Documentary details launch of Canada’s first women’s soccer league
Sarah Palmer, Features Editor
When star-studded soccer player Diana Matheson retired in 2021, she didn’t walk off the field—she expanded it. Exchanging her goals involving cleats and posts for a new one, Matheson set out to build something that didn’t exist: a Canadian pro-women’s league.
From proposal to the first play, The Pitch follows the creation of the Northern Super League (NSL), which held its first official game on April 16. Matheson, being the league’s founder, says the documentary commemorates a significant stride in women’s sports history.
“It’s been a whirlwind few years—with so many challenges, struggles, emotions, and milestones,” she said in an email statement. “The Pitch takes me back to those early days and shows how the community and the country rallied around a belief in our league.”
Filmed over the course of two years, the documentary debuted at the Atlantic Film Festival on September 15 and 16. Before embarking on a national screening tour, The Pitch will be played as part of the Calgary International Film Festival on Sept. 23.
Joining Matheson at the screening, which is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at The Grand theatre, will be director Michèle Hozer, four-time Olympic soccer player Christine Sinclair, and members of the Calgary Wild FC team.
Tickets are available to the public, and Hozer says she hopes that the early evening time slot will make the event accessible to young athletes—viewers who the film could encourage to chase their dreams.
“There’s a lot of laughs, there’s a lot of tears, and it’s a great inspirational film,” says Hozer. “I hope lots of people in Calgary see it, and then they can go and watch the games.”
Inspiring the next generation of barrier breakers
As an award-winning filmmaker whose portfolio includes pieces like Sugar Coated and Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, Hozer says that this project was a refreshing one to work on.
“How often does a documentary filmmaker work on a film that’s good news?” she says.
However, Hozer says it was the film’s executive producer, Nathalie Cook, who came up with the idea to tell the story.
When the former vice president of several TSN channels shared the idea, Hozer admits that she had a naive perspective of sport. She says she saw it as a rolling in the riches type of industry, and found it difficult to understand why Matheson was the one behind the NSL.
“Why is a former player having to do this?” says Hozer. “Why isn’t it the big corporations?”
But over time, once she became acquainted with decorated players like Matheson and Sinclair, Hozer says she began to understand that, since no other entity was fighting for a league like this, the retired players had to take it upon themselves.
“These women have changed soccer in this country, without the proper support that they needed from Canada, from corporations, from the federation,” she says. “This league is a form of justice for them.”
Describing the film as a “David and Goliath story,” Hozer says the documentary puts viewers in the passenger seat while Matheson and her team dodge the doubters, push through growing pains, and overcome challenges.
“If anything, those naysayers were a motivator for Diana and the team,” she says. “I think that’s a universal theme, and in sports, that really comes shining through.”
Hozer says the film’s message is infectious and that she hopes that the next generation of female athletes will take it to heart.
“If you have a dream, nothing should stop you,” she says.
