HIGH ACHIEVERS: Gloucester Celtic FC elevated to premier sports team status in Ottawa

By Martin Cleary

The Ottawa sports community is overflowing with teams that have brought national recognition and honour to our city over the decades.

Here are a few that come to mind quickly. Be prepared for a new one.

When the Ottawa Rough Riders ruled the fall in the nation’s capital, the club played in 15 Grey Cup finals and won nine times.

Although the Ottawa Senators haven’t won the Stanley Cup in almost a century (last time was 1927), recent editions of the club made valiant drives for the NHL’s coveted prize in 2002-03, 2006-07 and 2016-17.

The Carleton University Ravens’ basketball program has delivered 17 men’s and three women’s U Sports national championships since 2003.

The Ottawa Sooners junior football team has captured four Canadian finals, while the Ottawa 67’s junior hockey club has played in five Memorial Cup tournaments and emerged as the last survivor twice.

But it’s time to honour a new team on the enlarged podium and celebrate the achievements of a true amateur team, where players cover their own costs, give up summer weekends, have full-time jobs and madly scramble to raise thousands of dollars on a tight deadline because they have qualified for a national championship.

Please welcome the undefeated Gloucester Celtic FC (25 wins, two losses), which not only won its third Canada Soccer men’s amateur championship on Thanksgiving Monday in Vancouver, but also kept that national title in Ottawa for a third consecutive year.

Celtic’s three Toyota National Championships have all been the result of shutouts in the gold-medal game – defeating Nova Scotia’s Suburban FC of Bedford 1-0 in 2024, Alberta’s Edmonton Green and Gold 2-0 in 2022 and British Columbia’s Surrey United Firefighters 3-0 in 2013.

In between the first and third national titles, Celtic captured the bronze medal at the 2016 Canadian championship.

While Celtic didn’t reach the 2023 Canadian championship tournament, the West Ottawa Warriors were a strong Ontario representative and won the final game 2-0 over Western Halifax.

The Ottawa Carleton Soccer League also has seen three other teams score success at the Canadian men’s amateur championship.

St. Anthony defeated Calgary Callies 1-0 for the 2006 title and placed second in 2019, losing the final to Surrey Central City Breakers 2-0. Ottawa Royals earned the silver medal in 2004, after being edged 4-3 in penalty kicks by Calgary Callies. Ottawa Maple Leaf Almrausch was the silver medallist at the 1980 men’s nationals, following a 3-2 loss to Saint John Drydock Islanders.

Celtic automatically qualified for the 2024 national final by finishing first in its round-robin pool with three wins and one tie. The men’s senior team in the Ottawa Gloucester Hornets Soccer Club won its first three pool games, defeating Whitehorse Yukon Selects FC 1-0, Coquitlam Metro-Ford SC 3-1 and Vancouver United FC 3-2 before tying Edmonton Scottish FC at 1-1.

Coaches Phil Sangster, Leonidas Legakis and Andrew Bryan as well as manager Matt Williams took 19 players to Vancouver for nationals to handle the demanding schedule. Celtic played its four round-robin games in four days, had a day off and then played the championship game Thanksgiving Monday. Playing five pressure games in six days against unknown opponents calls for the coaching staff to find a proper balance between having their players on or off the field.

In the championship game, striker Joey Kewin scored the game-winning goal against Suburban FC and Anton Favre, who faced some pressure in the final two minutes, earned the shutout.

Kewin counted six goals in Ottawa Carleton Soccer League games and one in the Ottawa Cup this season.

Midfielder Stefan Karajovanovic, who was Celtic’s second-best scorer in combined League and Cup play with 10 goals, was named the Most Valuable Player of the national championship. He scored three of Celtic’s nine goals.

Celtic entered nationals by raising $22,661 in a few weeks to cover the cost of their plane tickets and accommodation. Their overall goal was $30,000.

Celtic reached the national championship tournament by winning all five of its road games in the summer-long Ontario Cup for its fifth provincial crown. Without a single home game in the series, Celtic players and coaching staff drove to every game in Southern Ontario and needed at least one night’s hotel accommodation each time.

After turning back Niagara Falls FC PSL Titans 4-1 and Woodbridge Strikers 6-1, Celtic blanked Panathinaikos Toronto FC 2-0 in the quarterfinals, Jagiellonia London 9-2 in the semifinals and Scarborough G.S. United 6-1 in the gold-medal final.

Besides winning the national and provincial titles, Celtic also captured two big championships in Ottawa. By posting 13 wins and one tie in its 14-game regular-season schedule, Celtic won the Ottawa Carleton Soccer League men’s Premier Division pennant with 40 points, which was nine more than AC Fiorentina.

After receiving a bye through the first three rounds of the Ottawa Cup, Celtic captured its seventh title by defeating St. Anthony Azzurri 8-0 in the quarterfinals, Ottawa Impact 3-1 in the semifinals and AC Fiorentina in the championship game.

Bezick Evraire was the leading scorer for Celtic in League and Cup action with a total of 14 goals. He also was the MVP at the 2022 national championship. Javane Henry joined Celtic this season, after playing for West Ottawa Warriors and being named the MVP of the 2023 national championship. Henry dressed for the 2024 nationals, but didn’t play for Celtic because of injury.

Here is the roster of the Gloucester Celtic, the 2024 Canada Soccer men’s amateur soccer champion:

PLAYERS
Anton Favre, goalkeeper
Zachary Tremblay, right back
Bila Dicko-Raynauld, centre back
Cristopher Malekos, centre back
Diego Politis, left back
Milosh Stojanovic, centre midfielder
Justin Earle, centre midfielder
Olivier Babineau, attacking midfielder
Kelvin Asabre, wing
Stefan Karajovanic, wing
Joey Kewin, front
Anton Pellerin-Petrov
Marco Natoli
Kieran Sanders
Cameron Butterfield
Willem Grant
Zach El-Shafei
Bezick Evraire
Javane Henry (injured)
Mario Gerges, goalkeeper (suspended)

COACHES
Phil Sangster
Leonidas Legakis
Matt Williams (manager)
Andrew Bryan