The move to reclaim Royal Athletic Park for soccer has begun with the Vic West Macron Pacific Invitational on Saturday and Sunday at the historic facility.
The tournament will feature host Vic West, the current sa国际传媒 men’s champion BB5 Vancouver, which is preparing for the Canadian championship next month, Surrey Hurricanes of the Fraser Valley League and a Nanaimo United/Vancouver Island University combined squad.
The tournament is intended to help re-establish high level amateur soccer at Royal Athletic Park, said Vic West president David Lawes. The facility has over the years hosted sa国际传媒 World Cup and Olympic qualifying games, Jackson Cup Vancouver Island Soccer League finals and regular weekend VISL games of the week, but soccer has fallen out of use at the facility over recent years.
“Vancouver winning the bid to be a 2026 World Cup host has parlayed interest in making RAP a training venue for teams in that group,” said Lawes.
(Langford is also working on its plans to host World Cup training camps and exhibition games in 2026).
It all has to start, however, somewhere for Royal Athletic Park’s hopes. A key part of that is bringing soccer back to the park at the amateur level. And why not start with a tournament featuring some of the best amateur teams in the province? The event is planned to be an annual tournament with a women’s section to be added beginning next year.
“With the defending sa国际传媒 champion BB5 Vancouver, this is the highest level of competition you can get on the men’s amateur side in this province,” added Lawes.
Throw in the facts that Nanaimo United is the defending Vancouver Island Soccer League Jackson Cup champion and VIU has been a Canadian college power, and that former VISL, sa国际传媒 and Canadian-champion club Vic West celebrated its 125th anniversary this year.
But bringing Royal Athletic Park back up to speed for soccer has taken some work and ingenuity.
“We’ve had to take a lot of weird steps,” said Lawes.
“For instance, while the concessions under the baseball grandstand have been used [for HarbourCats games], the concessions under the main soccer grandstand have not been opened forever. So the City is allowing us to bring in food trucks for this weekend.”
Games are at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10.
