New documentary offers behind-the-scenes look at birth of the Northern Super League

Northern Super League co-founder Diana Matheson shows off a gift from a fan, in this handout photo, at B.C. Place Stadium during the Northern Super League's inaugural game between the Vancouver Rise and Calgary Wild, on April 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — The Pitch (Mandatory Credit)

As the Northern Super League gears up for its first-ever post-season, Michele Hozer’s documentary “The Pitch” provides a timely behind-the-scenes look at the making of the women’s pro league.

Starting in late 2022, “The Pitch” follows league co-founders Diana Matheson and Thomas Gilbert as they looked to turn their Project 8 blueprint into a reality with the six-team league kicking off earlier this year.

The stress of the journey is plain to see in several scenes.

“Tom and I have been living in a lot of uncertainty for the last 15 months, 16 months,” an under-the-gun Matheson says directly to the camera. “And we’re sick of it.”

Another scene shows Matheson working on her laptop in the passenger seat of a car with wife Anastasia Bucsis behind the wheel.

“She’s literally working all the time. All the time,” Bucsis, who is listed as an associate producer on the film, tells the camera.

Given the ending to the story was a successful league launch, there are more smiles than frowns. But one marvels at Matheson’s drive and determination, the unwavering support of Bucsis and the cool reason of Gilbert.

Matheson says she and Gilbert had been keen on documenting the creation of the league and were introduced to Hozer by Nathalie Cook, a former TSN executive who was an early adviser to Project 8.

“Once we met Michele, we knew we had the right people to follow us along for the journey,” Matheson said in an interview.

Hozer’s credits include “Shake Hands with The Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire,” “Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould,” “West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson” and “Sugar Coated.”

The director had stress of her own, not closing the financing for the project until January 2025.

She said she knew from the get-go that the project “had great bones for a good story,” but naively thought that Project 8 would come with heavyweight backing.

“And then I met Diana and I thought ‘Oh my God. Why is it on the backs of these former players to put together a league given their success?’” she said in an interview. “And that was really the driving question throughout the documentary.”

“I think it’s also a universal story for many women,” she added. “That we’re constantly, despite our success, always having to regain our space that’s sort of been ours from the beginning.”

Matheson lived the story but says watching the documentary was emotional.

“It’s a gift in a lot of ways to have the last few years saved, catalogued, forever captured for us to look back at … It was also heavy to look back in 90 minutes all the stress of the previous 2 1/2 years that we have been living.”

Matheson said she was able to provide feedback in seeing a final cut of the film but Hozer had the “final call.”

Hozer serves as director, producer and editor on the fly-on-the-wall documentary that features some two dozen interviews. Some of the most powerful voices come from former players like Amy Walsh, whose playing career was essentially cut short by motherhood.

Walsh relates how she and Canadian teammate Martina Franko were told by Canada Soccer that they would be on the hook for the costs of caretaker, flights, lodging, even food on site if they brought their babies to camp.

Both players retired.

“I think I hoped otherwise and I was disappointed and I was angry, but I wasn’t shocked — in the least bit,” says Walsh. “That’s a basic human right, is your choice to be a mother. And you should be able to a mother and a footballer concurrently.”

It’s not a good look for Canada Soccer, the sport’s governing body, which also takes a beating for its restrictive, controversial marketing deal with Canadian Soccer Business.

“There is no world in which that was a good deal for Canada Soccer for the next 20 years … They bet against themselves and the national team programs,” says Matheson. “And yeah, I think we all take that a bit personally too.”

“When you know that you matter but you’re dealing with people that make you feel like you don’t, it’s frustrating,” adds veteran goalkeeper Erin McLeod.

That was then, though. Current Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue comes in for praise in the documentary for his work at the top.

“Some of the things that went on (in the past) obviously are regrettable,” Blue says.

There is also raw emotion from McLeod, who signed with the Halifax Tides at the age of 41 after playing abroad in the U.S., Sweden, Germany and Iceland.

“As much as I love this … this is about the future of the league. The ‘keepers that are half my age, like this is for them,” she says.

Project 8’s original plan was to kick off with eight teams, while knowing six would work. But getting to six was challenging.

Matheson is shown making her pitch for a $1 million buy-in now, saying the franchise would be worth $40 million to $50 million in 10 years. (Would-be owners were also told they needed $10 million in operating costs over next five years.)

“We were literally pitching a dream,” said Matheson.

The documentary captures the rising tension as Matheson and Gilbert search for the fifth and sixth franchises needed to launch the league. Halifax came on as the fifth club, leaving one remaining hole.

Gilbert came up with the solution to the sixth team, on the eve of the spring 2024 deadline set by the other owners.

“Tom’s solution was simple but risky,” Matheson explains in the film. “Use our equity in the league to acquire a club, Ottawa. If it didn’t work, the league wasn’t going to work anyways. But if we pull it off, we get to six and the league is real.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2025

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press