Inaugural Northern Super League game is something to be savoured

The sun was shining brilliantly when I touched down Monday afternoon in Vancouver. I had been here last month but it was cold, rainy and frankly, miserable. But the sun beaming over the snow-capped mountains made it seem like I had arrived somewhere else. In a way I did.

Vancouver's BC Place is the location of the inaugural match on Wednesday of the Northern Super League (NSL), Canada's first professional women's soccer league, when the Vancouver Rise FC will face the Calgary Wild FC. 

More than 10,000 tickets have been sold and there will be supporter scarves to the first 12,000 fans, face painting and a hype area to welcome player arrivals at the Terry Fox Plaza starting at 8 p.m. ET.

Vancouver is a strong sports market. Diana Matheson, the league's founder and chief growth officer, told media Tuesday that "Vancouver is a soccer town." Many pivotal soccer moments have happened at BC Place, from the Vancouver Whitecaps programs, to Olympic qualifiers and matches.

There is some poetry about the first match being in Vancouver because Rise FC was the first club to sign on to the NSL with Calgary close behind.

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‘You now can see what you can be’, Desiree Scott reflects on importance of the Northern Super league

It almost seems so intertwined and magical. I might be getting ahead of myself because not everything is seamless. There will be bumps along the way, just like every type of start-up. And that's exactly what the NSL is, but a start-up with six teams, 132 players, and dozens of jobs created.

Hiccups along the way are not abnormal by any means, particularly not in professional sports and not for a new league. And each team