Ref shortage could disappoint would-be soccer players - CBC.ca

Ref shortage could disappoint would-be soccer players
Last Updated Apr 25 2006 06:00 PM CDT
CBC News
The Manitoba Soccer Association plans to cap the number of teams in its leagues and reduce the number of games to deal with a shortage of referees.

Hector Vergara, the association's chief administrative officer, says the group has 80 to 90 active referees but needs several dozen more to accommodate growing interest in the sport.

He says a special task force has been working for months to develop solutions for the referee shortage, but in the meantime, the association is taking steps to limit the number of teams and games.

"One of the things that we are doing is asking leagues to try and maintain the number of teams that they had last year without increasing," Vergara told CBC News.

The association is also trying to reduce the number of games per team to 18 "at the max" per season, he said, which would allow the association to cover every game with the available referees.

Previously, Vergara said, teams played as many as 22 games a season.

Vergara says the reductions will affect teams in the MSA's premier youth league and senior men's and women's leagues.

Problem is retention, not recruiting

Retaining amateur referees is a problem in all sports, Vergara said.

"If you recruit 100 referees in one year, the likelihood is that you'll probably retain, at the most, 10 of them to stay with the game for a lifetime if you're lucky."

He says retention is crucial because it takes years of experience to develop a good referee.

The No. 1 reason referees quit is pressure from the sidelines – from parents, coaches and players, Vergara says, adding that the MSA is working to provide a "safe environment where the young referees can actually grow."

The association is working on the discipline section of its training, so young refs are better equipped to deal with inappropriate behaviour during games.

Vergara says the age of referees also contributes to the problem. He notes that most are teenagers looking for part-time jobs, and as they grow older, refereeing becomes less of a priority.

MANITOBA SOCCER ASSOCIATION: More on the sport

City of Steinbach gives green light to new soccer complex

City gives green light to new soccer complex

Construction on a new soccer complex in Steinbach will get underway this year. City council, at a special committee session Friday morning, unanimously agreed to proceed with the project as they committed up to $650,000 for the complex.

The complex is to be built west of L.A. Barkman Park, adjacent to Bush Farm Road, on a 42-acre site made available by the city last year.

A Steinbach soccer complex fund-raising committee, which was struck last summer, announced in March they had reached their goal of raising $150,000 for the project bringing $800,000 the total monies committed to the project to date.

The fund-raising group, which emanated from the Hanover Kickers Soccer Club, which overseas all soccer in the community, was hoping to have a complex that would have six or seven fields, but the city has committed to only building four fields at this time.

Access for the complex will come off of Highway #52 through the Southland Church parking lot.

This year a retention pond will be built to accommodate drainage from the site as well as construction of the four fields. The parking lot will be added next year. It is expected the fields will be ready for play in 2008. This would complete Phase One of the project.

Fund-raising chair Royden Loewen said although he is disappointed only four fields will be constructed at this time, "we're absolutely delighted the project is going to get underway." Hanover Kickers

Hanover Kickers chairman Norman Anderson concurred with Loewen, "After years of lobbying we are thrilled the city has come on board with us to go ahead with phase one.

The soccer group has three more phases in the plans for the future. Other phases may include a building that would include washrooms and change rooms, lighting and bleachers for one of the fields, and an enclosed year-round multi-use recreational facility.

Anderson added he is pleased the city has agreed to allow some of the work on the fields to be work in kind which will hopefully lower some of the costs.

Last year more than 500 registered soccer players used soccer pitches at five different locations in the city.

Soccer hopes near goal - Winnipeg Free Press

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Keith Ferbers hopes the city will approve his soccer federation's $11.5-million proposal for an indoor/outdoor complex on this site off Wilkes Avenue.


Soccer hopes near goal
Federation expects city hall to approve proposal for a new indoor-outdoor complex this summer

Sun Apr 9 2006

By Chris Cariou






THE soccer community's long, frustrating wait for a new indoor playing facility appears to be coming to an end.
Keith Ferbers, president of the thousands-strong Winnipeg Soccer Federation, says he expects a final proposal will go to city council's executive policy committee by next month and that council will approve it before summer ends.

He's only hoping it will be the $11.5-million complex his group has been pushing for about two-and-a-half years.

"We're glad things are moving forward," Ferbers said in an interview, referring to the city issuing requests for expressions of interest from the construction industry, architectural firms and private groups indicating how they would build the complex the soccer community is proposing, or a different one, and at what cost.

Responses are due April 18.

'Process'

"We're hoping that once we go through this process, the city will be satisfied that our proposal is the right one," Ferbers said.

"I'm happy that one way or the other, this seems to be coming to a head and we're hoping this is going to go to EPC (executive policy committee) in late May once they've had a chance to discuss things with us.

"I'm led to believe that once EPC approves it, we're looking pretty good at council, that this will definitely be done before the summer recess."

Ferbers said the impending closing of the Soccer Spectrum, one of Winnipeg's oldest and most enduring indoor playing facilities, accelerates the need for the city and Mayor Sam Katz to follow through with a commitment to build a new indoor/outdoor complex.

The federation includes the Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association, the Manitoba Major Soccer League (men) and the Winnipeg women's league. With the support of the provincially-run Manitoba Soccer Association, their proposal is to build a complex with four indoor fields and two outdoor fields.

Most of the funding would come from a $6-million federal-provincial-city infrastructure grant already committed. Discussions are focusing on a 20-acre site near the Golf Dome between Sterling Lyon Parkway and Wilkes Avenue.

A key component of the federation's plan is that the soccer community would run the facility and use revenues to maintain it and develop the game. WYSA, the largest group with 18,000 registered players, has already committed $250,000 to the WSF proposal and the women's league has pledged another $10,000.

"So the community's trying to say, 'Look, we're behind this. What's the holdup? Let's do it,' " said Hector Vergara, chief administrative officer of the MSA. "We know that the facilities are needed for our game to continue to grow. That's our intent -- to grow the game, but we can't grow it if we have nowhere to play it." The sale of the Soccer Spectrum means that 102 teams in the men's senior indoor league will have to find somewhere else to play next winter, along with about 150 mini-soccer players ages 5 to 9. Tony Nocita, majority owner of the Spectrum, a former player with the Winnipeg Fury and part of Manshield Construction Co., confirmed the 13-year-old venue has been sold.

It will become the regional head office for the Enterprise car rental company by early next month.

Nocita said his group will respond to the city's request for expressions of interest with a plan for a privately run, for-profit complex that would meet the needs of the soccer community.

He said that while rumours swirl about an announcement being imminent, he believes that's just conjecture surrounding the April 18 deadline.

He said he expects that after the deadline, the city will short-list the candidates and then a formal request for proposals will be issued.

"That's what we've been working towards," he said. "I would think there'll be two or three or four proposals. The city wants to see how the market responds.

"We've been there since Day 1," Nocita said. "We're part of the soccer community here too, and we can help."

Other groups, including an Ottawa-based private company that runs a bubble complex in the capital and in other cities, have also expressed interest.

The Spectrum is the latest indoor soccer venue to disappear from the local scene. Last year, the CoverAll in Headingley closed, and the Winnipeg Winter Club's beleaguered dome collapsed under snow.

The Skylight in East St. Paul opened this season, but it had a leaky roof and other problems.

Ferbers said he's concerned that Katz and the city still appear to be considering options other than the one the WSF is proposing, even though city departments have already vetted the WSF plan and support it. But he didn't entirely rule out another proposal.

"We've said to the city that if someone puts in a response that meets our needs and they can do it cheaper than what we've proposed, we're happy to look at that.

"We really want to do a marquee indoor facility that's going to be standing for 40 to 50 years at least, and that really becomes the destination for indoor soccer."


chris.cariou@freepress.mb.ca


The plan

The Winnipeg Soccer Federation's proposal for a new indoor/outdoor complex:

The Facility
* Four indoor fields on new-generation turf and with boards
* Restaurant/lounge with glassed viewing areas
* Bricks-and-mortar structure, not a domed bubble
* Washrooms, change rooms, meeting rooms, physiotherapy other amenities
* Two outdoor fields -- one natural grass, one with new artificial turf
* Proposed site is 20 acres near the Golf Dome between Sterling Lyon Parkway and Wilkes Avenue.

The Cost
* Total estimated cost is $11.5 million (delays have likely increased construction and materials costs)

Breakdown:
* Indoor facility: $9.5 million
* Outdoor fields, parking lot, etc.: $2 million

Paying the Bill
* $6 million committed from $43-million federal/provincial infrastructure program
* $1 million from another government infrastructure program (pending)
* $4-million to $4.5-million mortgage to be assumed by WSF
* Fundraising initiatives and pledges from within soccer community

The Beneficiaries
* 20,423 players (11,159 males, 9,264 females) are registered with the Manitoba Soccer Association, most in Winnipeg
* Another 7,000 (estimated) mini-soccer players ages 5 to 8, plus another estimated 2,000 outside Winnipeg
* 2,500 coaches and officials are involved, plus parents, grandparents and other fans.

The Timeline
* City has set April 18 as the deadline for interested parties to submit suggestions on how they would build the WSF's proposed facility or another multi-field complex, and at what cost. WSF expects the issue to go before executive policy committee by May and hopes for council approval by summer.

Sources: MSA, Winnipeg Soccer Federation