Stambrook had huge impact on the game - Winnipeg Free Press

Sports

Stambrook had huge impact on the game
Sat Dec 24 2005

By Allan Besson



FEW men could move the Fédération Internationale de Football Association the way Fred Stambrook did as president of the Canadian Soccer Association during FIFA's conference at the World Cup in 1986.
Stambrook, who died earlier this year at the age of 75, not only lobbied successfully to bring women's soccer into the international arena, but convinced FIFA not to dumb down the women's game by requiring them use a smaller ball or field than their male counterparts.

"Evidentially at the conference there was some kind of initiative to develop the women's game that dictated they should use a ball one size smaller than the men," said Stu Duncan, president of the Manitoba Soccer Association. "He argued that women should use the same size ball and field, insisting that there should be no difference in the game, based on gender. And FIFA went along with that.

"Fred was a man who I could always confer with whenever I had any difficult issues," added Duncan. "He could always bring parties together for the good of soccer."

As far as Stambrook's son Andrew is concerned, his father's accomplishments on behalf of women's soccer stands as one of his greatest legacies and his upcoming induction into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum in Vaughan, Ont., April 29, 2006, "is a little overdue, but still very deserving and very rewarding.

"In the 1970s and early 80s, women's soccer was almost unheard of," said Andrew Stambrook. "Of the women who were playing, there was only a few and they were playing on boys teams."

As a result of his stand for women's soccer, the CSA moved into the international realm as it played host to the world with the second FIFA World Under-17 Championship in 1987 at Toronto. That tournament put Canada on the soccer map as 20,000 fans jammed into Varsity Stadium to see the semifinal between Nigeria and Italy. Three days later 15,000 watched the Soviet Union defeat Nigeria on penalties.

Andrew said that his father, a professor of history at the University of Manitoba who was honoured with the title Dean Emeritus shortly before his death, "was living history."

"My dad was born in Vienna in 1929. His mother died when he was about four or five so he lived with grandparents into the late 30s, which wasn't a good time (for Jews in Europe), so they left Vienna and went to Prague. His birth father Karl, had earlier escaped to Holland and then to England." Stambrook's grandparents, however, perished in the Holocaust.

In 1939, with the help of some friends and the British Red Cross, Stambrook fled to London, found his father and went on to study at Oxford and earn a PhD at the University of London School of Economics.

It was in post-war London that his skills at bridge and his command of the German language, got him a job interpreting captured German war documents into English. He also met his first wife Elizabeth, who was touring England from Australia, and 15 months later they were married. Andrew's two brothers Michael and David were born in England, but he was born in Australia where his father got his first teaching job at the University of Sydney in 1960. Seven years later, the family moved to Lexington, Ky., where Stambrook worked as a lecturer at the University of Kentucky for one semester, and then to Winnipeg, where he consequently became a soccer dad and volunteer.

"One day in 1970 at Crescentwood Community Centre, the referee for my brother Michael's game didn't show up," said Andrew, explaining how his father, a goalkeeper and fairly good cricket player in his youth, got started as a volunteer. "My dad went to his car, got his whistle and proceeded to ref the game. Everyone was so impressed by his knowledge that they wanted to know who he was, and my mother (Elizabeth) convinced him to get involved."

"I am very proud, and honoured on his behalf," said Stella Hryniuk, his wife for the past 25 years. "He was a good ambassador for soccer because he was such a gentleman. His character lent a great amount of dignity to the game."

Hryniuk, who taught history alongside her husband, said she wasn't a soccer fan until she met him, "We shared a lot of interests. He was a historian of diplomacy and international relations. I teach Eastern European history." One of the last pleasures Stambrook experienced, said Andrew, was that his team "Chelsea, won the English Premier League last year for the first time in a long, long time. He died a very happy, content man, who lived a full colourful life, very rich in history.

"He will be missed, no question about it."

____________________________________________________________________________________
Lifetime of achievement
DR. FRED STAMBROOK

Born: Vienna, Austria, Nov. 16, 1929

Died: Winnipeg, July 15, 2005


Academic accomplishments

1950 -- Attained BA Honours from Oxford University

1951 -- Attained B.Sc. (Economics) from University of London

1960 -- Attained PhD from University of London, 1960

1960-67 -- First teaching position at University of Sydney

1968-2005 -- Taught history at University of Manitoba

1977-82 -- Dean of Arts at the U of M

1982-91 -- Vice-president (Academic) U of M

2005 -- Named Dean Emeritus, U of M

__________________________________________________________________________________
Soccer accomplishments

1970 -- Became involved in amateur soccer when he filled in for a referee who didn't show up for his son's game at Crescentwood Community Centre.

1975-79 -- Board member and later President of the Canadian Minor Soccer Association, sitting on the National Executive Council of the Canadian Soccer Association and co-ordinated the under-16 program in Winnipeg.

1975-98 -- Board member of the CSA, and was invited to serve on the FIFA Appeals Committee for soccer at the Los Angeles Olympics and the 1994 World Cup.

1980 -- Elected president of the Manitoba Soccer Association.

1984 -- Elected vice-president of CSA.

1986 -- Elected 27th president of the CSA. During his six-year term, he was host-president of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Toronto in 1987; launched the national women's program, was host to the first women's all-star competition; assisted in the formation of the Canadian Soccer League and the Olympic under-23 program.

1999 -- Inducted into the Manitoba Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

2003 -- Inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

April 29, 2006 -- To be inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum.

Youth soccer trying to hang on - Winnipeg Free Press

Indoor venues bulge at seams and one pitch soon to be lost

Sat Dec 17 2005

By Chris Cariou



"It's close to being a disaster," youth soccer director Harry Harwood said yesterday.
The Winnipeg soccer community's long-dreamed-of proposal for an indoor-outdoor soccer complex sits filed away at city hall for 60 more days. And the clock keeps ticking toward the day in mid-February when Harwood will lose access to the Golf Dome.

"If we ever get an influx of teams, which I'm sure we would get if we really advertised and went after the registrations, we couldn't cope," he said. "We just couldn't cope. There's a definite need for facilities south of the Assiniboine and in the eastern part of the city, in St. Boniface/St. Vital. There's nothing out there, they're in desperate need."

Harwood pointed to a letter from a girl in St. Boniface/St. Vital.

Her complaint, like so many others the executive director of the Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association receives, is about having to drive all the way to Seven Oaks to play a soccer game and then getting home late, with school the next day. It's nothing new, Harwood says -- all a symptom of a city with a severe lack of indoor soccer facilities. His Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association has 5,000 players and just five -- soon to be four because the Golf Dome on Wilkes Avenue has previoius booking arrangements -- indoor venues.

Mayor Sam Katz has told the soccer community that while he agrees indoor soccer facilities are needed and will be built, he's checking out cheaper alternatives such as a domed structure like one in Ottawa (the Superdome) that could be built for $5 million and run through a city/private partnership.

As a result, the Winnipeg Soccer Federation's proposal for a $13-million facility for south Winnipeg (likely on Sterling Lyon Parkway) that would include a bricks-and-mortar building with four pitches, dressing rooms, lounge, restaurant and other amenities -- plus two outdoor fields, one of them artificial -- has been put off again by city council until mid-January.

The loss of the Golf Dome in mid-February -- it's been the site for 10 games a week this season -- will leave just the Skylight in East St. Paul, indoor fields at Gateway and Seven Oaks and Court Sports as WYSA venues for the rest of the season. Harwood says he'll be able to get all those games in.

Two other facilities -- the Winnipeg Winter Club's dome and the Cover-All out in Headingley -- dropped out of the picture when the WWC's bubble collapsed due to snow last winter and Cover-All locked its doors. Harwood said Cover-All offered to sell its building to WYSA but it's asking too much at $1 million.

The Soccer Spectrum on Waverley is the only other indoor facility in Winnipeg but it's used exclusively by adult teams. Harwood has managed to get all his games in by reducing games to two 25-minute halves and a 10-minute window for half-time and changeover. So what used to be 75 minutes has been cut to 60 for each game.

The season will end as planned on the Friday before spring break. In the new year, WYSA will have official timekeepers who will help referees check for ID cads and game sheets in the hope of easing a problem with games running late. But with about 177 games a week at five facilities - four venues after mid-February -- it's no easy task.

Some of the existing facilities don't offer the greatest conditions. The new Skylight, which has no boards and can only be used by WYSA's elite teams, hosts 40 games per week. Seven Oaks, probably the best place to play, hosts 48 games a week, the Gateway 42 and Court Sports 37.

"The Sky Light is not the best but when you're desperate...beggars can't be choosers, right?," Harwood chuckled. "It's a new facility, it's only a single shell compared to Cover-All being a double shell, so there is problems with condensation. But we're beggars. And being beggars, we have to use these places." chris.cariou@freepress.mb.ca

Golf Dome owner knows bubble pitfalls - Winnipeg Free Press

Sat Dec 17 2005

By Chris Cariou

CURTIS Gray wonders: Why hasn't Mayor Sam Katz talked to him about what it's like to operate a domed sports facility in Winnipeg's climate?
Katz visited the Superdome facility in Ottawa last summer, intent on checking out every available and cheaper option to the $13-million, brick-and-mortar four-field indoor structure (plus two fields with stands outdoors) that the Winnipeg Soccer Federation has been trying to get the city to approve since 2004.

The private company operating the Superdome says it can build a similar dome in Winnipeg for $5 million, and Katz has been listening. But Gray, the owner of Golf Dome Inc. on Wilkes Avenue, says a domed four-plex will cost more per year to operate and be more expensive in the long run than a conventional structure.

"I e-mailed Sam's office and either he or somebody else e-mailed me back and said they're sending people across the country to look at facilities," Gray told the Free Press. "And I said, 'Well, come here. You've got the best one in the country right here, come look at it, because you'll have a better idea of what you're up against with a dome and what the facility can do.'"

And what it can't. Gray points to a conventional four-plex in Edmonton that was built for $5.93 million in 2003, one he has seen his son play lacrosse in. It has everything from bathrooms to change rooms to stands, a restaurant and lounge. For only about $1 million more than a dome similar to Ottawa's, it could be built here, he said.

And unlike any dome structure, its roof would not have to be replaced in 15-20 years, he said, at a cost of somewhere around $2 million. Domed facilities are also more expensive to heat -- even moreso with Winnipeg's frigid temperatures -- and extra staff is needed to constantly clear snow away from the Tedlar-coated dome material or the dome will collapse, he said.

There are no stands for parents to watch their kids play and the Edmonton facility has four separate fields, whereas a dome would be one big field walled off by curtains to make four playing surfaces. Plus, a domed structure doesn't include change rooms, restaurants, bathrooms or other amenities -- it has to be attached to a bricks-and-mortar building that does.

Gray admitted while it could be seen he has a vested interest in no other domed golf range facilities coming to Winnipeg, he fears Katz and the city are not being given the straight goods on the advantages and disadvantages of domed buildings as opposed to the bricks-and-mortar complex the soccer community wants.

The city tabled the WSF proposal for 60 days on Sept. 21 and did so again last month.

"It's not a golf dome facility (that soccer wants and the city needs), it's a soccer facility that is going to have golf during the day," Gray said. "I don't think they're going down the right path... It should be a facility that's similar to what the soccer people have proposed in their business plan."

He said rentals for soccer, ultimate and other sports amounts to only about $60,000 a year at the Golf Dome, a virtually insignificant amount. In fact, more than 90 per cent of his revenue comes from the golf range from 6 p.m. to closing. So if the city's goal is to provide more access to indoor soccer, the golf dome model is not the way to go.

Gray said that based on rental rates he's charging and assuming other standard costs of business such as staff, management fees, maintenance, plus depreciation on a dome that will have to be replaced, he believed the golf/soccer dome model being considered by Katz would be a break-even proposition at best.

chris.cariou@freepress.mb.ca

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Winnipeg soccer official stands by calls

Tue Dec 20 2005
By Neil Davidson
TORONTO -- A top Canadian soccer official has criticized Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez over derogatory comments about the performance of a Canadian assistant referee in the final at FIFA's Club World Championship.
And Winnipeg's Hector Vergara, the assistant referee in question, says he stands by his decisions last Sunday in Yokohama, Japan.
Vergara, considered Canada's top on-field official, said he knew he was "100 per cent" right at the time he made the calls, a view backed up by subsequent review of the game video since returning home.
Despite outplaying their Brazilian opponents, Liverpool was beaten 1-0 by Sao Paulo. Three Liverpool goals were called off by Vergara for offside during the match, which was refereed by Mexico's Benito Armando Archundia.
"You wouldn't get a Mexican referee and a Canadian linesman in the final of the World Cup," Benitez said after the match. Such comments are offensive to Canadians, the chief operating officer of the Canadian Soccer Association said Tuesday.
"It is an insult," Kevan Pipe said from Ottawa. "And in fact I was quite offended when I saw the comment.
"It's a very unfortunate comment and I don't think in retrospect he (Benitez) would probably go forward and say that again," Pipe added. "Hector has been called upon on multiple occasions to do World Cup qualifying throughout the continent. He's had numerous appointments to many world championships."
Vergara worked the third-place game at the 2002 World Cup.
Irate Liverpool fans, some profanely, vented their anger on Vergara on the assistant referee's blog hosted by the Manitoba Soccer Association.
"How much money did Sao Paulo give you to keep putting your flag up in their favour?" said one anonymous post.
Other fans apologized for the rude responses.
Still a trip to Liverpool may be ill-advised for Vergara in the next little while.
In its game report, the Liverpool Daily Post referred to a "flag-happy Canadian linesman" and "an official who resembled Mr. Magoo." Added the Liverpool Echo: "As for Benitez, his sleepless nights will be haunted by the image of Canadian assistant referee Hector Vergara." The decision to flag a last-minute goal by Florent Sinama-Pongolle was "shocking," according to the paper.
The Daily Telegraph was more restrained in its reporting but said the Sinama-Pongolle goal was wrongly whistled.
The Times was even more even-handed, saying two of the goals were correctly disallowed and the third "could be described as marginal."
Still, Liverpool midfielder Luis Garcia said he felt cheated while Benitez raised the officiating with FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Reached in Winnipeg on Tuesday, Vergara calmly dismissed the criticism.
The officials' calls had been reviewed by the referees' committee as well as the referees' committee president and assessors at the game. All "confirmed the decisions were accurate," Vergara said.
"I can see his frustration, the team dominated the game but unfortunately they didn't put the ball in the back of the net when they were supposed to. That's not the referee's responsibility or fault," he added.
The Liverpool Echo saw it differently.
"If Liverpool's finishing was at fault for the first 89 minutes of frustration in the (penalty) box, Vergara must accept responsibility for the most soul-destroying moment of all." Vergara said he reviewed the video himself Monday night "frame by frame."
"And I stand strongly behind my decisions.... The evidence is there if he (Benitez) wants to take the time to review it frame by frame like I did and make a decision then.
"Is it close? Absolutely. Absolutely. In games like this, calls like that offside are always going to be tight. But that's why we're there. We're trying to do the very best job we can and I think we did that."
As for Benitez referring to him by nationality, Vergara said managers "have the right to disagree with us, just like we may not like the tactics they use."
Vergara, who doubles as chief administrative officer of the Manitoba Soccer Association, has a blue-chip soccer resume. He worked six matches at the 2002 World Cup, also officiated at the Athens Olympics and was an assistant at the final of the 2005 Gold Cup and a string of 2006 World Cup qualifying matches.
Vergara he said he will continue to work towards selection for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
-- Canadian Press

Liverpool's wrath 'an insult' to Winnipeg soccer official - Winnipeg Free Press

Wed Dec 21 2005

By Neil Davidson

TORONTO -- A top Canadian soccer official has criticized Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez over derogatory comments about the performance of a Canadian assistant referee in the final at FIFA's Club World Championship.

And Winnipeg's Hector Vergara, the assistant referee in question, says he stands by his decisions last Sunday in Yokohama, Japan. Vergara, considered Canada's top on-field official, said he knew he was "100 per cent" right at the time he made the calls, a view backed up by subsequent review of the game video since returning home.

Despite outplaying their Brazilian opponents, Liverpool was beaten 1-0 by Sao Paulo. Three Liverpool goals were called off by Vergara for offside during the match, which was refereed by Mexico's Benito Armando Archundia. "You wouldn't get a Mexican referee and a Canadian linesman in the final of the World Cup," Benitez said after the match. Such comments are offensive to Canadians, the chief operating officer of the Canadian Soccer Association said yesterday.

"It is an insult," Kevan Pipe said from Ottawa. "And in fact I was quite offended when I saw the comment.

"It's a very unfortunate comment. And I don't think in retrospect he (Benitez) would probably go forward and say that again," Pipe added. "Hector has been called upon on multiple occasions to do World Cup qualifying throughout the continent. He's had numerous appointments to many world championships."

Vergara worked the third-place game at the 2002 World Cup.

Irate Liverpool fans, some profanely, vented their anger on Vergara on the assistant referee's blog hosted by the Manitoba Soccer Association.

"How much money did Sao Paulo give you to keep putting your flag up in their favour?" said one anonymous post.

Other fans apologized for the rude responses.

Still a trip to Liverpool may be ill-advised for Vergara in the next little while.

In its game report, the Liverpool Daily Post referred to a "flag-happy Canadian linesman" and "an official who resembled Mr. Magoo." Added the Liverpool Echo: "As for Benitez, his sleepless nights will be haunted by the image of Canadian assistant referee Hector Vergara." The decision to flag a last-minute goal by Florent Sinama-Pongolle was "shocking," according to the paper.
The Daily Telegraph was more restrained in its reporting but said the Sinama-Pongolle goal was wrongly whistled.

The Times was even more even-handed, saying two of the goals were correctly disallowed and the third "could be described as marginal."

Still, Liverpool midfielder Luis Garcia said he felt cheated while Benitez raised the officiating with FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Reached in Winnipeg yesterday, Vergara calmly dismissed the criticism.
The officials' calls had been reviewed by the referees' committee as well as the referees' committee president and assessors at the game. All "confirmed the decisions were accurate," Vergara said.

"I can see his frustration, the team dominated the game but unfortunately they didn't put the ball in the back of the net when they were supposed to. That's not the referee's responsibility or fault," he added.

The Liverpool Echo saw it differently. "If Liverpool's finishing was at fault for the first 89 minutes of frustration in the (penalty) box, Vergara must accept responsibility for the most soul-destroying moment of all."

Vergara said he reviewed the video himself Monday night "frame by frame."
"And I stand strongly behind my decisions... The evidence is there if (Benitez) wants to take the time to review it frame by frame like I did and make a decision then.

"Is it close? Absolutely. Absolutely. In games like this, calls like that offside are always going to be tight. But that's why we're there. We're trying to do the very best job we can and I think we did that."

Vergara, who doubles as chief administrative officer of the Manitoba Soccer Association, has a blue-chip soccer resume. He worked six matches at the 2002 World Cup, also officiated at the Athens Olympics and was an assistant at the final of the 2005 Gold Cup and a string of 2006 World Cup qualifying matches.

-- Canadian Press

Soccer's Big Boom - Winnipeg Free Press

Sun Dec 4 2005
* Soccer registrations have exploded by 137 per cent across Canada since 1992, to 825,031 as of 2003.
* One million Canadians are expected to be playing by the end of the decade.
* Largest growth area has been in female game, with 342,976 across the country, more than double the total in 1996.
* Overall registration in Manitoba has increased as well. The MSA says its most recent figures are 9,909 (12 and under); 5,439 (13-17); 5,075 (18-29) for a total of 20,423, not including referees and coaches (2,500).
* Manitoba's growth numbers, while significant, still lag behind most other provinces in Canada. (1.66 per cent of Manitobans play soccer, according to the Canadian Soccer Association; In Saskatchewan, the percentage is 2.28, Alberta is 3.00, B.C. 2.89, Ontario 3.03).
Soccer community attributes this to lack of facilities.

-- Chris Cariou

Local soccer community sold on solid structure - Winnipeg Free Press

Sun Dec 4 2005

By Chris Cariou

WINNIPEG'S soccer community wants to stick a gigantic pin in the notion that an indoor bubble facility -- an air-filled dome, but one that dwarfs the collapsed Winnipeg Winter Club or the Golf Dome -- is a viable long-term option to satisfy the demand for a city that lags far behind its Prairie counterparts.
Bobby McMahon, a consultant to the Winnipeg Soccer Federation who designed the business plan for a $13-million, bricks-and-mortar structure that would include four indoor fields, concessions, dressing rooms and two outdoor fields in the city's south side, said there's no doubt a new bubble building would be cheaper.
But he said the new Superdome in Ottawa -- which Mayor Sam Katz visited and is considering as an alternative to the WSF idea because it would be about half the cost, at least for the indoor fields -- is an indoor golf range facility that's only sometimes used for soccer, similar to the Golf Dome on Wilkes Avenue.
He questions those who insist an air-filled dome could withstand Winnipeg's harsh climate and says other Prairie cities went the dome route long ago and gave up on them as inadequate to serve the needs of a huge sporting community.
"If you look at the history of Calgary and Edmonton, they both started with bubbles in the 1980s," he said. "Twenty years ago, Edmonton and Calgary passed by the bubble stage and realized that the bubble is OK as a starter facility but it doesn't give off the kind of revenue you need to invest in the sport." McMahon said the city was to come back with its own report within 60 days -- that would have been about Nov. 21 -- and he's confident that with the due diligence the WSF did, the city will end up agreeing the bricks-and-mortar facility is the most cost-effective solution to the problem.
"It keeps money in the sport, allows us to invest in programs and in facilities and at the end of the day, everybody's going to be better off if we go with that proposal rather than adapting a technology that essentially has been passed up by other cities 20 years ago," he said.
Hector Vergara, chief administrative officer of the Manitoba Soccer Association, said Katz isn't being fair if he's trying to compare a dome facility in Ottawa to the proposal the WSF first gave to the city in 2004.
"He can build two domed facilities for $12 million but we're building a fourplex and two outdoor fields with seating and lighting for international competition," Vergara said.
"If the mayor wants to build bubbles, let him build five bubbles in every single one of the districts. If he wants to spend $20 million instead of building one facility that centralizes everything... If a private organization builds the facility, soccer's not gaining anything.
"We're always going to keep coming back to the city saying 'We need more help' because the private organization's going to have the money and we're not going to get anything for the soccer community."
Tony Lourenco, a longtime soccer player and coach whose three children all play the sport, agreed it could be argued that two or three domed facilities might make more sense than one bricks-and-mortar structure. But he said the city has to do it right.
"We don't just want them to put up a complex just for the sake of putting up a complex," he said. "We want it to be viable, something that has some type of vision, something that can be expandable, something that will be multi-purpose down the line, something that's going to be done properly.
"The problem is, it's just been put on the back shelf and nothing seems to happen. I think the brick and mortar has more vision down the line where you have an outdoor complex with an indoor complex. We need it desperately."

chris.cariou@freepress.mb.ca


What we've got
Here's a look at Winnipeg's indoor soccer facilities and Hector Vergara's take on them.

Vergara is Manitoba Soccer Association's chief administrative officer.

* Soccer Spectrum: small, old, worn out, but busy from end of school to past midnight.
* Golf Dome: a golf facility, not a soccer structure, but busy still.
* Seven Oaks Complex: Great concept, open space, nice turf, spectator seating; best of the bunch.
* Gateway: Newer than Spectrum, built next to hockey rink, booked solid.
* Skylight (East St. Paul): New but using old Winnipeg Winter Club turf; stands too close to playing surface; complaints that dome-like roof leaks; too hot or too cold; play futsal there, a form of indoor soccer that does not require boards.
* Court Sports: Even smaller pitch and facility than Spectrum, playing surface can be dangerous, used by some leagues.
* Lipsett Hall: Gym facility used by some non-sanctioned leagues to play in because no pitches available.
Note: Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association has reduced its games to 50 minutes from 60 minutes to squeeze in more games; provincial teams must train in gymnasiums because there is nowhere else for them to go.

Dead and gone
* Winnipeg Winter Club: aging dome collapsed last winter.
* Cover-All, Headingley: relatively new facility closed; hope is it may be sold and reopened again.

Winnipeg's soccer community lobbies for more facilities

These players are three of an estimated 15,000 children who play indoor soccer in Winnipeg. Finding a place to play is getting harder.


WHEN Tony Lourenco played soccer as a kid in Winnipeg almost 30 years ago, there were no indoor fields to play on -- the city didn't really need them for a game that was still considered an outdoor sport, a passion that hadn't caught on in North America like it had in the rest of the world.
Now 41 and coaching his 13-year-old son Anthony with the Bonivital Flames and his six-year-old son Darian in mini-soccer, Lourenco has watched the game grow into a year-round activity for 25,000 players of all ages.
Ironically, the indoor facilities to accommodate them in a winter city are dropping in number rather than increasing.
"I've seen soccer explode in the last 10-15 years, especially with the women coming on board," said Lourenco, whose eight-year-old daughter Kira plays outdoor soccer while his wife Wendy is a 41-year-old soccer mom. "So the demand for facilities is just unbelievable.
What we've got
Here's a look at Winnipeg's indoor soccer facilities and Hector Vergara's take on them. Vergara is Manitoba Soccer Association's chief administrative officer.
* Soccer Spectrum: small, old, worn out, but busy from end of school to past midnight. * Golf Dome: a golf facility, not a soccer structure, but busy still. * Seven Oaks Complex: Great concept, open space, nice turf, spectator seating; best of the bunch. * Gateway: Newer than Spectrum, built next to hockey rink, booked solid. * Skylight (East St. Paul): New but using old Winnipeg Winter Club turf; stands too close to playing surface; complaints that dome-like roof leaks; too hot or too cold; play futsal there, a form of indoor soccer that does not require boards. * Court Sports: Even smaller pitch and facility than Spectrum, playing surface can be dangerous, used by some leagues. * Lipsett Hall: Gym facility used by some non-sanctioned leagues to play in because no pitches available. Note: Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association has reduced its games to 50 minutes from 60 minutes to squeeze in more games; provincial teams must train in gymnasiums because there is nowhere else for them to go.
Dead and gone
* Winnipeg Winter Club: aging dome collapsed last winter. * Cover-All, Headingley: relatively new facility closed; hope is it may be sold and reopened again.
"There's more registration in soccer than there is in hockey and if you compare what is available facility-wise, there is no comparison. There's absolutely nothing there."
And it's getting worse. Last winter, the Winnipeg Winter Club bubble complex collapsed under heavy snow and ice and it will not be rebuilt for soccer. As well, the recently built Cover-All indoor facility in Headingley has locked its doors.
A new indoor structure called the Skylight has opened in East St. Paul, using the turf from the Winter Club. The abandoned Lipsett Hall on Kenaston Boulevard is even being used by a few leagues to go along with the Soccer Spectrum on Waverley, the Golf Dome on Wilkes Avenue, Court Sports on Taylor Avenue and indoor pitches at Seven Oaks and Gateway.
But today, there are fewer indoor fields to play on than there were at this time last year, forcing all leagues to be schedule magicians as they try to get games played at sometimes odd hours and in facilities that in many cases are not ideal for indoor soccer. Young players are often on the pitch at 7 a.m. while adults are sometimes playing until midnight.
The Winnipeg Soccer Federation -- an umbrella group representing the Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association, the men's and women's senior leagues and with the blessing of the Manitoba Soccer Association -- has lobbied the city for more facilities for several years without success. It recently started an e-mail campaign to push the city into action.
It has proposed a $13-million complex for Winnipeg's south side that would include a four-field, indoor, bricks-and-mortar complex featuring dressing rooms, concessions along with two more outdoor fields -- one of those with FIFA-approved turf to attract national teams, national championships and potentially World Cup qualifying matches.
However, the soccer community says the city and Mayor Sam Katz are just passing the ball back and forth wasting time.
"We know the money's in place," Lourenco said. "We need these soccer complexes now. We don't need them two years down the line. Saskatoon is on their second multiplex. Edmonton has two or three. Calgary has a couple. We were in a tournament in Regina (they won gold) and they've got a brand new one. Why are we not on board here?"
It's a complaint that's been emanating from the huge soccer community for a long time. "We're grateful for whatever we have, but when you go to Regina, a city a third the size, and they have these beautiful facilities and the Saskatchewan Roughriders practise in there, that's how big it is... what's going on with our city?" asked Barb Lindsay, whose son Ryan plays on Lourenco's team. She's also a sub for a senior women's team called The 29ers.
"There's 15,000 kids that play indoor soccer in our city and they need somewhere to go. These kids want to play and where do they play? I hate to say it, but they play on these rinky-dinky little fields and then they go somewhere else and they say, 'Mom, this is just not right.'"
Hector Vergara, MSA's chief administrative officer, said the city tabled the WSF proposal for 60 days on Sept. 21 while it did its due diligence. Now, he hears, it's been tabled again.
However, he said one option being considered by Katz -- a huge indoor domed "bubble" facility like one in Ottawa called the Superdome, which would house four fields -- is not what the soccer community wants.
"That's not what we're talking about," he said. "How do you compare apples to oranges? They're talking about a bubble facility like the Winter Club or the Golf Dome. With the winters we have, the Golf Dome has survived over a number of years, but it's not the facility that soccer's looking for.
"We're also looking for an outdoor facility and we're trying to generate revenues in order for us to be able to build more facilities. It seems like they're just dragging their heels at this point."
Early discussions between the city and soccer community focused on putting a new facility on the site of the Waverley Soccer Complex, a collection of outdoor fields that was the site for soccer during the 1999 Pan Am Games and for World Cup qualifying games after that.
But the site has not been maintained and is largely unused. Its dressing room facilities and concessions are small, old and sub-par. Besides, the city's water and waste department has said it will need some of that land for future expansion. So the proposed site now is said to be nearby, potentially somewhere on the new Sterling Lyon Parkway.
Bobby McMahon, one of the city's most pre-eminent soccer experts who was a key manager for the 1999 Pan Ams, was hired as a consultant by the WSF in 2003. He put together a business plan for the proposal, which was sent to the city in April 2004. An amended, updated version was received by the city last January. "It was very much based on models that have been successful in other jurisdictions," he said. "Edmonton has now built three indoor complexes, they've got three four-plexes, Saskatoon's just completed a second one, Regina's just built one...This was a plan that was quite supportable by the history of other cities."
The WSF proposal requires between 17 and 20 acres of reasonably flat land.
McMahon said it would cost the city about $2 million to move the infrastructure from the Waverley site. The indoor field complex and outdoor fields -- including dressing rooms and concession areas -- would cost an additional $11 million, with $6 million of that to come from the $43-million federal/provincial/civic infrastructure fund.
A further $1 million would come from another government fund, McMahon said, and the remainder of the money would come from a loan guaranteed by the city that the WSF would pay off over time based on cash flow. It would operate the facility and maintain it, McMahon said.
The complex could be used for lacrosse, rugby, high school football, ultimate and other sports or activities, extending the seasons for all those sports, not just soccer.
Katz told the Free Press Winnipeg will soon have more indoor soccer facilities, but he's not about to ignore other cheaper alternatives to the type of complex the WSF is seeking. A domed, four-plex facility similar to the Superdome in Ottawa would cost about $5 million under a public/private partnership.
"There is absolutely no doubt in our mind that there is a shortage of indoor soccer facilities, there is a demand for it and it's our intention to do everything we can to make sure that we fill that void," Katz said.
"But we're also going to explore every option we can to make sure we get the biggest bang for the taxpayers' dollar. If we can only do one indoor facility, terrific. If we can do two, we're certainly going to explore that as well and I think that's the responsibility of the elected officials and that's what we're doing right now.
"I will maintain an open mind." What both sides agree on, however, is that Winnipeg needs more facilities.
"When you count all the individual fields as well, they have 22 indoor fields in Edmonton," McMahon said. "We have, I think it's five. Whether it's embarrassment or whether it's a situation where you compare us to other cities across the West with comparable climates, it's pretty obvious we're vastly under-served compared with those cities."
chris.cariou@freepress.mb.ca