Ottawa will stick with Fury name for NASL By Steven Sandor Posted on February 27, 2013 6 0 1,074 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter For Ottawa soccer, everything old is new again. After taking thousands of suggestions from fans through an online contest, the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group decided that the Fury name fit the club just fine. John Pugh, president of the NASL franchise that will begin league play, announced Tuesday that the name of the new team will be Ottawa Fury FC. Only the “Football Club” suffix has been added to the name that has been associated with Ottawa soccer at the PDL, youth-league and W-League levels. The Ottawa Fury women are the defending W-League champs. “It already associates Ottawa, across the United States and Canada, with a winning tradition,” said Pugh live over the air on TEAM 1200 Radio in Ottawa. In a Feb. 5 interview with The 11 (CLICK HERE), Pugh mentioned several of the fan-suggested names that had been bandied about: Rivermen, Loggers, Ottawa City, Rovers and Rangers. But he said that the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which is also launching a CFL franchise, felt it was important to put “football club” in the Fury name. “Football is the name of the world’s game and, yes, we’re a football club,” said Pugh. The next step is a logo. Once again, fans will be part of the process, as they will choose from a series of logos — much like the Atlanta Silverbacks did ahead of the 2013 season. New uniforms and a new website will follow. NASL commissioner Bill Peterson was on hand, and admitted he was surprised that there were no boos from the Ottawa soccer fans in attendance at the Algonquin College Soccer Complex when he mentioned the name “FC Edmonton” in his speech. “Gonna work on the rivalry between Ottawa and Edmonton,” he said. As well, he said that he sees Regina, Quebec City, Calgary and Winnipeg as potential markets in the future. Peterson, who has acted as a consultant for the CFL Blue Bombers before coming to NASL, has been bullish about Calgary and Winnipeg before, but the mention of Regina and Quebec City is new. Peterson also talked about the team’s split-season strategy, which begins in 2013. The winner of the first half of the season will take on the second-half winner for the Soccer Bowl. “Playing for a tie is not a good strategy and, ultimately, that’s good for our fans,” said Peterson.
