Kingston Clippers

Kingston Clippers was a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Kingston, Ontario. The club was founded as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014.

Kingston Clippers
Full nameKingston Clippers Soccer Club
StadiumTindall Field, Queen's University
WebsiteClub website

The club was one of the ten original founding men's teams in League1 Ontario, which was established in 2014, as well as one of eight original founding women’s teams of the women's division, which was established in 2015. Both teams withdrew from the league following the 2016 season. The semi-professional team was originally known as Cataraqui Clippers in 2014.

History
Cataraqui Clippers logo

Founded in 1981,[1] the club has operated for over 30 years as a youth soccer club, originally formed under the name Kingston Township Minor Soccer Association. In 1998, they adopted the name Cataraqui Clippers when Kingston Township and Pittsburgh Township amalgamated to form the city of Kingston.[2] In 2015, they again changed their name to Kingston Clippers.[3] In 2018, the club partnered with the city's university, Queen's University whose sports teams are known as the Queen's Golden Gaels, renaming the soccer club as Kingston Junior Gaels Soccer Club.[4]

In 2014, the semi-professional club was established to play in the newly formed League1 Ontario as one of the founding members.[5][6] While it was a semi-professional league, the club announced they would field a completely amateur side and play home games at St. Lawrence College.[7]

After finishing in last place during their inaugural season, the club named Christian Hoefler as new head coach. Hoefler was also the coach of the Queen's University soccer team. Approximately 60% of the Clippers roster would be composed of the university team's players to meet the league's age requirement rules. In addition, the local professional team, Kingston FC of the Canadian Soccer League folded after 2014, with some of the players joining the Clippers. The club also moved their home field to Queen's University's Tindall Field.[8] The club finished their second season with a 4–6–12 record, finishing 9th out of 12 teams.[9]

They added a women's club to participate in the inaugural women's division season.[10] The club left both the men's and women's division in the league following the 2016 season.[11]

Seasons

Men

Season League Teams Record Rank Playoffs League Cup Ref
2014 League1 Ontario 9 0–4–12 9th – Group Stage [12]
2015 12 4–6–12 9th – Quarter-finals
2016 16 7–5–1 5th, Eastern (11th) Did not qualify Quarter-finals
2017 On hiatus
2018 Ottawa Carleton League Premier 9 8–0–8 4th – – [13]
2019 8 2–6–6 7th – –

Women

Season League Teams Record Rank Playoffs League Cup Ref
2016 League1 Ontario 9 5–2–9 7th – Quarter-finals [14]
2017 Ottawa Carleton League 8 7–3–4 3rd – –
2018 8 10–1–3 1st – –
2019 8 12–1–1 1st – –

Notable former players

The following players have either played at the professional or international level, either before or after playing for the League1 Ontario team:

References
  1. "Kingston Clippers Soccer Club". Community Information Centre of Ottawa.
  2. Fletcher, Alex (May 29, 2014). "Introducing Cataraqui Clippers". League1 Ontario.
  3. "About Us". Jr Gaels Soccer.
  4. MacDonald, Shawn (December 6, 2018). "Queen's Athletics partners with Kingston Clippers for Junior Gaels Program". Queen's Golden Gaels.
  5. "Ontario launches provincial semi-professional men's league". Canadian Soccer Association. April 8, 2014. Archived from the original on July 4, 2020.
  6. "OSA announces League1 Ontario teams". Ontario Soccer Association. April 8, 2014. Archived from the original on May 18, 2014.
  7. Graham, Doug (May 1, 2014). "Clippers set to debut in new league". The Kingston Whig-Standard.
  8. Graham, Doug (May 5, 2015). "Clippers' new coach full of optimism". The Kingston Whig-Standard.
  9. Graham, Doug (April 27, 2016). "Kingston Cataraqui Clippers look for improvement". The Kingston Whig-Standard.
  10. Rowaan, Dave (January 29, 2015). "League 1 Ontario announces expansion teams for 2015 season". Waking The Red.
  11. "League 1 kicks off Ontario soccer season, offering a chance to rise up the ranks". CFJC-TV. April 28, 2017.
  12. "League1 Ontario Historical Standings Men's Division". Canadian Soccer History Archives.
  13. "Kingston Clippers History". Canadian Soccer History Archives.
  14. "Kingston Clippers Women History". Canadian Soccer History Archives.
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