It has been well documented how the pandemic has taken a toll on sports, from the many Island-based Olympians whose dreams of the 2020 Tokyo Games are deferred to next year to the Victoria Shamrocks鈥� first dark lacrosse season in franchise history. Other examples, local and wider, are numerous.
The return to sports, however, is underway. But it is far from business as usual. Pacific FC played an abbreviated 2020 CPL pro soccer season in a 颅bubble in Prince Edward Island.
The amateur Vancouver Island Soccer League has started its season, but with lingering effects of the pandemic being felt, as it rolls into its second weekend of play today and Sunday, The VISL has experienced a drop of 600 players, from about 2,000 last season to 1,400.
The league features men鈥檚 teams from U-21 to masters and has produced World Cup players George Pakos, Jamie Lowery, Ian Bridge and other multi-capped Canadian internationals such as Bob Bolitho, Brian Robinson and Ike MacKay in its eventful 125 years.
鈥淲e鈥檝e taken a hit and dropped 20 teams, many in the masters divisions,鈥� said VISL executive director Vince Greco.
鈥淪ome players do not want to play because of COVID. They don鈥檛 want to risk it. This is 颅happening province-wide in soccer. I think it will come back eventually as players begin 颅testing the waters a little more. We are in the midst of a huge learning curve.鈥�
That includes fans, who are limited to 50 per game lining the field due to provincial health regulations.
鈥淲e do appreciate that family and friends have missed it and are wanting to attend games. But they have to keep in mind the restriction to 50 spectators maximum. And they have to distance themselves as much as possible around the pitch and wear masks, but that鈥檚 up to the teams to monitor,鈥� said Greco.
鈥淚t gets tricky sometimes with fans leaving one game and fans coming to the next game on the same field. It鈥檚 a learning process for everybody. But our teams are thinking about it and implementing it. We want to be in compliance because we don鈥檛 want to get shutdown.鈥�
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said there have not been any COVID-19 outbreaks she is aware of related to the reopening of sports.
Amateur sports leagues such as the VISL don鈥檛 have the vast testing resources of pro leagues.
鈥淲e鈥檝e told our players: 鈥業f you鈥檙e not feeling well, don鈥檛 come to the game or practice. It starts with you being responsible. You can really screw up your team if this virus starts spreading through it,鈥欌�� said Greco.
Other precautions include not arguing with the referee. 鈥淧layers will be in serious [sanctions] trouble if they get in the face of an official,鈥� said Greco.
Another sa国际传媒 Soccer modification is that throw-ins have been replaced by kick-ins. A VISL rule prohibits a kick-in from leaving the surface of the pitch. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want the players booming the ball far downfield on the kick-in because that alters the nature of the game,鈥� said Greco.
The VISL has spent $15,000 on facemasks for all its players, coaches and trainers for use on the sidelines and benches and $2,000 on touchless digital thermometers and $500 each for two touchless boot sanitizers. The boot sanitizers were introduced last month when the league re-opened by playing its 2019-20 Cup finals at Westhills Stadium.
The provincial Phase 3 of the return to sports allows for team-versus-team play on a regional basis in cohorts of up to four teams. Each of the VISL divisions are featuring four-team pods playing each other.
There are 43 such cohort bubbles. That will be followed by two-week quarantine breaks before the teams rotate into new four-team cohorts.
CORNER KICKS: Lakehill looks to be the class of the elite VISL Div. 1 this season. 鈥淟akehill appears to be the team to beat,鈥� said Greco. Comox Valley United and Victoria Highlanders are the clubs that won promotion from Div. 2 up to Div. 1. Vic West, whose championship-laden history stretches 124 years, will, for the first time, not field a Div. 1 or Div. 2 team.
