International soccer player on PEI finding difficulty joining school team

(Ella Sarpong)Photo

The sun was setting, the night lights turned on.

Players ran across the pitch with shorts soaked in sweat.

One player ran from the other side of the pitch and stole the soccer ball from another player.

He shot and scored.

“Goal!” shouted a teammate.

“Good job Charles,” said another.

​Charles Abasi scored his first goal of the game. 

​He had a broad smile on his face.

One player hugged him firmly and put him in a playful headlock.

“Unfortunately, the goals are not recorded in this league,” said Abasi.

The Adult Coed Soccer League is one of many soccer leagues he plays for. The league is for recreation, with a mixture of different ethnicities and ages. From people in their 20s to people in their 80’s.

There has been a steady increase in the number of people playing soccer on P.E.I. for the last eight years according to the P.E.I. Soccer Association.

Between 2022 and 2023 the number of players have increased from 6000 to 6200, the peak number since Covid.

There has also been an increase in the international students on the Island coming from countries that play soccer or football. Such as Ghana, Nigeria, Nepal, England, Japan, Brazil, Rwanda.

Abasi came to P.E.I in 2021, and says he’s seen a big increase in the number of non- Canadian Players.

“I remember I had to form a team who were already here and were in school and we were the only international team. I would say we had only two international teams and now in my third year almost 90 per cent of all the teams have an international player,” said Abasi.

According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, immigrants added 1554 people to the population of P.E.I in the second quarter of 2023. This is an increase of 20.2 per cent from 2022.

Despite this 20 per cent increase, some interested players are unable to play for their post-secondary institutions.

“I’ve been coaching the men’s team for about 15 years and every year we do see an increase in the number of participants who want to try out on the team,” said Jonathan Vos, Holland College Men’s Hurricane Soccer coach.

​Unfortunately, they are unable to play ever match. 

“One challenge we have here at the college is that our league rules only allow four international players to participate on a game day roster,” said Vos.

Holland college follows the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association’s rules and in article five section 13 it states, only four non- Canadians can be on a game roster.

Holland College now has five international players on its men’s soccer team but only four are allowed to play at a time.There are three international players on the women’s soccer team.

However, for UPEI it is extremely difficult for internationalplayers to get onto it’s soccer team.s There are currently two international students on the men’s soccer and one on the women’s.

“I heard from seniors that it’s a very tough process to get into the football team, most especially if you’re an international student,” said Abasi.

UPEI mostly recruits Canadian players said Lewis Page the UPEI Head coach of Men’s and Women’s Soccer.

“For us we don’t recruit a lot of international students because the international fee is so high and would require us to give them more financial support. The other thing is international players come in and they don’t really understand what the standard is like,” he said.

Some students from UPEI have transferred to Holland College because of this issue, so they are able to play soccer,said Abasi.

“As the years go by, I’m seeing more loss in interest in football for students in UPEI and its heartbreaking,” said Abasi.

For International students who go to UPEI, but can’t get on the soccer team, the P.E.I Soccer Association has created recreational leagues to play and socialize.

Vos use to be the technical director with PEI Soccer Association, he spent a lot of time in their indoor facility.

“I’ve definitely seen an increase whether it’s on the recreational side, I’ve seen different groups come in together, typically you’d see similar people from the same background renting time together. It’s an opportunity for them to unite,” he said.

The increase has brought more culture and difference in the sports on P.E.I.

“It brings different cultures together, from the soccer standpoint its different styles of playing, most countries have their own soccer DNA of how they play the game and it’s nice to experience that. With Canada, we aren’t a soccer first country, so it nice for our youth to experience that and to see people who have grown up in a more soccer first culture,” said Vos.

Meanwhile, Charles Abasi still holds onto his passion and plays for several recreational Leagues on the Island.

“We have a particular passion for the sport,” he said.