Kicking Off Season 7: My Interview with Wanderers President Derek Martin

With the 7th season of the Canadian Premier League on the brink of kicking off, my dad and I had the chance to sit down with Halifax Wanderers President and founder, Derek Martin.

Even though I no longer live in Nova Scotia, I still love and support the Wanderers and have great memories as a ballboy and fan of the club. So for me to getting to talk with Derek, not just about this upcoming season, but also about everything it took to build the club from day one, was a real treat.

We started by going all the way to the early days of founding the Halifax Wanderers. Derek opened up about what it was like bringing professional soccer to the East Coast, and how he, a former American football player, ended up becoming the founder of one of the CPL’s most passionate clubs.

He shared the hardest parts of launching the club — and didn’t sugarcoat things.

“Our home opener in that first year was May 4th, 2019. And I would say on May 1st, we still weren’t ready. There’s not many people that know the stories… and some of them will always remain with those people… but there were a lot of sleepless nights and calling in extra people to come in and work to get things finished off, to be ready for that day.”

But somehow, it all came together.

“That day was magical. We had a full crowd. We were sold out. The weather was crappy — a typical early spring Nova Scotia day. It was kind of wet without really raining, cold without being too cold, but certainly not nice. It was almost poetic in the weather that we got.
But it was a great day, and everybody had a great time, and we won. It was magic. And from that moment on, it’s really just been on this trajectory of building and growing.”

As I spoke with Derek, I learned more about what it means to be the president of a professional soccer club. Derek talked about what he focuses on, the importance of creating entertainment, and how involved he is with the technical staff.

And of course, we looked ahead. Derek shared his ambitions for this season and the future of the club — from continued growth to nurturing young players, to finally bringing home silverware.

“I really want to win. It’s something that drives me. Our fans have certainly supported us enough that we’re doing everything possible to try to give them a winning team.”

That passion and drive to grow, and to win with the Wanderers was clear throughout our whole conversation, and he believes that this could be the year that they get silverware.

“The beauty of sport is every year you go in thinking that it’s your year and you’ve got a chance to pull it off.”

You can watch the full interview on YouTube, where we dive even deeper into everything above — and more.