Just over one year after being announced as the newest club to be granted entry into League1 Ontario, 1812 FC is gone after its licences were acquired by a Burlington franchise.
The league made the announcement on Monday,ending a whirlwind first year for the club, which was owned by an American businessman.
League1 Ontario chairman confirmed via email to BarrieToday that "there will be no 1812 FC Barrie teams operating in (the league) in any capacity in 2022."
The club announced in June 2020 that it would seek entry into Ontario’s semi-professional soccer league and came with a quality lineup of executives. That bid was approved in February 2021, but was missing key components of the front office.
Canadian soccer star Julian de Guzman, as well as the region’s largest soccer entity, the Barrie Soccer Club, were to be involved with the club in the summer of 2020, but by the beginning of 2021, they had pulled out and along with current CEO Peter Raco, who eventually started another club.
The Simcoe County Rovers FC are now the lone League1 club in the city of Barrie and surrounding area, having added an all-star management team.
With no fields to play as a home squad in Barrie, 1812 FC played the majority of its 2021 season at Terry Fox Stadium in Brampton with the other games at fields in Downsview, Woodbridge and Mississauga.
League1 Ontario is Ontario’s pro-am senior league. Founded in 2014, the league began with a 10-team men’s division, which has now grown to 22 teams in the men’s division and includes a separate 19-team women’s division.
