The Golden Age of Olliewood
I could devote enough words to make Tolstoy blush and still I would fail to capture exactly what Ollie Bassett means to Atletico Ottawa. Yet cast your mind back and you’ll recall his arrival in our city wasn’t one of jubilant fanfare from all corners of support. Much like the man himself it was one of quiet confidence and belief, yet cautious.
Prior to his move to the capital, Bassett had only played a supporting role in Pacific’s march to the title in 2021. He’d had a strong start on the Island scoring in his debut, but as the season wore on he found himself on the outside looking in as Pa-Modou Kah’s squad lifted the North Star Shield. Needless to say, when Atleti announced the signing of Basset on a frozen January day in 2022, its faithful could not have known what had been delivered into their hands, previously clutching a wooden spoon, yearning for anything positive in the wake of a disastrous season.
The 2021 season couldn’t have gone much worse for Ottawa if it had been written as a script by the worst reddit troll your mind could conjure. The Rougiblancos finished bottom, two points adrift from a rudderless,rapidly sinking, and soon to be extinct FC Edmonton. There were moments of joy that dotted the misery, such as Dylon Powley’s outstanding double penalty save and some incredible performances from Alberto Soto, but such moments were fleeting, and agonisingly rare punctuations in a sea of dross.
In spite of the agony, support rarely faltered and fans remained ever hopeful for the coming year. Imagine what that atmosphere would be like with success on the pitch? Well, it turns out, pretty damn spectacular actually. The flame-haired spark that would pour a generous supply of technically-gifted-petrol on the ATO fire and help ignite the remarkably improbable worst-to-first story of the 2022 Atletico Ottawa squad had arrived. “I’m hoping to come off the back of winning a championship and do my part to bring success to this football club” he stated in his welcome.
He would do just that, and a lot more quickly than even the most optimistic of us could have predicted. It was just one year passing between standing dejected in the stands applauding the brave but ultimately futile fight against last place to dancing the night away to the strains of Backstreet Boys in the Dub carrying around the Champions banner.
In his first season donning the red and white stripes Ollie left behind the supporting role he’d been cast in and started every single match in the league and Voyageurs Cup. In his first season his goals and assists in the latter half of the year, including contributions in three of the last four matches to end the regular season, were vital in securing our place at the top of the table and lifting our first title. He completed a clean sweep by taking home both Player of the Year and Players Player of the Year, as well as the Golden Scarf supporters' player of the year presented by CCSG, a unanimous recognition of his talents from all facets of the CPL.
How do you follow that introduction? Well, smashing 11 goals as part of a team known for its stingy defensive style of play and winning the Golden Boot is a pretty solid follow up. It’s also worth mentioning that in his three seasons in Ottawa, he was asked to play multiple tactical roles in multiple rotating positions, and often a style of play that ran anathema to his natural inclinations. In spite of this, he still put together an incredible career in our shirt that will go unmatched for a long time. Let’s also not forget his multiple Olimpicos!
His impact on the pitch is undeniable, but I think when we reflect on his time with the club it’s off the pitch that his impact may be most keenly felt. Bassett’s dedication to humanitarian causes and charities cannot go unstated as recognized by his CPL Game Changer Award. He was also outspoken about his mental health journey, and it was this incredibly important cause that Ollie chose as the beneficiary of the financial aspect of the award he received. The importance of speaking out, especially as an athlete and role model can never be understated.
Ollie made Atletico Ottawa cool. That Olliewood sign that adorned the hill and stands of Lansdowne wasn’t just a play on words, he brought a little bit of Hollywood-style glamour and star power to the club. People wanted to see him play, broadcasters wanted to focus their cameras squarely on him. Posters of his quietly determined face were plastered on bus stops all over the city.
The area that I had my season seats in happened to be a popular spot for local youth clubs to sit and not a game would go by that I wouldn't be serenaded by shouts of “There’s Ollie!” when the players would take the pitch. I would often use my extra seat to bring friends who had never attended a match before and without fail they would ask about him. I recall that I brought a friend and his son along to the home opener in 2022 and then again in 2023, and the young lad's only question as we travelled to the match was that he wanted to know if Ollie was still here, if he’d be able to see him. Even if people didn’t know ATO, they knew the man with the 10 on his back, with the orange hair, long sleeves and his tucked in shirt, a throwback to a better, more civilised age, and they knew that if he was on the pitch, something special could happen at any moment.
Sports are cyclical, that’s inescapable, from contracts to college eligibility, it is the same story the world over, but in the fledgling Canadian Premier League that is especially true (for all but one club), so you can forgive a supporter for not latching onto each player that comes through the door as they are often headed straight for the exit when the season comes to a close. This is not a league for players' names on the back of your replica kits, and if you saw someone with a kit like that it was pretty much certain they shared that last name and some DNA with the player. Ollie changed that for many people.
It’s not that the club hadn’t seen great players who were beloved and remain so, it’s just that you knew they were one-and-dones, or you’d made football's cruellest mistake and fallen in love with a loan player. You were afraid to get attached. What was different about Ollie is that he was ours, our superstar, our League MVP, our Golden Boot winner.
We hadn’t simply seen a player dominating on a rival team and snatched him away, no, he became the face of the league wearing red and white stripes, it was our badge he kissed in the height of goal-scoring emotion. Ottawa is used to playing second fiddle, but the best player in the league represented our city. In a relatively new league like ours that is just starting to develop an academy pathway, this felt closer to an adoptive homegrown story than most. Dare I say it, perhaps the best thing the United Kingdom has given to Ottawa since the Rideau Canal. Ottawa’s Ollie Bassett.
As with all relationships, even the great ones, there had to be an end. Nobody was caught by surprise when it was announced that Bassett and Atletico Ottawa were parting ways at the conclusion of his 3 year contract. I always personally felt at the start of each new season after 2022 that having him back was a gift to be appreciated, not taken for granted.
I’m grateful for the memories, grateful to have seen him pull on the shirt, and grateful for the legacy he has helped build here in the Capital. He leaves having pulled on the red and white shirt more than any other, having found the back of the net more than any other, and having created more goals for his teammates than any other.
In his farewell interview Bassett declared that he wanted to see “how far I can go” in the game. I know that I speak for all of us here at Capital City Supporters Group, and the wider Atleti Ottawa fanbase, when I say Thank You Ollie, we wish you success in your next chapter, and be assured that whatever team abroad you find yourself at, they will have Ottawa and the Otlleti family as new fans and we are excited to see you reach new heights. You will always be welcomed here with open arms. Vamos!
92 Appearances. 26 goals. 12 Assists. CPL Shield Champion. Always, 10.
