Thunder Silenced in Hamilton
October 23, 2005

The franchise of the Hamilton Thunder soccer club has been revoked by the Board of Governors of the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL). The announcement was made on Friday by league commissioner Cary Kaplan. It was briefly mentioned in the Globe and Mail on Saturday and reported more fully by ProGame which included the following paragraph.

"The CPSL believes that the Hamilton market, with its long history of professional soccer and always passionate fan base, is a desirable soccer location such that applications to return professional soccer to the city will be encouraged.

The Thunder won this year's western division championship but was eliminated from the playoffs earlier this month by Oakville. The team had to finish its season in Vaughn after being locked out of Hamilton facilities on August 18 for failing to pay its rent. The team was barred from both Brian Timmis Stadium and Mohawk Sports Complex. It also had three of its affiliated players barred by the CSPL.

Until early this month it was believed the team was owned by Italo Ferrari, but a Hamilton Spectator investigation published on October 4 quoted Ferrari as saying he has never been an owner or part owner of the club.

Ferrari has been in personal bankruptcy since 2000, making his potential ownership role in the Thunder of interest to his creditors. Ferrari is also the the general manager of Fercan Developments Inc, which owns the Hamilton City Centre (the former Eaton Centre) and the CIBC building at King and James streets.

In the 2003 civic elections, Mayor Di Ianni ran his campaign from office space in the City Centre and subsequently credited Fercan and Ferrari with in-kind campaign donations of $750 each. The contributions are among those questioned as potentially inappropriate by Dundas bookseller Joanna Chapman in her pursuit of a compliance audit of the mayor's campaign finances.