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Exclusive Voyageurs Kevan Pipe interview......


Winnipeg Fury

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Kevan Pipe insisted that no mention of this interview be made public prior to the interview, as he initially had reservations and did not decide till the last minute to conduct the interview. Once I spoke to him for a bit, he was more relaxed and ultimatley stated that he would conduct the interview despite the fact it would probably 'cause him some heat down the road.' He stated that he was impressed by our knowledge of soccer in the country, and admitted that we were much more knowledgable than the mainstream media when it came to soccer in Canada. This is only the Part 1 of the interview. I will try to type and post the rest tomorrow evening. Please excuse any spelling mistakes, I rushed this through for you guys and gals:

Q: Can you give us an update at to the progress of construction of the new stadium in Toronto and explain why Field Turf is being installed as opposed to a natural grass surface ?

A: The progress of the stadium in Toronto is going absolutely superbly. Anybody that is going on the Gardner Express Way can see that. The exterior of the stadium will be completely finished by the end of November. Hypothetically you could play a test game in the stadium on December 1, because all 20,000 seats will be in, as well as the playing surface. The dressing rooms will be put in during the winter season.

In terms of the situation with the Field Turf all of our studies from day one, concluded that our stadium, even with no debt attached to it, could not meet it's financial responsibilities if it did not have the opportunity to stage multiple, multiple events. 99% of which will be soccer, but probably with the odd concert. It needs to have many games per week, it needs to have 120 days throughout the winter to generate the cash flows to meet it's financial obligations.

Certainly as you know we were able to attract 55$ million in public sector support, and it was absolutely conditional upon the stadium being available to the public, and useful to the public on a year round basis, and throughout the lifespan of the facility. From the word go, it had to be a FIFA two-star playing surface, and had no chance of being natural grass. The stadium is not built for the occasional Canada versus England or Toronto FC versus Juventus type match. If ever we needed to do that, we could lay down a natural grass surface for $200,000 or $300,000 as we have seen at Skydome. But it was never meant to be a natural grass stadium from that perspective, because of the financial challenges to utilize the facility on an ongoing basis.

Q: Will that hurt our chances of hosting a World Cup Qualifier at this stadium if our opponents object to the artificial surface ?

A: Absolutely not. Just as we played our World Cup Qualifier at Saprissa Stadium in Costa Rica, in what I might add what many considered to be our best Qualifying performance in 2004. Saprissa Stadium Field Turf only has a one-star playing surface. What we are putting in is the absolute highest quality in the world, with a Field Turf two-star surface. I think people will be very, very happy with the surface when they finally get to play.

A two-star surface has just been installed in St Johns Newfoundland, and it is literally out of this world. Instead of people unilaterally criticising it, they should speak to some of the players that have played on it. Speak to a Christine Sinclair, speak to an Andrea Neil, speak to some of the players on both the Canadian and Chinese Women's national teams that just played on it and were literally very impressed with the playing surface.

Once again, this stadium was not built for Canada versus Germany or Canada versus England. If the occasion arrives where we absolutely need to have a natural surface laid down, we can always do it. As we know FIFA regulations allow for all international matches to be played on FIFA two-star playing surface, that's in the laws of the game. FIFA President Blatter commented publicly, in South Africa almost certainly, we will see the debut of a FIFA two-star playing surface at the World Cup.

Q: You have stated that our goal is to have 3 MLS clubs in Canada. How certain is this ?

A: At the end of the press conference in Toronto, where BMO announced their intent to sponsor the stadium, Don Garber publicly stated that both Vancouver and Montreal were on the radar-screen for MLS expansion in 2010 and beyond. In fact I think he was on Soccer Central, stating as such. The commisioner of the league has stated that those two markets, combined with the proper ownership, and combined with the proper playing facilities, which is the troika of opportunities that MLS is seeking. That being proper market size, proper ownership, and proper stadium facilities, if you have those three aspects together, then you are going to be very much in line for an MLS expansion opportunity.

We believe in both those markets of Vancouver and Montreal, that we have the circumstances present to see this in 2010, or very shortly after. As we all know Toronto FC, has a lock on Canada till 2009, that was part of their negotiations, but as of 2010 it is wide open, and we hope very much by 2010 to get at least one more MLS franchise.

Q: With the rumour that the Toronto Lynx will become a PDL club, who will develop the Canadian talent for the Canadian MLS franchises ?

A: Well we very much hope that the Toronto Lynx don't become a PDL club. What we desperately need in our country and in fact our achilles heel in Canadian soccer, is we need more professional clubs in Canada. We need more MLS clubs in Canada, here I am saying that even before we even kick-off MLS in Canada. We need 2 or 3 MLS clubs, we also need 6 or 7 USL First Division clubs in Canada. In fact one of the things were going to be working on as part of our new strategic framework for 2007 and beyond, is that we have to expand the number of professional clubs operating in this country. Right now with 3 clubs and TOFC coming on board, hopefully the Lynx staying on board as a USL First Division club, we still need more clubs beyond that. We are only going to achieve our full potential once we have 2 or 3 MLS clubs and once we have 6 or 7 USL First Division clubs in the country. That is going to be a key responsibility on our part to continue to foster the growth and development of these clubs in Canada.

Q: With Vancouver and Montreal moving up to MLS, we could essentially have zero USL First Division clubs in this country.

A: We need a combination of Provincial Associations in this country, combined with District Association in this country, combined with private sector interest in markets such as Ottawa, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec City, Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, etc. We need that combination of stepping up and fostering the development of expansion clubs in those cities. There is no doubt about it.

Q: You have identified this as a major problem, but is there a specific action plan in place to increase First Division clubs in Canada ?

A: Once again it's like MLS. You need a combination of right market size, the proper facilities. We know that one of the key things in the successful evolution of soccer clubs is proper facilities. If you don't have a proper playing facility, and one of the best examples is the Toronto Lynx who have been suffering with playing out of Centennial Stadium, which is a great little stadium, but I don't think the owners of the stadium ever thought they would have a USL First Division club operating long term at their facility. We know that a very key element in the development of a professional soccer club, is the development of the right playing facility.

So we have to explore those markets that we know have the proper facilities, combined with some private sector interest, we need members of Canada's corporate community to stand up and be counted in this area, combined with the soccer communities in those areas, and we have to all work together to expand the number of professional soccer clubs. It is not going to be something only the CSA can do, or only the Provincial Associations, we are all going to have to work together to exploit those opportunities.

Q: So you feel the Toronto Lynx can survive in Toronto, as a USL First Division club, with MLS in town ?

A: We hope they continue to survive. It's going to take an effort on their part to do that. This was not done to the Toronto Lynx not to continue to as a First Division club, but they are owned by a private ownership group, and they have to make their decisions for the best interest of the Toronto Lynx.

Q: Our USL clubs went on public record with their displeasure on how MLS was introduced to Canada. Has this rift been resolved ?

A: Well we believe so. We are working together with the clubs. We just staged an international match last month in Montreal with the full cooperation and involvement of the Montreal Impact staff and organization. We believe we have been able to overcome certainly very public concerns that the USL clubs had indicated to the CSA. But at the same time, we were very, very public about this plan. It's still on our website and it's dated February, 2003. We stated three years ago that for soccer to get to the next level, it required a national stadium, it required an MLS club. You can't expect to build a national stadium in this country, play 6 times a year, and expect it to survive financially. We don't have independant financial resources that can sustain these kind of operations, we need to have an anchor tenant as we now have with Toronto FC, in order to play the 20 or 30 games a year necessary to drive the cash flows, so the stadium itself can survive financially. It was in nobody's interest to develop a white elephant that was not going to be utilized and be operated on a financially responsible basis.

So yes, we had a very public dispute, but the game is changing. And we are changing with changing times, and we are not apologizing for going forward with a very public effort to bring a trio of opportunities , a FIFA Championship, a national stadium, and an MLS franchise. We worked very long and hard on that. We are very proud of those accomplishments, and think it's the most significant trio of accomplishments in recent Canadian soccer history.

Q: The Serbian White Eagles and Toronto Croatia of the Canadian Soccer League have had a number of matches this season that have been marred by ethnic tension. Should these clubs and possibly the league be sanctioned by the CSA ?

A: Firstly, the Canadian Soccer League falls completely under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Soccer Association. I think at this time it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further. As you say, some of these incidents have reached the national media. We are monitoring the situation and we look forward to hearing from our provincial body in the off-season in terms of their own assessment.

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Kevan Pipe insisted that no mention of this interview be made public prior to the interview, as he initially had reservations and did not decide till the last minute to conduct the interview. Once I spoke to him for a bit, he was more relaxed and ultimatley stated that he would conduct the interview despite the fact it would probably 'cause him some heat down the road.' He stated that he was impressed by our knowledge of soccer in the country, and admitted that we were much more knowledgable than the mainstream media when it came to soccer in Canada. This is only the Part 1 of the interview. I will try to type and post the rest tomorrow evening. Please excuse any spelling mistakes, I rushed this through for you guys and gals:

Q: Can you give us an update at to the progress of construction of the new stadium in Toronto and explain why Field Turf is being installed as opposed to a natural grass surface ?

A: The progress of the stadium in Toronto is going absolutely superbly. Anybody that is going on the Gardner Express Way can see that. The exterior of the stadium will be completely finished by the end of November. Hypothetically you could play a test game in the stadium on December 1, because all 20,000 seats will be in, as well as the playing surface. The dressing rooms will be put in during the winter season.

In terms of the situation with the Field Turf all of our studies from day one, concluded that our stadium, even with no debt attached to it, could not meet it's financial responsibilities if it did not have the opportunity to stage multiple, multiple events. 99% of which will be soccer, but probably with the odd concert. It needs to have many games per week, it needs to have 120 days throughout the winter to generate the cash flows to meet it's financial obligations.

Certainly as you know we were able to attract 55$ million in public sector support, and it was absolutely conditional upon the stadium being available to the public, and useful to the public on a year round basis, and throughout the lifespan of the facility. From the word go, it had to be a FIFA two-star playing surface, and had no chance of being natural grass. The stadium is not built for the occasional Canada versus England or Toronto FC versus Juventus type match. If ever we needed to do that, we could lay down a natural grass surface for $200,000 or $300,000 as we have seen at Skydome. But it was never meant to be a natural grass stadium from that perspective, because of the financial challenges to utilize the facility on an ongoing basis.

Q: Will that hurt our chances of hosting a World Cup Qualifier at this stadium if our opponents object to the artificial surface ?

A: Absolutely not. Just as we played our World Cup Qualifier at Saprissa Stadium in Costa Rica, in what I might add what many considered to be our best Qualifying performance in 2004. Saprissa Stadium Field Turf only has a one-star playing surface. What we are putting in is the absolute highest quality in the world, with a Field Turf two-star surface. I think people will be very, very happy with the surface when they finally get to play.

A two-star surface has just been installed in St Johns Newfoundland, and it is literally out of this world. Instead of people unilaterally criticising it, they should speak to some of the players that have played on it. Speak to a Christine Sinclair, speak to an Andrea Neil, speak to some of the players on both the Canadian and Chinese Women's national teams that just played on it and were literally very impressed with the playing surface.

Once again, this stadium was not built for Canada versus Germany or Canada versus England. If the occasion arrives where we absolutely need to have a natural surface laid down, we can always do it. As we know FIFA regulations allow for all international matches to be played on FIFA two-star playing surface, that's in the laws of the game. FIFA President Blatter commented publicly, in South Africa almost certainly, we will see the debut of a FIFA two-star playing surface at the World Cup.

Q: You have stated that our goal is to have 3 MLS clubs in Canada. How certain is this ?

A: At the end of the press conference in Toronto, where BMO announced their intent to sponsor the stadium, Don Garber publicly stated that both Vancouver and Montreal were on the radar-screen for MLS expansion in 2010 and beyond. In fact I think he was on Soccer Central, stating as such. The commisioner of the league has stated that those two markets, combined with the proper ownership, and combined with the proper playing facilities, which is the troika of opportunities that MLS is seeking. That being proper market size, proper ownership, and proper stadium facilities, if you have those three aspects together, then you are going to be very much in line for an MLS expansion opportunity.

We believe in both those markets of Vancouver and Montreal, that we have the circumstances present to see this in 2010, or very shortly after. As we all know Toronto FC, has a lock on Canada till 2009, that was part of their negotiations, but as of 2010 it is wide open, and we hope very much by 2010 to get at least one more MLS franchise.

Q: With the rumour that the Toronto Lynx will become a PDL club, who will develop the Canadian talent for the Canadian MLS franchises ?

A: Well we very much hope that the Toronto Lynx don't become a PDL club. What we desperately need in our country and in fact our achilles heel in Canadian soccer, is we need more professional clubs in Canada. We need more MLS clubs in Canada, here I am saying that even before we even kick-off MLS in Canada. We need 2 or 3 MLS clubs, we also need 6 or 7 USL First Division clubs in Canada. In fact one of the things were going to be working on as part of our new strategic framework for 2007 and beyond, is that we have to expand the number of professional clubs operating in this country. Right now with 3 clubs and TOFC coming on board, hopefully the Lynx staying on board as a USL First Division club, we still need more clubs beyond that. We are only going to achieve our full potential once we have 2 or 3 MLS clubs and once we have 6 or 7 USL First Division clubs in the country. That is going to be a key responsibility on our part to continue to foster the growth and development of these clubs in Canada.

Q: With Vancouver and Montreal moving up to MLS, we could essentially have zero USL First Division clubs in this country.

A: We need a combination of Provincial Associations in this country, combined with District Association in this country, combined with private sector interest in markets such as Ottawa, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec City, Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, etc. We need that combination of stepping up and fostering the development of expansion clubs in those cities. There is no doubt about it.

Q: You have identified this as a major problem, but is there a specific action plan in place to increase First Division clubs in Canada ?

A: Once again it's like MLS. You need a combination of right market size, the proper facilities. We know that one of the key things in the successful evolution of soccer clubs is proper facilities. If you don't have a proper playing facility, and one of the best examples is the Toronto Lynx who have been suffering with playing out of Centennial Stadium, which is a great little stadium, but I don't think the owners of the stadium ever thought they would have a USL First Division club operating long term at their facility. We know that a very key element in the development of a professional soccer club, is the development of the right playing facility.

So we have to explore those markets that we know have the proper facilities, combined with some private sector interest, we need members of Canada's corporate community to stand up and be counted in this area, combined with the soccer communities in those areas, and we have to all work together to expand the number of professional soccer clubs. It is not going to be something only the CSA can do, or only the Provincial Associations, we are all going to have to work together to exploit those opportunities.

Q: So you feel the Toronto Lynx can survive in Toronto, as a USL First Division club, with MLS in town ?

A: We hope they continue to survive. It's going to take an effort on their part to do that. This was not done to the Toronto Lynx not to continue to as a First Division club, but they are owned by a private ownership group, and they have to make their decisions for the best interest of the Toronto Lynx.

Q: Our USL clubs went on public record with their displeasure on how MLS was introduced to Canada. Has this rift been resolved ?

A: Well we believe so. We are working together with the clubs. We just staged an international match last month in Montreal with the full cooperation and involvement of the Montreal Impact staff and organization. We believe we have been able to overcome certainly very public concerns that the USL clubs had indicated to the CSA. But at the same time, we were very, very public about this plan. It's still on our website and it's dated February, 2003. We stated three years ago that for soccer to get to the next level, it required a national stadium, it required an MLS club. You can't expect to build a national stadium in this country, play 6 times a year, and expect it to survive financially. We don't have independant financial resources that can sustain these kind of operations, we need to have an anchor tenant as we now have with Toronto FC, in order to play the 20 or 30 games a year necessary to drive the cash flows, so the stadium itself can survive financially. It was in nobody's interest to develop a white elephant that was not going to be utilized and be operated on a financially responsible basis.

So yes, we had a very public dispute, but the game is changing. And we are changing with changing times, and we are not apologizing for going forward with a very public effort to bring a trio of opportunities , a FIFA Championship, a national stadium, and an MLS franchise. We worked very long and hard on that. We are very proud of those accomplishments, and think it's the most significant trio of accomplishments in recent Canadian soccer history.

Q: The Serbian White Eagles and Toronto Croatia of the Canadian Soccer League have had a number of matches this season that have been marred by ethnic tension. Should these clubs and possibly the league be sanctioned by the CSA ?

A: Firstly, the Canadian Soccer League falls completely under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Soccer Association. I think at this time it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further. As you say, some of these incidents have reached the national media. We are monitoring the situation and we look forward to hearing from our provincial body in the off-season in terms of their own assessment.

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quote:Originally posted by bettermirror

i must ask, why were the rest of us not informed of this and allowed to submit questions?

That was initially my intention, but as you can read from the interview, KP insisted that the interview be kept hush-hush, as he was not certain about participating. I don't believe KP has answered many interviews like this, simply because the mainstream media are completely ignorant regarding soccer in Canada. Obviously I tried to cover all major areas and I don't believe anything major was missed. He stated he was very impressed with the questions and realized we weren't a pack of idiots. Ultimately he decided that he wanted to work together with the Voyageurs for the betterment of the game, and despite the fact that he figured he could burn himself with such an interview, decided to participate. I do believe that he was very honest in his answers. Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow. I also want to acknowlegde the assistance of Ed, Cheeta and Redhat. Cheers.

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quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

A: Firstly, the Canadian Soccer League falls completely under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Soccer Association. I think at this time it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further. As you say, some of these incidents have reached the national media. We are monitoring the situation and we look forward to hearing from our provincial body in the off-season in terms of their own assessment.

[:o)][:o)][:o)]

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quote:Originally posted by Daniel

[:o)][:o)][:o)]

I simply took that question off of Grizzly's post. As you can see, I tried to incorporate the major concerns of the V's, even though I could not give you guys a heads-up on the interview.

Part 1 concentrated more on the domestic pro side.

Part 2 is more on the national teams. And yes, I asked about our recent flurry of player mutinies.

[}:)]

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Very good idea to do this interview WF. Excellent questions and I have to admit that Kevin Pipe does answer them very well.

I think Daniel's comment had to do with the irony of a league called the Canadian Soccer League being totally under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Soccer Association because all the teams are from Ontario except one (in fact even calling this league the Ontario Soccer League would be a bit of a misnomer given that most of the teams are in Toronto or surrounding cities).

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I have to say that Pipe's vision is similar to mine for Canadian soccer. 3 MLS and 6/7 USL Division 1. I like how he said they need to work with local communities and private interests to get 6/7 USL Division 1 sides. I have been saying that all along. The only thing lacking is specifics. It is easy to say that, but they need a plan and probably dedicated working group to do it. When specifically asked about the plan, he never answered and simply stated again what was needed. So I assume no plan which means no 6/7 USL Div 1 sides in the next 5 to 10 years. As I have said before, they should have a plan whereby they identify a possible 10 USL Div 1 cities, identify possible stadiums that can be upgraded and sites developed; and identify possible local ownership groups that can be approached. The former can be done by speaking to the cities/universities located therein; the latter by determining who locally owns sports teams and by looking a published lists of the richest Canadians. Its really a question of putting the time and effort in; and they should have 2 or 3 full time staff simply working on putting together a professional structure in Canada. Of course, the technical soccer development is important as well but if you produce technically adept children with no where to play, some will stop between 16 to 19, others will go overseas (some of whom will play for other countries), and the ones who remain at home will have their development stunted.

I thought his comments about field turf were interesting and enlightening on why they had to go that route. I hope that the "two-star surfaces" are in fact much better than the one-star. I think they will still have a perception problem for friendlies (WCQ don't matter as they can force a team to play there). Perhaps the South African world cup will help that. I would say that at $200-300k to lay down a grass field, you are not going to play in a 20,000 seat stadium as that works out to $10-15 per ticket. You would need to play those type of matches at sky dome which in my mind makes sense the rare and very occasional match like that.

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Thanks for this, Fury!

Look forward to reading part II.

And yes, as Jarrek mentioned it should go on the front page. I'm sure some of Canada's soccer media will visit the Voyageurs site and see it. Maybe they might learn a thing or two :).

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Nice interview and good on Mr Pipe for agreeing to speak with what could be a hostile audience. I would encourage more of this from the CSA - to the extent that you have detractors (any of us), trying to ignore them rarely works. Addressing matters head on is a much better approach. So, well done to all involved.

I will take issue with some of what I heard in part I, though. It may simply be the scope of the interview, but the discussion was almost entirely about growing the professional game in Canada as a path to success. While this is no doubt important, I would have liked to hear more about bottom up initiatives.

This is my basic problem with the current CSA direction. Most of their talking points focus on MLS in 3 cities, SS stadiums, a larger USL presence, etc... I hear very little about player development, coaching infrastructure, youth team programs, etc...

It is all well and good to have Toronto FC playing in a nice park, but if Canada cannot produce top level talent to play in the MLS and to qualify for World Cups then this will all be very much in vain.

We have tried the "top down" approach in North America (NASL) and it worked for a short while. And then everything went sideways (one of the reasons was the lack of sufficent domestic talent). The Americans figured it out began to focus on grassroots initiatives and built a league to compliment these endeavours. It just seems to me that in Canada we are trying to use the old and failed formula.

Like I said, maybe there is something I am missing (though the National Team results of the last 20 years would suggest I am not wrong), but I do think that the CSA needs to be challenged on this matter.

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quote:Originally posted by An Observer

I have to say that Pipe's vision is similar to mine for Canadian soccer. 3 MLS and 6/7 USL Division 1. I like how he said they need to work with local communities and private interests to get 6/7 USL Division 1 sides. I have been saying that all along. The only thing lacking is specifics. It is easy to say that, but they need a plan and probably dedicated working group to do it. When specifically asked about the plan, he never answered and simply stated again what was needed.

Yes, I wasn't going to let that one go without follow-up. As I have often stated, the real challenge for the CSA is not acquiring 1 or 2 more MLS teams, but insuring the existence of 7 USL First Division clubs. KP sounded shocked by the Lynx/PDL news and sounded sincerely concerned. As I stated in the interview, if his two remaining USL First DIvision clubs move up, he will be left with zero First Diviion teams. And when he states the need for 6 or 7 USL First Division clubs to supply our 3 envisioned MLS franchises, that is on the conservative side. He agreed after the interview that the appropriate ratio is probably 3 (USL) to 1 (MLS) in terms of producing adeuote Canadian talent for our Canadian MLS teams.

Unfortunetly the only thing our Canadian media (and publicly KP) will concentrate on will be MLS. The real test whether this vision will succeed, will be whether we have adequote USL clubs to produce the talent for our Canadian MLS teams.

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