Women’s soccer league faces danger of folding

If you’re a woman and possess pathos for soccer at any level, then the Borderland Soccer Association wants (and needs) you.
The local women’s league may be lost this season, and after countless hours spent by a few to get it started, association president Shane Beckett said it would be a shame if all that hard work was for naught.
“There were a lot of women in this town years ago who said they wanted to have a league because there wasn’t one, and they came up with making their own league and got sponsors and got players,” Beckett noted after the association’s annual meeting last Wednesday evening.
“I would hate for this league to be lost for the sake of those women that did that work,” he added.
But women will have a chance to make sure the league stays alive as registration has been set for May 4-5 from 7-8 p.m. in the atrium at Fort High.
Registration costs $85 for the men’s league and $75 for the women’s one (fees are slightly higher than last year due to the increased number of games).
It seems a few people are still feeling animosity over a women’s playoff game last season where one team was disqualified after not arriving for the match on time.
The team insisted it did not know of the time change that took effect even though, out of all the playoff games, it was the only one to arrive late.
That animosity was evident at last week’s annual meeting, where only one women’s team rep of the three showed up (the men’s league looks to be getting stronger every year as it sports five teams, and More from C1
is looking to recruit players from elsewhere in the district and over
in International Falls).
“If the women’s league folds, then you start losing options for what women have in this town. You can slo-pitch, you can golf, and now they can play ultimate Frisbee [every Monday night at Robert Moore],” noted Beckett.
“If we lose this league, then there’s not much after that.
“I think having these sort of things only make our town better, and make the people in town happier, so it’s a big concern,” he added.
But some positives did come from last week’s meeting.
First was the passing of a motion that will see the necessity of referees being qualified and registered, and the disillusion of linesmen (a player from each team will do the lines, but will not be paid) to allow referees to be paid $50 a game.
“People can start doing this as a part-time job,” Beckett said.
The suggestion came to light after a few members of the executive went to the annual meeting for Northwest Ontario a little while back, where they discovered the grim consequences of not having qualified officials on the field in regards to the liable concerns that could arise if someone gets injured during play.
“I think it’s a great thing that the league is starting to be responsible for themselves and realize that there are issues out there that can jeopardize the league,” Beckett remarked.
“So you can see the responsibility and the maturity starting to come,” he added.
The league fortunately has never been part of a compensation issue in past years.
Other motions that were passed was the election of Ryan Hampton as the league’s vice-president while Adam Scott will take over the duties of treasurer.