During his debut Canadian Premier League campaign in 2021, Cavalry FC left-back Tom Field was left frustrated after a midseason hip flexor injury limited him to just 12 appearances between the beginning and end of the year.

The 26-year-old London-born, Republic of Ireland youth international — who previously played in the EFL Championship for now-Premier League side Brentford before loans at Bradford City and Cheltenham Town, as well as a brief stint at Dundee — came to Canada looking for opportunities to prove himself. He knew that the league has the attention of Major League Soccer and higher levels, and isn’t shy about its desires to develop players and move them on to bigger and better things.

2022 provided a chance for him to get back to his best, and to hopefully win some trophies with one of the CPL’s leading clubs in the process.

It was not to be, however. At the end of preseason, in the blink of an eye, his season was over before it started.

“It was probably a week before the season was about to start, preseason was ending, and I was running down the line with a winger and I blocked a cross,” Field described to CanPL.ca. “Unfortunately, when I blocked the cross, we were both going so quick that my leg got caught on top of the ball and my knees stood still and I just went forward. 

“My body went forward and my knee came backwards, so I ended up rupturing pretty much everything in my knee, and then my hamstring came off in two different places around my knee as well.”

Former Cavs striker Anthony Novak, now with Valour FC, was also out for the entire year with a knee injury, and the pair had surgery on the same day, growing quite close during their unfortunate circumstances.

“We were buddies in that, a week after we had goals to hit,” Field said. “We were straight back on it a week after surgery. It’s a tough process to get back from, everyone that has had a knee injury knows. Luckily, the surgeon who I had was great, fixed me up nice, and everyone from the sport scientists to the physios were great.”

The injury kept Field on the sidelines for the entirety of the 2022 CPL campaign. There were times later in the year where he felt like he had fully healed, but after so long on the sidelines, he wasn’t fit enough to return to the pitch, a frustrating situation to be in for Field.

“At the end of the season meeting, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my future, I didn’t know if I wanted to keep playing football,” he admitted. “As my knee felt good, I don’t think mentally I was in it. 

“It’s tough, waking up every morning when the boys go out, and you’re just with the physios or you can barely walk, and then feeling like you’re ready to go when you’re not ready to go. That’s the hardest thing for me, my knee felt good but I still had to hit checkpoints, I felt like I could have played, but I wasn’t actually fit.

“That was the toughest thing for me… patience is tough.”

The 2022 season was the final one of his contract with the Cavs, and at the end of the season he and the club went their separate ways. Field had offers to return to England, or play in Ireland, but felt as though he had unfinished business in Canada.

“I decided to turn [the offers] down because it’s not what I want to do in my career right now,” he said. “I wanted to stay here in Canada for personal reasons as well.”

In the offseason, Field went on trial with another CPL side, Vancouver FC, as the expansion side were building their inaugural roster. Back in a CPL environment, Field was enjoying his football again and believed he had been playing well in training with VFC, until, to his surprise, it all came to an abrupt end.

“I’m not sure what happened,” he said. “One day it seemed to be okay, and then the next day, they kind of just ignored me. 

“That’s fine, you know, that’s football. I take that on the chin no problem. I think they went with someone else over me, so I just say good luck to them.”

Another discussion with Tommy Wheeldon Jr followed, where the Cavs boss again preached patience. 

“He’s a terrific player,” said Wheeldon. “It was never, ever about his ability. I think unfortunately he didn’t play that often in the two years he was with us…it was just setback after setback for the lad.”

With League1 Alberta debuting this summer, the Calgary Foothills, who have close ties to Cavalry, signed Field to captain their young squad in that competition. In an eight-game group stage the Foothills went 6-2-0 – including twice beating the Cavalry FC U21 side that entered as well. They took on St. Albert Impact in the final, winning that match 3-0. 

League1 Alberta allowed Field to prove himself on the pitch again, and get some much-needed game time in a competitive environment. He also caught the eye of Wheeldon Jr. again. 

“I had a meeting with Tommy at the start of the year, just a casual one because I was training with them in preseason just to keep fit, and he said ‘Look, this league is starting, how do you feel playing for them, getting back fit, and seeing if you do well, and you love football?’

“I was like ‘Yeah, sure. Sounds good’, so I went to play under Jay Wheeldon. He was great, they have a great team down there. Foothills could actually give a few CPL teams a good game.”

After his successful stint with the Foothills, Field spoke to Cavalry again. This time Tommy Wheeldon Jr. offered him a new contract with the club, for the rest of the season with a club option for 2024.

“I’ve got to give credit to my brother, Jay Wheeldon, who has built a fantastic program there at Foothills and given him a soft landing,” said Wheeldon Jr. “What Tom has gone and done is enjoyed his football again, we’ve had him in and out from preseason through the season to train and he just looked more and more like the player we [originally] signed.”

Cavalry announced Field’s return last week.

“I’m just really happy that Tommy could see that I’m fit and I’m a good player still, and I can still do the things I was doing in the Championship, even after my knee,” he said. “Personally, I didn’t want to go back to England and start again, I wanted to help grow this league over here.

“I don’t know what my future holds. Honestly, all I want to do is stay fit. For the last four years I’ve been injured, all I want to do is stay fit and do well and see where it takes me.”

Cavalry have an exciting playoff push ahead of them. Near the top of the table with about two months left in the season, the table couldn’t be much closer at the top. Field wants to contribute both on and off the pitch for Cavalry, and repay Wheeldon Jr. for his faith in him. 

“He definitely wears his heart on his sleeve, he’s the first one to tell you that. He’s great, he’s tactical, he’s emotional in the right ways, he wants to do well, he protects his players, and he just wants to win. 

“At the end of the day, I feel like we need to step up for him and, and win it this year.”

Field knows all too well, from both his football experience, and his time out through injury, that it’s important to take it one game at a time – and to really make the most of every moment throughout the season. Cavalry are still looking for their first-ever trophy, and have all the pieces to win one or both of the trophies at stake this season. 

“[We need to] just take every game as it comes, every team poses a different threat,” Field said. “Literally that’s all I can say, is take it game-by-game, and win our games. When we get to the same semi-final or whatever we’re gonna be in, it’s just another game.”