Hundreds of Haligonians gathered Thursday night for the unveiling of the team name and logo for Halifax’s first women’s professional soccer club — Halifax Tides FC.
Team kits and merchandise will now don a badge that features colliding tidal waves crashing into an ‘X’ shape, representing the cross on Nova Scotia’s flag.
Four stripes at the base of the team’s crest represent each of the former municipalities that make up the amalgamated HRM: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and Halifax County.
“It would not be a national league without an East Coast team,” said Halifax Tides FC co-founder and CEO Courtney Sherlock.
Halifax’s club will compete in the Northern Super League (NSL) which currently has five other teams confirmed in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver.
Sherlock says the NSL will give young female players something to look up to and strive towards.
“Right now, our Canadian women have had to go outside of our country to play,” said Sherlock. “We’re hoping to bring a lot of the Canadians back. We would love to have a lot of local representation, but there will be international players as well.”
Many aspiring players were in attendance at the unveiling, and view the new women’s team as something that will push them to go far.
“I love soccer and it’s my passion, I’d do anything to play at that level,” said U17 soccer player Jill Doyle. “It’s been a huge part of my life since I was younger, so I’m obviously very excited that it’s going to be here for my age group and younger girls to look up to.”
Her teammate, Georgia Miller, agreed.
“It’s such a big part of my life, I love it so much,” said Miller. “And now, especially now that it’s here in Halifax, it’s just going to keep pushing me more and more.”
NSL founder Diana Matheson has big plans to grow the game of soccer in Canada.
“Really only in the last five years, truly, it’s been treated more and more like a business,” said Matheson. “The investment has gone in, the marketing has been there, the production has been there, and you’ve seen it. It’s exploding.”
And that growth isn’t soccer-specific.
“PWHL 2024, Northern Super League 2025, WNBA Toronto 2026, it’s like we planned it in women’s pro sport in Canada,” Matheson said.
“It’s a new industry and Canada is really good at women’s sport. And this is something we can truly be a global leader in.”
Playing April through November when the first season begins in 2025, Sherlock says talks are ongoing with HRM about playing at the Wanderer’s grounds.
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said in a release that he looks forward to cheering on the team and seeing the positive impact it will have on generations of young women.
“Halifax is a soccer city,” said Savage. “With year-over-year growth in the population of our city alongside worldwide interest in women in sports and ‘the beautiful game,’ it’s the perfect time to welcome the Halifax Tides FC.”
City staff confirmed to Global News that the municipality received a letter on May 23 from Halifax Tides FC to engage in discussion about renting the Wanderer Grounds field.
At this time, there is no timeline for when an agreement would be reached.