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Blue Devils FC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the team known as Oakville Blue Devils from 2005 to 2007, see Brampton United.

Blue Devils FC
Full nameBlue Devils Football Club
Founded2015; 9 years ago (2015)
StadiumSheridan Trafalgar Stadium
PresidentSteven Caldwell[1]
Head coachDuncan Wilde (men)
Carli Tingstad (women)
LeagueLeague1 Ontario
2024L1O-P, 7th (men)
L1O-P, 10th - relegated (women)
Websitehttp://www.bluedevils.ca/
Current season

Blue Devils Football Club (formerly known as Oakville Blue Devils FC) was a semi-professional soccer club based in Oakville, Ontario in League1 Ontario's men's and women's divisions. In October 2024, they merged under Oakville SC's branding, under which they now operate.

History

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Past teams of same name

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logo of the original Oakville Blue Devils

The original Oakville Blue Devils was a member team of the Oakville Soccer Club. The team was built, coached and developed by Phil Iafrati (1947–2013),[2] where they won the U19 provincial and national championships in 1998.[3] As the Devils reached the end of the youth soccer circuit that season, Iafrati restarted the program with the a U9 program Oakville Blue Stars in 1999.[4]

In 2005, the second edition of the Blue Devils were formed when the Scarborough-based Metro Lions of the Canadian Professional Soccer League relocated to Oakville and adopted the Blue Devils name,[3] coached by Duncan Wilde.[5] They won the 2005 season defeating Vaughan Shooters in the final.[6] In 2006, Wilde left to manage the Toronto Lynx, which resulted in a mass exodus of players not returning. [7] The club was relocated in 2007 and became Brampton United, bringing to an end the period of the Oakville Blue Devils history.[2]

Revival

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Club logo from 2015 to 2020

In 2015, the club was founded to play in the semi-professional League1 Ontario, named after the original team from prior years.[2] The Toronto Lynx men's senior team was incorporated into the Oakville team[8] and in late 2017, the teams merged completely under Oakville's umbrella.[9] In their inaugural L1O season, they were crowned league champions and qualified for the Inter-Provincial Cup against the champion of the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec to determine the Canadian Division III champion, where they defeated CS Mont-Royal Outremont to win the title.[10] In 2017, they won their second title, defeating Woodbridge Strikers in the Championship final on penalty kicks.[11]

In 2018, the team played in the Canadian Championship for the first time where they lost in the first qualifying round against 2017 PLSQ champion AS Blainville.[12][13][14][15] Later, during the 2018 season, they played a friendly against Italian professional Serie A club Frosinone Calcio, losing by a score of 2–0.[16][17][18]

Also in 2018, the club added a team in the women's division of League1 Ontario, beginning in the 2018 season.[19][20] In their second season, the women advanced to the Championship Final, where they were defeated by FC London.[21] In 2021, the women once again finished as runner-ups after being defeated in the finals by the Woodbridge Strikers.[21]

In 2020, the club merged with GPS Academy and was renamed to Blue Devils FC.[22] The men finished as runner-ups in both 2021 and 2022, being defeated in the Championship Finals by Guelph United FC and Vaughan Azzurri, respectively.[21]

Merger and future

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Main article: Oakville SC

In August 2023, they formed a partnership with youth club Oakville SC.[23] In October 2024, they fully merged with the club under the Oakville SC banner.[24][25]

Front office and technical Staff

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As of July 18, 2018[26]
Name Position
England Duncan Wilde League1 head coach
England Billy Steele U21 head coach and senior assistant coach
Canada Glenn McNamara Goalkeeper coach
Scotland Steven Caldwell President
England Brett Mosen Technical staff
Canada Kim Ashton Operations manager

Seasons

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Men
Season League Teams Record Rank Playoffs League Cup Canadian Championship Ref
2015 League1 Ontario 12 17–2–3 Champions – Group stage – [27]
2016 16 8–4–10 6th, Western (10th overall) did not qualify First round – [27]
2017 16 18–2–2 1st, Western (1st overall) Champions First round – [27]
2018 17 10–5–1 3rd Group stage Semifinals First qualifying round [27]
2019 16 12–2–1 1st Semifinals – Did not qualify [27]
2020 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[28]
2021 15 9–2–1 2nd, West (3rd overall) Finalists – Did not qualify [27]
2022 22 14–5–2 2nd Finalists – Did not qualify
2023 21 12–3–5 4th Semi-finals – Did not qualify
2024 League1 Ontario Premier 12 8–6–8 7th – Semi-Finals Did not qualify
Women
Season League Teams Record Rank Playoffs League Cup Ref
2018 League1 Ontario 13 7–1–4 5th did not qualify Round of 16 [29]
2019 14 11–0–2 1st Finalists – [29]
2020 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[28]
2021 7 6–1–5 4th Finalists –
2022 20 5–4–10 15th Did not qualify –
2023 19 7–3–8 11th Did not qualify –
2024 League1 Ontario Premier 10 0–1–17 10th – Round of 16

Honours

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Notable players

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

Men

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Women

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References

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  1. ^ "Steven Caldwell Joins Oakville Blue Devils FC To Help Guide Club into the Future". Oakville Blue Devils FC. Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "About". Oakville Blue Devils. Oakville Blue Devils. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Kuiperij, Jon (January 30, 2015). "League1 Ontario men's soccer loop welcomes Oakville Blue Devils". Oakville Beaver.
  4. ^ Kuiperij, Jon (September 19, 2013). "Iafrati, Phil (Died)". Oakville Beaver. Oakville Images.
  5. ^ "Canadian Professional Soccer League - Clubs". December 25, 2005. Archived from the original on December 25, 2005. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  6. ^ Kuiperij, Jon (October 12, 2005). "Blue Devils' Gamble pays off in CPSL final" (PDF). Oakville Beaver.
  7. ^ "Different cast of Blue Devils seeks repeat". Burlington Post. May 26, 2006.
  8. ^ Crawford, Colin (February 29, 2016). "Toronto's Soccer History: 1987 - Present". Toronto FC. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  9. ^ "Toronto Lynx Soccer Club". Archived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  10. ^ Kuiperij, Jon (November 17, 2015). "Goal by defensive sub lifts Oakville Blue Devils to victory in Inter-Provincial Cup". Oakville Beaver.
  11. ^ Chenoix, Éric (May 30, 2018). "À la Découverte du Oakville Blue Devils FC" [Discovering Oakville Blue Devils FC]. PLSQ (in French).
  12. ^ "Oakville Blue Devils qualifies for Canadian Championship – Canada Soccer". Canadian Soccer Association. Archived from the original on October 27, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  13. ^ "AS Blainville qualifies for Canadian Championship – Canada Soccer". Canadian Soccer Association. Archived from the original on October 27, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  14. ^ "About the Canadian Championship". Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
  15. ^ Garbutt, Herb (October 22, 2017). "Oakville Blue Devils reclaim League1 title with dramatic penalty-kick victory". Oakville Beaver. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  16. ^ "Frosinone Calcio is Here in Canada". Molisana Imports. July 18, 2018.
  17. ^ "Frosinone - Oakville Blue Devils 2-0". Frosinone Calcio (in Italian). July 26, 2018.
  18. ^ "Tournée Canada/USA, il programma delle Amichevolu" [Tournée Canada/USA, the friends' program]. Frosinone Calcio (in Italian). July 17, 2018.
  19. ^ "Significant Expansion planned for League1 Ontario". Ontario Soccer Association. December 20, 2017.
  20. ^ Baldwin, Dan (April 27, 2018). "League 1 Ontario 2018 Preview". Northern Starting XI.
  21. ^ a b c "A Bluffer's Guide to Blue Devils". League1 Ontario. September 22, 2022.
  22. ^ "GPS Academy to Merge with Blue Devils FC". Blue Devils FC. October 1, 2020.
  23. ^ "Oakville Soccer Club and Blue Devils FC Partner to Forge a Stronger High Performance Pathway". Oakville SC. August 8, 2023.
  24. ^ "Oakville Soccer Club and Blue Devils FC to merge into one club". Oakville News. October 10, 2024.
  25. ^ "The Oakville Soccer Club and Oakville Blue Devils FC Merge to Form #OneTownOneTeam". Oakville SC. October 8, 2024.
  26. ^ "About Us". Oakville Blue Devils. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  27. ^ a b c d e f "League1 Ontario Historical Standings Men's Division". Canadian Soccer History Archives.
  28. ^ a b "League1 Ontario cancels Fall season plans for 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions". Canadian Premier League. September 4, 2020.
  29. ^ a b "League1 Ontario Historical Standings Women's Division". Canadian Soccer History Archives.
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