It said much about the love that exists for Max Ferrari inside the York United FC locker room that goalkeeper Niko Giantsopoulos arrived for last Sunday's fixture against Pacific FC wearing a club jersey with his team-mate's name and number on the back.

Days beforehand, there had been another moving gesture from within the squad. Skipper Roger Thompson revealed that he would be handing the captain's armband to Ferrari for the game, and that the 23-year-old would lead the team out at York Lions Stadium for the very first time.

After all, he had certainly earned it.

Last weekend's game was the 77th time Ferrari had featured for the side, becoming the all-time appearance leader for The Nine Stripes in the process. In truth, but for an injury-interrupted 2022 season, he would be inching close to becoming a club centurion.

It all started in unusual circumstances, with the 2020 campaign delayed for months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In what still ranks as an astonishing commitment from a fledgling league, the CPL fronted up some intimidating logistical barriers and managed to pull off The Island Games, a shortened tournament, across August and September that all took place in Prince Edward Island . Because of the travel restrictions faced by international signings, York United focused their attentions on getting recent local acquisitions ready for action. The likes of Isaiah Johnston, Ijah Halley and 16-year-old Lowell Wright had been brought in to bulk out a squad. Now, in the space of a few weeks and months, they were preparing for plenty of professional game-time. Ferrari - who had turned some heads playing League1 Ontario for Aurora FC, was part of that group too, and both he and Wright would establish themselves immediately.

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