The Canadian men’s national soccer team qualifying for the 2022 World Cup will hopefully inspire Red Deer youths to get involved in the sport, says the president of a local soccer association.
Canada qualified for the World Cup following a 4-0 victory over Jamaica in Toronto this past Sunday; Canada hasn’t competed at the World Cup since 1986.
The World Cup qualification and the Canadian women’s team winning Olympic gold in 2021 are helping the sport grow in Canada, said Red Deer City Soccer Association president Stephen Kelly.
“It’s huge. This gives something for our youth to look at and aspire to as they start getting into the sport more,” he said.
“Obviously in Canada, we’re traditionally more of a hockey country, but kids do like soccer and if they see they could get to the Olympics or World Cup, they’ll get more interested in playing.”
RDCSA saw a little bit of increased interest after the women won gold in Tokyo, but “not as much as we want,” Kelly said.
“I think COVID affected it. I think we would’ve seen more of an uptick on the girls’ side, but COVID kind of dampened that,” he said.
“But I definitely think grassroots-level girls are definitely getting involved in the sport. COVID affected all sports across the board, for some reason for girls more than boys it seems like. Hopefully, that changes and we get as many girls (participating) as we do boys in the future.”
The past couple of years have been challenging for the association due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kelly admitted.
It seems things are turning around this year, as RDCSA has a record number of youths signed up, for both boys and girls. Kelly said he believed the Canadian women winning gold and Canadian men qualifying for the World Cup are “big reasons” for this.
“I also think parents want to get their kids back into sports and out of the house, which is awesome for their mental and physical well-beings. We’re looking at very good number this summer,” he said.
Recently, RDCSA rekindled its partnership with Westerner Park, where Exhibition Hall will be leased out starting in October for indoor soccer events.
READ MORE: Red Deer City Soccer Association, Westerner Park rekindle partnership
For Red Deer Renegades soccer players, it will be a place to call home as the turf can be used as a 9v9 field or two 7v7 fields.
Kelly was 10 years old when Canada last qualified for the World Cup.
“I do vaguely remember it, but I was pretty young. I’ve played, coached soccer for my whole life, so it’s massive. It’s great for the country,” he said.
“A lot of money comes back to Canada Soccer for FIFA, it’s in the 10s of millions just for qualifying. … If we go further along and get out of the group stages, there’s more and more money – a massive amount of money. For that to go into (Canada Soccer), that trickles down into Alberta Soccer and trickles down to us.”
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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