The Wanderer Grounds | A Halifax Soccer Podcast

In this week's episode of the Wanderer Grounds, midfielder Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé joins the show to talk with Martin about rejoining the Halifax Wanderers, the conversation with Patrice Gheisar that made up his mind, and looking forward to playing with Andre Rampersad again. Photo credit: Trevor MacMillan / HFX Wanderers FC

The Halifax Wanderers are ready to spill the beans on a new development for 2024. Plus, Martin walks Matt through what's been happening around the CanPL, the two discuss Giorgio Probo's fit in Halifax, and Matt shares his thoughts on the key to making a permanent stadium a reality.

In this holiday crossover, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman are joined by Joshua Healey and Mitchell Bailey (The Healey & Bailey Notebook) as the four give out Christmas gifts and New Year's resolutions to all the Wanderers players of 2023. Martin also reveals a secret about his past.

A quick episode from Matt and Martin because they had a few extra minutes in their booked room at the library. Martin tells Matt all about the Wanderers' women's development team and the club's plans for the future. The boys also talk about potential offseason departures and club transfer news, as Martin dusts off his "insider" credentials. (The dust is still there, but he's trying.)

One year after a near-complete overhaul that saw a coaching change and a carousel of new faces, the Halifax Wanderers are in somewhat unfamiliar territory entering their offseason: For once, the Canadian Premier League soccer club has a roster it would—mostly—like to keep together. Now, the question looms: What will it take for this team to emerge as true title contenders? What pieces are missing?...

In this week's episode of the Wanderer Grounds podcast, Coast education reporter Lauren Phillips joins Martin Bauman and Matt Stickland to talk about Canada's 2-0 win over Brazil in Halifax, Christine Sinclair's impact on the game, and what it will take for women's soccer to finally see a professional league established in Canada.

The Canadian Premier League will announce its 2023 regular season award-winners on Thursday, Oct. 26, but here at The Coast, reporters Martin Bauman and Matt Stickland have come up with a far more prestigious (and definitely official) set of awards: The inaugural Wanderer Grounds Awards. Er... Groundies? Wandies? We’re still not entirely sure. Four Wanderers—all in their debut season—are in the ru...

In this week’s episode of the Wanderer Grounds podcast, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman commiserate over the Wanderers' playoff disappointment and talk about the season that was. Plus, midfielder and vice-captain Mo Omar joins the show to talk about what went wrong for the Wanderers and his offseason plans. Also in this episode: The boys detail their plans for offseason episodes -...

In this week's  Wanderer Grounds  episode, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman go deep on the Halifax Wanderers' odds against their playoff opponents—will it be York United or Pacific FC? Plus, Wanderers forward Massimo Ferrin and midfielder Lorenzo Callegari join the show to talk scoring streaks, praise from Karim Benzema and taking visitors to Eastern Passage. (Editor's note: The co...

In this week’s Wanderer Grounds episode, Coast reporter Martin Bauman is joined by HFX Wanderers FC assistant coach Jorden Feliciano to talk about how Halifax stymied Forge’s well-oiled offense, Massimo Ferrin’s status as a top-10 CPL player and overcoming disappointment in Langley to earn a crucial three points at home. (Editor’s note: Martin got excited in the live recording after the match and...

In this week’s Wanderer Grounds episode, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman dissect what went wrong for Halifax in Langley and what it’ll take for the Wanderers to hit their stride going into the playoffs—if they manage to qualify. Photo credit: Beau Chevalier

Halifax Wanderers CEO Derek Martin has dreams of a permanent 8,500-seat stadium in Halifax's downtown. Last week, the Canadian Premier League soccer club founder made his pitch to the HRM's Community Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee to overhaul the municipally-owned Wanderers Grounds—where his club plays—in favour of an all-purpose venue. The cost? An estimated $40-million, acc...

In this week’s Wanderer Grounds episode, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman reflect on the Wanderers’ Monday night nerves, Gheisar’s U-21 quandary and a tight three matches to go in the regular season. Plus, Wanderers forward Jordan Perruzza joins the show to talk about riding out post-tropical storm Lee and the grandeur of Canada’s Wonderland. Martin makes an immediate fool of himse...

In this week's episode, Matt and Martin talk about the Wanderers' fatigue levels, Mo Omar taking one for the team, the silver lining when things backfire, and one hell of a noisy press box. P.S. In our intro, we introduced you to everyone else but forgot to introduce ourselves. Which was silly. Matt is the one who starts the podcast by yelling "Hello!" Photo credit: Trevor MacMillan / HFX Wanderer...

In this episode, Martin and Matt talk about U-21 minutes, lame excuses for smoking weed and, of course, the dropped three points against York United FC. Also in this episode, the boys talk to Wesley Timoteo about his new role as a "hybrid fullback," living with Yann Fillion and just how many bananas he eats every day.

In this week's episode, Matt and Martin talk about the wet three points the Halifax Wanderers earned over the weekend against Winnipeg's Valour FC. They also discuss U-21 minutes, taking off shirts and which sport is the most selfish. (Correction: In this episode, Martin says he believes that Jake Ruby isn't yet healthy enough to return to play for the Wanderers. Per the club, Ruby is healthy and...

The most telling sign that the Halifax Wanderers are not the same ill-fated team of old might well be this: On Saturday, Aug. 19, the Wanderers managed to draw defending Canadian Premier League champions Forge FC in a tight 1-1 road affair, and Halifax will head home feeling like they could’ve taken all three points away. Through three matches against Hamilton’s Forge this season, the Wanderers ha...

In this week's episode, Martin is joined by Canadian international (and now Wanderers centre-back) Doneil Henry. The two talk about the Wanderers' 3-0 win over Vancouver FC and what playing and living in Halifax has been like for Henry. Matt joins Martin at the tail end of the interview and the two of them go through the game, talk about João Morelli's performance and some standouts. The boys also...

In this week's episode Matt and Martin are joined by League Commissioner Mark Noonan and the three of them talk about the future of the league and the standard of reffing. Then Martin and Matt do a speed run through the events of the last game, as Martin had to rush off for a birthday event. Happy Birthday Martin! Photo credit: Trevor MacMillan / HFX Wanderers FC

In this week's episode, it's just Martin because Matt's voice is down for the count.

Make that five home wins in a row for the Halifax Wanderers. On Sunday, July 23, in front of an ebullient Halifax crowd, the Wanderers looked comfortable in beating reigning regular season champions Atlético Ottawa 1-0 behind a magnificent goal from striker Théo Collomb. In this week’s episode of  The Wanderer Grounds , Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman discuss the Wanderers’ run of...

This episode of the Wanderer Grounds is a crossover episode! Last week the Friends of the Commons local advocacy group put a post on their website letting everyone know that they are suing the city over the  privatization of the Wanderer’s Grounds . The reason, according to the legal letter linked above, is they believe the Wanderer’s Grounds have been defacto privatized without public consultatio...

In this episode Matt and Martin talk about a soggy game, Fillion's antics and the return of Morelli. Photo credit: Trevor MacMillan / HFX Wanderers FC

In this week's Wanderer Grounds episode, Coast reporter Martin Bauman is joined post-match by Wanderers beat reporter Joshua Healey (Wanderers Notebook) and Wanderers centre-back Dan Nimick to recap HFX Wanderers FC's dramatic 2-1 victory over defending Canadian Premier League champions Forge FC. Nimick talks penalty mind-tricks, pump-up songs and why he loves a good bowl of Chipotle. Plus, Martin...

In this week's episode Matt is joined by new guest Lauchlin. The two of them are joined by Aiden Daniels to talk about whether or not it's okay to be mean to soccer players (and his sweet goal). Then Josh from the Wanderers Notebook (thewanderersnotebook.ca) joins and they talk about press box shenanigans, reffing and debate if Halifax's grass gives the team an advantage. You can read Josh's recap...