taya is currently an athlete with Ares Football Association and is playing her 2nd season with Altitude FC.
You can follow more of Taya’s writing on her website tayashokker.com.
Taya can be found on Twitter @tayashokker.
Managing Editor
Michael has lived and breathed football for as long as he can remember, and has written about the game since setting up AFTN as a critically acclaimed fanzine in Scotland in 1989. He is the Managing Editor of this site and host of The AFTN Soccer Show (AKA "There's Still Time") which can be heard on Sundays at 11pm on Vancouver's CiTR radio and is also available as a podcast.
Michael is the current colour commentator for Vancouver Whitecaps 2 in the USL, TSS Rovers in the PDL, and UBC Thunderbirds in U Sports. The current Vancouver Whitecaps beat reporter for MLSsoccer.com, and Western Conference reporter for USLsoccer.com, Michael has also written in the UK and Canada for When Saturday Comes, Goal.com, Four Four Two, The Independent and Metronews Vancouver amongst others. He has also been a contributor and guest on football shows on the BBC, Sky Sports, Radio Scotland, CBC, TSN Radio and many more.
He has been accredited media for club games in MLS, CONCACAF Champions League, USL, and PDL, along with the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers, 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, 2016 Copa America, and many international games. He is always available for freelance work.
An avid supporter of East Fife, AFC Wimbledon, and West Ham United, Michael has a love for old footballing memorabilia, especially programmes, cards, and comics. He's also a keen groundhopper. Check out his footballing travels via the link on the site!
You can follow Michael on Twitter at @AFTNCanada.
Photographer
Tom has been a Whitecaps fan since the 1970's and an avid photographer since the 1980's. Michael "discovered" Tom at a Whitecaps U18 match in March of 2014 and immediately signed him up to join the AFTN team on the promise of food and drink. Since joining AFTN, Tom has proved to have an eye for capturing not only the football action but also the supporter experience at BC Place. The AFTN "Story in Pictures" has become a favourite amongst AFTN regulars. Tom is still awaiting that food and drink.
You can view more of Tom's work at www.residualimagephotography.com.
You can follow Tom on Twitter at @ResidualImage.
Writer
Jake was 12 years old when he went to the Whitecaps’ inaugural MLS match as a birthday present. The goal-filled win and the thousands of ponchos thrown on to the field cemented his love for the team, and he has been a dedicated fan ever since. He will always remain optimistic about the ‘Caps chances, no matter how often they might fall on their faces.
He joined AFTN in 2018 to write match previews, and is happy to have an outlet to regularly express how he feels about the team.
You can follow Jake on Twitter @TheJakeMcGrail.
Podcaster and Writer
Zach is a regular co-host for the AFTN Soccer Show, which can be heard on CiTR Radio at 11pm on Sundays and as a podcast thereafter.
A writer and occasional photographer for AFTN, Zach is also heavily involved in the movement Curva Collective, and can be regularly found behind a megaphone all over Cascadia, giving support to Vancouver Whitecaps and the Canadian national team.
A lifelong soccer fan, Zach has travelled the world for his passion, following Vancouver Whitecaps, Bayern Munich, and Canada. A highlight of his travels was attending the 2006 World Cup in Germany and he has also seen Bayern in UEFA Champions League action.
You can follow Zach on Twitter at @ZacharyAM.
Writer
Doug now lives in small town Vancouver Island. He grew up in Vancouver and played soccer in the Dunbar and Kerrisdale areas. He first caught the bug of world football listening to Toby Charles announcing “Soccer Made in Germany” on PBS on Sunday afternoons. He continued to play through adulthood and now is retired from work and the pitch.
Doug followed the Whitecaps through the 70’s and early 80’s during the NASL years. He had season’s tickets for a short spell and was in the 100,000 strong crowd celebrating the Soccer Bowl championship of 1979 (if you look closely at the news video of Carl’s speech, that’s him up on the unfinished building in the background of the shot).
He is interested in all things 'Caps and how we, as fans, interact with and live and die with our team.
Assistant Editor and Podcaster
Steve started watching football during Canada’s run to the 1986 World Cup and soon after started attending Vancouver 86ers matches at Swangard Stadium. After starting his own blog, Whitecaps Beat, Steve moved over to AFTN in 2011 and started contributing to Prost Amerika. He covers the Whitecaps from the Residency to MLS and is the co-host of the “There’s Still Time”, the AFTN Soccer Podcast.
Steve can be found on Twitter at @WhitecapsBeat.
Writer
Scott is a Calgary-based sports writer who joined the AFTN team in early 2019. He’s written and worked for various newspapers and websites since 2013, when he first caught the journalism bug while writing for the University of Calgary’s campus newspaper.
Since those early days, Scott has spent an embarrassing amount of time behind a keyboard, covering local news and sports in the communities he’s lived in. He is currently the sports reporter for two weekly newspapers in the Calgary area, and previously worked for a year at a semi-weekly newspaper in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island.
He has always loved soccer and grew up playing the game competitively in Calgary. The highlight of his playing days was a Tier 1 Provincial championship with his U18 team in 2012. In his Grade 12 year, he was recruited by the University of Calgary Dinos varsity team, where he spent his first year of university as a redshirt, before “retiring” in 2013 to focus on journalism and other pursuits.
An avid soccer fan for most of his life, Scott most closely follows the Bundesliga, but he has always been interested in the development of the professional game in Canada. He has covered soccer at the U SPORTS level, and also reported on his local VISL Division 1 team when he was living on Vancouver Island.
His work for AFTN will include all things soccer-related in Calgary, including coverage of Cavalry FC’s inaugural campaign in the CPL and Foothills FC’s attempts to defend their PDL title in 2019.
You can follow Scott on Twitter @ScottStrasser19
Writer
Born in Colombia, but raised in Ontario since the age of four, Felipe has always had football in his blood. He grew up watching the likes of Messi and Ronaldo just as they were starting out, so he fell in love hard and fast. He spent most of his formative years playing football both on the pitch and on the screen (FIFA was his go-to game since 2006), while supporting teams like FC Barcelona, and Tottenham Hotspur (a decision he regrets to this day).
He ditched the snowy East Coast to move to warmer (and rainier) skies in Vancouver in mid-2022, both for love and for passion. Having graduated from a Research Masters of Philosophy in Utrecht, Netherlands just months beforehand, he decided to have a change of career, and pursue his fervor for football in the world of journalism. He currently writes for LastWordOnSports.ca, and is a frequent podcast guest on various podcasts, yapping away about tactics and stats. He'll be hopping on the AFTN Soccer Show too.
You can follow Felipe on Twitter at @FelipeV_FC
Columnist
Chris Corrigan is a Southsider and has been standing full time in the supporter’s section since 2011. He previously wrote FanPosts on supporter culture at 86 Forever under the title "The View from 253." At age 10 he was goaded into supporting Spurs when he lived in Hertfordshire in the late 1970s, but since 2009 his love for the Whitecaps has dwarfed even that immutable childhood decision. His seats, high in 253 are among The Pigeon Casuals, an informal group of Southsiders devoted to welcoming and involving newcomers to supporter culture.
He is an incurable devotee of local participatory supporter culture and in addition to volunteering at his local club, Bowen Island FC, he has established diplomatic relations with supporters of Grimsby Town FC and especially the writers at Cod Almighty.
You can follow Chris on Twitter at @salishsea86.
Senior Writer and Podcaster
Joe became a Whitecaps fan after moving to Canada in 2010, and started The View From 202 website in January 2014 with his good friends Nicolaas and Dan, before joining the AFTN team for the start of the 2016 season.
Aside from supporting the 'Caps, The View From 202 unanimously support West Bromwich Albion (it's a long story), although Joe has not so secretly supported Manchester United since he was young due to his boyhood hero and compatriot, Roy Keane.
While it does not reflect in his Sunday-league performances, Joe enjoys the tactical side of the game, and tries to reflect it in his writing. Joe has a weakness for football podcasts and the concept of a False Nine.
Joe can be found on Twitter at @JoeDeasyVAN.
Senior Writer
Jay was only a casual observer of football until a move away from rural BC and to Vancouver coincided with a rise in the profile of the Whitecaps as they joined Major League Soccer in 2011. Since then, he's been a regular at MLS games, away trips, reserve matches, and Residency games.
Having previously written on SB Nation, Michael poached Jay to write for AFTN at the start of 2013, providing his opinion pieces on all things Whitecaps and MLS. He's also a regular contributor to AFTN's "There's Still Time" podcast.
Jay can be found on Twitter at @Jay_Duke.
Writer
Born and raised in Vancouver, Peter has been an avid Whitecaps fan since his first game at Swangard in their USL days. He caught the football bug at very young age, being brought up in a house that very much adored football: his grandfather having played for boyhood club youth of the 1940s Wolverhampton Wanderers. In addition to his love for Canadian football and the ‘Caps, Peter trails the steps of his grandfather in his following of the English game and family club, Wolves.
Almost equally as much as he loves watching football, Peter indulges the tactics and the 'behind the scenes' roster building side of the sport. He hopes to bring forward some pieces on tactical breakdowns, soccernomics, prospective rosters, and future markets and his work for AFTN will consist of both league coverage and subjective opinion pieces on MLS, CPL, and the ‘Caps.
You can follow Peter on Twitter at @peterhickens.
Podcaster and Play By Play Commentator
An avid soccer fan who grew up watching the Whitecaps at Swangard back in their USL days. Part of AFTN’s weekly preview podcast. Play by Play announcer of the TSS FC Rovers and UBC’s Men’s and Women’s soccer teams. Youngest and only person on AFTN that can not grow a beard. Lives in Surrey but loves making the trek to BC Place for Whitecaps matchdays! You can easily find him in the crowd at a Whitecaps game because he is predominantly the loudest person in his section.
You can find him on Twitter @_GideonHill.
Writer
Gareth Wolff spent his formative years in Costa Rica, with his soccer education predominantly taking place in the stands of the Estadio Saprissa. As a result, he has an appreciation for a Latin American playing style and his favourite Whitecaps players are former Saprissa players Kendall Waston and Christian Bolaños.
Gareth's first Whitecaps game was against Montreal Impact at Swangard (a 2-0 win for the Caps!) in the 2008 USL playoffs. The Whitecaps won the championship that year having gained a new supporter. As well as regular attendance at BC Place, Gareth continues to cheer on Saprissa from afar, and also likes it when Arsenal win games.
Gareth was bitten by the sportswriting bug at an early age, compiling match reports for his school newspaper. He most recently covered the 'Caps for MLS Multiplex, before being recruited to AFTN.
You can follow Gareth on Twitter at @gwolff_sports.