Mission Statement
To develop and provide technical support and training, assist and guide the membership in matters of operation, arrange and provide group insurance, share resources and to promote the game of soccer both indoor and outdoor for recreational players in the Counties of Southwestern Ontario.
History
In 1998/99 the Ontario Soccer Association (OSA) imposed significant fees on all of its members to finance the construction of the OSA Soccer Centre in Vaughan. That Centre is only easily accessible to the greater Toronto clubs, yet players from all districts of Ontario were expected to pay for it. EMSA, the regional office for OSA in this area was responsible for collecting the fees, running the competitive league and enforcing the OSA’s rules in this area.
In 2000, at the EMSA Annual General Meeting many EMSA members felt that enough was enough. They could no longer justify the ever increasing cost of OSA membership for their recreational players as there were no benefits to those players or the club.
This was the start of the “soccer revolution” and the Western Counties Soccer Association (WCSA) was created. EMSA executives chaired the inaugural meeting of the WCSA and some served on the first WCSA board. WCSA began to replace the EMSA executive with members from within the clubs in 2001. WCSA shared office space amicably with EMSA until late 2007, at which time WCSA moved to a separate location to avoid OSA scrutiny of its members.
For many years OSA and WCSA coexisted. While Ontario Soccer considered WCSA to be an outlaw league they let us be as we only registered recreational players. OSA now called Ontario Soccer (OS), is once again looking to gain control of all of soccer in Ontario. In recent years many of the larger clubs have divided their competitive and recreational programs into two separate entities to shield them from repercussions from Ontario Soccer. Most recently, Ontario Soccer is forcing clubs that have competitive teams to register their recreational players with them as well with the threat that competitive teams will not be allowed to compete in the leagues run by Ontario Soccer.
WCSA is not against competitive soccer and members are encouraged to have teams/players showing exceptional skills to move up into the Ontario Soccer programs.
In 2000 WCSA started with 30 clubs registering a total of approximately 12,750 players. Over the years some members have left, only to return the following season. In 2019 we had 30 clubs and 12,000 players registered with WCSA.
Executive
- President: Gary V. Bruggeman
- Secretary: Michele Calder
- Treasurer: Fred Benenati, West London Soccer League
- Director at Large: Jeremy Wright, West London Soccer League
- Administrator: Jean Faulds
Join/Benefits
WCSA membership is open to all recreational soccer organizations offering community soccer programs across Southwestern Ontario. There is no cost for a club or league to join the Western Counties Soccer Association (WCSA). The only fees charged are player registration fees to cover insurance and other services (see benefits below) provided by WCSA. This association is supported solely by the membership and receives no federal, provincial, municipal, public funding or donations of any type. WCSA has never publicly fundraised at any time.
Membership is voluntary and renewable annually. All members must agree to abide by the WCSA Constitution and its’ Rules & Regulations.
Privacy statement: WCSA does not distribute its member information to third parties for any purpose and in particular, not for soliciting of our members.
To renew or apply for membership please complete the appropriate forms linked below.