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