Iqaluit football club has eyes set on southern competition
Sport growing in Iqaluit with mini-leagues and soccer clinics
Goalie Robbie Nowdlak dives to block a kick from Wenzell Djalogue during a Wednesday night post-practice scrimmage at École des Trois-Soleils in Iqaluit. The three other players are Wassi Rahman, left, James Aariak-Shirley, and Gabe Salomonie. (Photo by Daron Letts)
The Inuksuk Football Club’s under-18 boys development team should have competed in Ottawa at the Bob Rathwell Futsal Tournament last week, but it didn’t.
The team didn’t miss the plane — it was an issue of raising the $20,000 the team needed to travel.
“We did get some sponsorship and we tried very hard, but we just couldn’t raise enough funds for the airfare so we had to withdraw,” said Kerry McCluskey, club administrator.
“They’re going to be a travel team, if we can ever raise enough money to travel.”
The disappointment didn’t dampen the team’s enthusiasm as the players returned to their first practice of 2025 at École des Trois-Soleils last Wednesday evening.
While it’s known as a football club, members play soccer and futsal, which is similar to soccer but played on a court indoors with fewer players and a smaller ball.
The club, which has about 185 members in total, has also launched a weekly mini-league for approximately 60 younger players.
“Our older players help run the mini-league, allowing them to model positive behaviour to the younger participants,” said McCluskey.
The players also lauded their coaches’ efforts.
“They make a really good environment,” said Wassi Rahman, 17, who said he plans to play soccer in university.

Alison Taylor is one of three coaches who lead three weekly practices for the Inuksuk Football Club’s under-18 boys development team. (Photo by Daron Letts)
“I want to compete — get really competitive,” he said, adding it’s a dream he has harboured since watching France beat Croatia in the 2018 World Cup.
River McCluskey, 16, shares Rahman’s goal of breaking into collegiate soccer. He left hockey to focus on the sport, he said.
“I just found more joy in [soccer] than anything else,” he said. “It’s a very different sport when you compare it to hockey.”
Other players shared other goals.
“I enjoy it just to get away from school and stuff,” said Gabriel Salomonie, 16. “And I enjoy the pace and the movement of soccer.”
At 13, Wenzell Djalogue is the youngest member on the under-18 team.
“I just like playing,” he said, adding basketball remains his main sport.
Coach Colby O’Donnell, an alumnus of the University of Prince Edward Island soccer team, said he’s optimistic the club will find opportunities for southern competition in coming months.
“We’re certainly in the planning and discussing stage, because they are eager to go,” he said. “From coaching these guys for the last year and a half, I know that a lot of them are ready to go play down there.”
The Inuksuk Football Club held free soccer clinics last summer for children. Close to 100 participants attended, with older players helping to lead.
The Inuksuk Football Club plans to broaden its program to include an under-17 female team once capacity grows, said O’Donnell.
Meanwhile, the club has teamed up with the Nunavut Soccer Association to host Soccer Day in Nunavut on Jan. 25. The day is packed with soccer clinics and scrimmages for the club’s under-7, under-9, under-11, under-15 and under-18 programs.
“The Inuksuk Football Club’s under-18 boys development team …”
The sport discussed in the article is ‘soccer’ in Canada. ‘Football’ is a completely different sport here.
Calling a soccer club a football club here is bombastic
The sport should be called football like everywhere else, plus we dont have *American Football*
The governing body in Canada for amateur soccer is called … Canada Soccer.
Are ye suggesting that we should be coddled under the umbrella of the folks in Europe instead of those in Canada? If so, try getting funding from Europe for soccer activities in Nunavut to replace my contribution.
Ironically, there is a lot of teams in Canada call themselves FC, In fact, the biggest team in the country, is Toronto FOOTBALL CLUB
But hey, let’s worry about the sillier things in life instead of cheering kids on.
Thanks, CdhF; Toronto’s FC is a private organization, unaffilated with Canada Soccer, the governing body for National, Provincial and Territorial soccer in Canada.
IF TFC wants to call itself TTW (Toronto Tiddley Winks) or another cuteish name, it can do so. Whatever works for its marketing. TTW is probably as apt as Toronto Charley Horses. You can compose a cheer for them if you like.
However, for taxpayer-sponsored soccer in Canada, soccer is ….. soccer.
From the Canada Soccer website:
Canada Soccer is the official governing body for soccer in Canada. In partnership with its members, Canada Soccer promotes the growth and development of soccer in Canada, from grassroots to high performance, and on a national scale. Soccer is the largest participatory sport in Canada and is considered the fastest growing sport in the country. There are nearly 1,000,000 registered Canada Soccer active participants in Canada within 1,200 clubs that operate in 13 provincial/territorial member associations.
You’ll probably not want to look at Club Directory at Canada Soccer, there are many called FC’s.
I fail to see where this has anything to do with Soccer Canada. This might be the silliest point to gripe about. EVER
Football in canada is not soccer guess u never heard of canadian foot ball league and the edmonton “elks”
There’s a little kicking.