snake Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 did anyone hear something about the owners of T & T supermarket building a 12.000 outdoor stadium in richmond and getting a usl div 1 franchise stocked mainly with asian players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 No, if you hear something realistic with proof please post it. Otherwise, ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadianfoot Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 In Richmond, where? They could use Hugh Boyd Community Park for training....but realistically 12k stadium in Richmond....no way I could see a 4-5k stadium somewhere along the Canada Line....GardenCity/Alderbridge is that land under Conservation? Already it's a gridlock in Richmond on Fri/Sat along #3 road.....I don't think it's feasible...then again I hope I am wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnie Monster Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 I live in Richmond, but haven't heard anything. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave this a shot at Minoru Park (Granville & No. 3 road)... it's basically a mini-Swangard already, and it would be perfectly suitable for PDL in its present condition with a temporary bleacher set up. Minoru has a brand new field turf soccer pitch (literally months old, and soccer lines only)... It has an aging grandstand that seats maybe 500? The pitch runs north-south. The grandstand is on the east side facing west. Older bleachers run along the length of the west side of the pitch. Whatever seating capacity Swangard has opposite the big grandstand, Minoru has roughly the same there. The north side is a wide open park space,a very large temporary grandstand could be set up right behind the goal on game nights. As for locker rooms, there's an indoor swimming facility and a hockey arena (home of the Richmond Sockeyes junior hockey team) immediately adjacent to the site (both are less than 50 yards from the pitch). The hockey arena is the building in the photo immediately behind the grandstand. The pool is just off camera to the right. The funny thing? Once the Canada Line Skytrain extension is finished this year, the park will be three blocks from Brighouse Station. That's closer access to rapid transit than Swangard has! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Boy Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 too bad its turf... minoru used to have the best pitch in the lower mainland. Then again I haven't played on it in many years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillium Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Danny Boy too bad its turf... minoru used to have the best pitch in the lower mainland. Then again I haven't played on it in many years. Is there a PCSL team playing here ? It looks like a nice stadia for a USL divison 2 team or a CSL team when they expand next year. Does anyone know what the real usage is on the space by clubs and if the city would rent it out to a semi-pro team ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadianfoot Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 Johnnie Monster agreed for CLS/PCSL it's a great venue location wise too pretty much centrally located within good transportation distance(heck even hotels near by) but it's far from the 10-12k seater rumored. To make it into a little Swangard agreed. 2millions in upgrades(PPP 1mil each) and it might work. Would be quite something, if Victoria & Richmond are USL1 & Vancouver MLS. I am quite surprised that Surrey with over 400 000residents hasen't built any venue(4-5k) yet. Is it lack of political will(I mean they surely want to cleaup whalley/bridgeview) or lack of interest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 Surrey should have their own stadium given it size and the expected growth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnie Monster Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 They did build one... for minor league baseball... and the team folded! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadianfoot Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 baseball..........that was part of the problem....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancouversoccerman Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 There's talk that Surrey could get a new small stadium as part of the 2012 B.C. Summer Games. No details yet, though. There's a small thread in the "Other Leagues" forum: http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19221 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottawaguy2009 Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 My girlfriend and I just got back from a nice trip to Vancouver/Richmond. I must say that the Asian-Canadian population in that part of town could definitely get 5 - 10 K supporters out to home games. One good thing about minority communities in Canada (*even though expats of Asian countries are actually the majority in that area), is that they really work to build up their culture. We visited Chinatown and Dr. Sun Yat Sen park and all that, and you really could feel as though you were spending the day in Shanghai. Minority groups in Canada rally together (look at the Tamils here in Ontario) for politics and...sports. Although most often in that order. Orient FC. That's catchy and bound to win the hearts of the soccer-crazy Asian-Canadians in Vancouver/Richmond. All the best to such a project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyranger Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I think it would be cool, however all it would take is for the Caps to sign another "Taka Hirano" type of guy and that community might mobilize to take in MLS Caps games and ultimately kill the Orient team. Plus Surrey is due for a big new shiny stadium as Vancouversoccerman has said above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tintin Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Richmond with a USL team? Imagine trains full of Whitecaps supporters going to Richmond for Voyageurs' Cup matches...and maybe a couple of guys heading the other way for the return leg. Actually, they might really get behind the team, but it would have to be mostly a Chinese team to really attract people in Richmond. A derby?! In Vancouver?! ...what I used to dream about when I was younger, and still do I suppose. The 86ers once played a friendly against a Chinese team called Vancouver Somethings and there were only a few 86ers fans there and about a thousand for the other team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tintin Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Richmond with a USL team? Imagine trains full of Whitecaps supporters going to Richmond for Voyageurs' Cup matches...and maybe a couple of guys heading the other way for the return leg. Actually, they might really get behind the team, but it would have to be mostly a Chinese team to really attract people in Richmond. A derby?! In Vancouver?! ...what I used to dream about when I was younger, and still do I suppose. The 86ers once played a friendly against a Chinese team called Vancouver Somethings and there were only a few 86ers fans there and about a thousand for the other team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyranger Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 We know there are huge Snob Soccer communities here in Vancouver, it is not something new. What we do know is that they Perceive, righty or wrongly, that MLS is far superior to USL, the former A League, and the former CSL. When Serbia and Croatia play there VMSL Premier Games they have them at big stadiums to huge crowds of folks that would never take in a Caps game in the USL, but would go watch the MLS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snake Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Tintin Richmond with a USL team? Imagine trains full of Whitecaps supporters going to Richmond for Voyageurs' Cup matches...and maybe a couple of guys heading the other way for the return leg. Actually, they might really get behind the team, but it would have to be mostly a Chinese team to really attract people in Richmond. A derby?! In Vancouver?! ...what I used to dream about when I was younger, and still do I suppose. The 86ers once played a friendly against a Chinese team called Vancouver Somethings and there were only a few 86ers fans there and about a thousand for the other team. the team was called the vancouver explorers and they played out of swangard,they used to average around 1500 a game in attendance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I remember them getting around 750 a game at Swangard. They used to do PA announcements in both English and Mandarin or Cantonese (sorry don't know which). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snake Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 there was a big 5 page article on them in the vancouver courier a few years back it might still be on line somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tintin Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 quote:Originally posted by snake the team was called the vancouver explorers and they played out of swangard,they used to average around 1500 a game in attendance Explorers, yes. Thank you. That was really bothering me. I racked my brain but all I could come up with was Vancouver Voyagers...which sounds familiar for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadianfoot Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Johnnie Monster I live in Richmond, but haven't heard anything. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave this a shot at Minoru Park (Granville & No. 3 road)... it's basically a mini-Swangard already, and it would be perfectly suitable for PDL in its present condition with a temporary bleacher set up. Minoru has a brand new field turf soccer pitch (literally months old, and soccer lines only)... It has an aging grandstand that seats maybe 500? The pitch runs north-south. The grandstand is on the east side facing west. Older bleachers run along the length of the west side of the pitch. Whatever seating capacity Swangard has opposite the big grandstand, Minoru has roughly the same there. The north side is a wide open park space,a very large temporary grandstand could be set up right behind the goal on game nights. As for locker rooms, there's an indoor swimming facility and a hockey arena (home of the Richmond Sockeyes junior hockey team) immediately adjacent to the site (both are less than 50 yards from the pitch). The hockey arena is the building in the photo immediately behind the grandstand. The pool is just off camera to the right. The funny thing? Once the Canada Line Skytrain extension is finished this year, the park will be three blocks from Brighouse Station. That's closer access to rapid transit than Swangard has! Anyone knows the measurments on the pitch @ Minoru? Wiki does not have the info neither does the City of Richmond Website. http://www.richmond.ca/asp/parks/images/pm68.pdf http://www.richmond.ca/asp/parks/park.asp?ID=68 Oh yeah BS SENIOR Games 2009 will be held @ Minoru Park in September[^] http://www.bcseniorsgames2009.ca/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRich Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Trillium Is there a PCSL team playing here ? It looks like a nice stadia for a USL divison 2 team or a CSL team when they expand next year. Does anyone know what the real usage is on the space by clubs and if the city would rent it out to a semi-pro team ? Richmond has 1 of the best AT infrastructures in the smallest geo & player footprint in Metro Van. They have done a awesome job of getting AT's in at basically 1 a year. Richmond youth teams w/ their 6 AT for only 2100 kids only takes up 50% of the AT time at prime time. Vancouver youth teams have started to rent in Richmond as there are so many AT's now. City of Richmond will rent to any soccer club provided you have the insurance & pay the non-resident team rates. Local teams get a better rate & prime times. RGSA (Female) is in their 2nd season w/ a Women's U21 team. RYSA (Male) had a Men's U21 last season mostly of Vancouver players. No team this season. City of Richmond has ton's of AT space available & this was before they got Minoru Oval (MAT 1) & King George (KAT). The Chinese League which was in Vancouver is all in Richmond as of last season. It's a huge successful league & they are starting youth programs too. In the past, the U20 WNT trained at MAT 1 prior to the WC & the Senior have been in Richmond as well when the weather is bad & there were no fields available in Metro Van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRich Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 quote:Originally posted by orletafc Anyone knows the measurments on the pitch @ Minoru? Wiki does not have the info neither does the City of Richmond Website. http://www.richmond.ca/asp/parks/images/pm68.pdf http://www.richmond.ca/asp/parks/park.asp?ID=68 Oh yeah BS SENIOR Games 2009 will be held @ Minoru Park in September[^] http://www.bcseniorsgames2009.ca/ MAT 1, KAT, BOYD (BAT) Red & Blue are all built to FIFA standards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snake Posted May 19, 2009 Author Share Posted May 19, 2009 are those housing projects looming over the minoru landscape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyam Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 Why is it that people in BC think the Chinese population can support a USL-1 franchise? Since when were Asians known for their "vast" support for soccer. Soccer is 2nd to Baseball in Korea\Japan\Taiwan, while it is second to Basketball in China. Just because other ethnicities support soccer doesn't mean every ethnic group supports it. The Asian ethnic sports experiment already failed in Toronto. The Chinese tried to start a Asian based team in the CSL, but they just couldn't get enough support from the local community, or even enough interested semi-pro players. In Real numbers, Toronto's Chinese population still exceeds VanCity, even tho percentage wise its higher in Vancouver, so I honestly don't see this happening in Richmond. The idea of ethnic teams is based on the Toronto Croatian's ethnic team experiment in the NASL, but that never lasted. Today teams like the Serbian Whiteeagles, Italia Shooters, Toronto Croatians and the Portugal FC are stuck in the CSL, a semi-pro league at best that is NOT comparable to the USL-1. The only relatively successful ethnic Asian sports team is the Toronto based Korean and Chinese Ice hockey teams playing in the Canadian Multicultural Hockey League, but its nothing more than an amateur Ice Hockey league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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