Bobby Smyrniotis introduced as club’s inaugural coach
Bobby Smyrniotis says that Forge FC will use its blank canvas to paint its own identity.
And that portrait will involve speed and controlling the ball.
The 39-year-old co-founder and head coach of Mississauga-based soccer academy Sigma FC was formally named Monday morning as the first technical director and head coach of Hamilton’s entry in the Canadian Premier League, the Tier One pro loop set to debut in late April of 2019.
“We’re all new, so we can put our own stamp on it,” Smyrniotis told The Spectator.
“With Forge we don’t want to just create a team for a year or two, but to create an identity and a culture within the organization that’s long-lasting.
“The biggest clubs in the world are an idea and part of that idea comes with their style of play.
“Forge is going to play high-tempo football, possessionbased football. With a good level of discipline on both sides of the ball.”
That, of course, echoes what John Herdman is preaching as head coach of Canada’s national men’s team.
Canada Soccer sanctions and partners with the CPL with a priority on funnelling talent toward the Nationals.
The CPL will impose a strict, but as yet unannounced, Canadian-content minimum on its roster.
As first reported by The Spectator, the league has five separate levels of player procurement, each with its own “draft” element. Smyrniotis said he could not reveal whether Forge has yet signed, or been allotted, any specific players.
About 200 hopefuls paid to take part in an open tryout at Tim Hortons Field on Monday and Tuesday as part of the league’s cross-country talent-identification tour.
“Bobby brings the player development and player discovery skill set,” said Bob Young, who owns Forge FC and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
“Building the best soccer talent discovery capability into the Hamilton Forge has to be job one. And that’s what Bobby has done at Sigma.”
Sigma’s teams and programs have sent about 140 players on to scholarships at U.S. college and Canadian university soccer programs, including Brampton’s Cyle Larin, the 2015 MLS No. 1 overall draft choice. Sixteen of its graduates have gone on to play professionally.
The man who hired Smyrniotis, Forge FC and Tiger-Cat CEO Scott Mitchell, says the Young group of companies has been Sigma sponsors for four years.
Smyrniotis played varsity soccer at the College of Charleston and then York University and had a few offers from professional teams in Greece. But he turned to education, earning a degree in Kinesiology from York and a masters in Sports Management from the University of Louisville.
As a result of studying at Louisville’s campus in Athens, he was hired by the youth academy program of Greek Super League giant Olympiacos. And over time, he developed relationships with several other European clubs, including Dutch power Ajax. Those contacts should help Forge FC identify and land players from Europe and perhaps eventually send some of its own emerging stars the other way. “One hundred per cent,” Smyrniotis said. “I just got back from some professional scouting and development overseas. We’ve got a really good reach in a lot of the countries in Europe: Belgium, Germany, Holland, England and, obviously, in Greece.”
Smyrniotis and his brother, Costa, started Sigma in 2005. They were among the initial members of the men’s League1 Ontario, the semi-pro league that tops the province’s elite development pyramid, and finished the 2018 regular season with 11 wins, one loss and four draws.
Smyrniotis is turning his Sigma technical duties over to another coach, but says that organization “will be part of the Forge umbrella.” He says Forge is looking at the possibility of developing an academy in Hamilton, but will concentrate now on building its team for the 2019 opening. He said that Forge FC is building a structure within the Hamilton soccer world, but would not elaborate. As for having local players on the club: “It would be a very positive thing, but it has to be the right fit. The more players we can have from here the better, and that’s one of the longer-term visions we have.
“In the CPL we have an ability to put Canada on the map. We need a place at home for our guys to play professionally, and not be chasing it in all the other countries of the world.”
He said he hopes his team will begin indoor training in Hamilton in February and later spend time training outdoors at a U.S. site shared with other CPL clubs.