Les Voyageurs posent leurs questions à Kevan Pipe

[Daniel]

http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/to ... hichpage=1

[kurosawa]

Voici la première partie de l'interview avec Kevin Pipe faite par Winnipeg Fury.

Kevan Pipe insisted that no mention of this interview be made public prior to the interview, as he initially had reservations and did not decide till the last minute to conduct the interview. Once I spoke to him for a bit, he was more relaxed and ultimatley stated that he would conduct the interview despite the fact it would probably 'cause him some heat down the road.' He stated that he was impressed by our knowledge of soccer in the country, and admitted that we were much more knowledgable than the mainstream media when it came to soccer in Canada. This is only the Part 1 of the interview. I will try to type and post the rest tomorrow evening. Please excuse any spelling mistakes, I rushed this through for you guys and gals:


Q: Can you give us an update at to the progress of construction of the new stadium in Toronto and explain why Field Turf is being installed as opposed to a natural grass surface ?

A: The progress of the stadium in Toronto is going absolutely superbly. Anybody that is going on the Gardner Express Way can see that. The exterior of the stadium will be completely finished by the end of November. Hypothetically you could play a test game in the stadium on December 1, because all 20,000 seats will be in, as well as the playing surface. The dressing rooms will be put in during the winter season.

In terms of the situation with the Field Turf all of our studies from day one, concluded that our stadium, even with no debt attached to it, could not meet it's financial responsibilities if it did not have the opportunity to stage multiple, multiple events. 99% of which will be soccer, but probably with the odd concert. It needs to have many games per week, it needs to have 120 days throughout the winter to generate the cash flows to meet it's financial obligations.

Certainly as you know we were able to attract 55$ million in public sector support, and it was absolutely conditional upon the stadium being available to the public, and useful to the public on a year round basis, and throughout the lifespan of the facility. From the word go, it had to be a FIFA two-star playing surface, and had no chance of being natural grass. The stadium is not built for the occasional Canada versus England or Toronto FC versus Juventus type match. If ever we needed to do that, we could lay down a natural grass surface for $200,000 or $300,000 as we have seen at Skydome. But it was never meant to be a natural grass stadium from that perspective, because of the financial challenges to utilize the facility on an ongoing basis.

Q: Will that hurt our chances of hosting a World Cup Qualifier at this stadium if our opponents object to the artificial surface ?

A: Absolutely not. Just as we played our World Cup Qualifier at Saprissa Stadium in Costa Rica, in what I might add what many considered to be our best Qualifying performance in 2004. Saprissa Stadium Field Turf only has a one-star playing surface. What we are putting in is the absolute highest quality in the world, with a Field Turf two-star surface. I think people will be very, very happy with the surface when they finally get to play.

A two-star surface has just been installed in St Johns Newfoundland, and it is literally out of this world. Instead of people unilaterally criticising it, they should speak to some of the players that have played on it. Speak to a Christine Sinclair, speak to an Andrea Neil, speak to some of the players on both the Canadian and Chinese Women's national teams that just played on it and were literally very impressed with the playing surface.

Once again, this stadium was not built for Canada versus Germany or Canada versus England. If the occasion arrives where we absolutely need to have a natural surface laid down, we can always do it. As we know FIFA regulations allow for all international matches to be played on FIFA two-star playing surface, that's in the laws of the game. FIFA President Blatter commented publicly, in South Africa almost certainly, we will see the debut of a FIFA two-star playing surface at the World Cup.

Q: You have stated that our goal is to have 3 MLS clubs in Canada. How certain is this ?

A: At the end of the press conference in Toronto, where BMO announced their intent to sponsor the stadium, Don Garber publicly stated that both Vancouver and Montreal were on the radar-screen for MLS expansion in 2010 and beyond. In fact I think he was on Soccer Central, stating as such. The commisioner of the league has stated that those two markets, combined with the proper ownership, and combined with the proper playing facilities, which is the troika of opportunities that MLS is seeking. That being proper market size, proper ownership, and proper stadium facilities, if you have those three aspects together, then you are going to be very much in line for an MLS expansion opportunity.

We believe in both those markets of Vancouver and Montreal, that we have the circumstances present to see this in 2010, or very shortly after. As we all know Toronto FC, has a lock on Canada till 2009, that was part of their negotiations, but as of 2010 it is wide open, and we hope very much by 2010 to get at least one more MLS franchise.

Q: With the rumour that the Toronto Lynx will become a PDL club, who will develop the Canadian talent for the Canadian MLS franchises ?

A: Well we very much hope that the Toronto Lynx don't become a PDL club. What we desperately need in our country and in fact our achilles heel in Canadian soccer, is we need more professional clubs in Canada. We need more MLS clubs in Canada, here I am saying that even before we even kick-off MLS in Canada. We need 2 or 3 MLS clubs, we also need 6 or 7 USL First Division clubs in Canada. In fact one of the things were going to be working on as part of our new strategic framework for 2007 and beyond, is that we have to expand the number of professional clubs operating in this country. Right now with 3 clubs and TOFC coming on board, hopefully the Lynx staying on board as a USL First Division club, we still need more clubs beyond that. We are only going to achieve our full potential once we have 2 or 3 MLS clubs and once we have 6 or 7 USL First Division clubs in the country. That is going to be a key responsibility on our part to continue to foster the growth and development of these clubs in Canada.

Q: With Vancouver and Montreal moving up to MLS, we could essentially have zero USL First Division clubs in this country.

A: We need a combination of Provincial Associations in this country, combined with District Association in this country, combined with private sector interest in markets such as Ottawa, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec City, Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, etc. We need that combination of stepping up and fostering the development of expansion clubs in those cities. There is no doubt about it.

Q: You have identified this as a major problem, but is there a specific action plan in place to increase First Division clubs in Canada ?

A: Once again it's like MLS. You need a combination of right market size, the proper facilities. We know that one of the key things in the successful evolution of soccer clubs is proper facilities. If you don't have a proper playing facility, and one of the best examples is the Toronto Lynx who have been suffering with playing out of Centennial Stadium, which is a great little stadium, but I don't think the owners of the stadium ever thought they would have a USL First Division club operating long term at their facility. We know that a very key element in the development of a professional soccer club, is the development of the right playing facility.

So we have to explore those markets that we know have the proper facilities, combined with some private sector interest, we need members of Canada's corporate community to stand up and be counted in this area, combined with the soccer communities in those areas, and we have to all work together to expand the number of professional soccer clubs. It is not going to be something only the CSA can do, or only the Provincial Associations, we are all going to have to work together to exploit those opportunities.

Q: So you feel the Toronto Lynx can survive in Toronto, as a USL First Division club, with MLS in town ?

A: We hope they continue to survive. It's going to take an effort on their part to do that. This was not done to the Toronto Lynx not to continue to as a First Division club, but they are owned by a private ownership group, and they have to make their decisions for the best interest of the Toronto Lynx.

Q: Our USL clubs went on public record with their displeasure on how MLS was introduced to Canada. Has this rift been resolved ?

A: Well we believe so. We are working together with the clubs. We just staged an international match last month in Montreal with the full cooperation and involvement of the Montreal Impact staff and organization. We believe we have been able to overcome certainly very public concerns that the USL clubs had indicated to the CSA. But at the same time, we were very, very public about this plan. It's still on our website and it's dated February, 2003. We stated three years ago that for soccer to get to the next level, it required a national stadium, it required an MLS club. You can't expect to build a national stadium in this country, play 6 times a year, and expect it to survive financially. We don't have independant financial resources that can sustain these kind of operations, we need to have an anchor tenant as we now have with Toronto FC, in order to play the 20 or 30 games a year necessary to drive the cash flows, so the stadium itself can survive financially. It was in nobody's interest to develop a white elephant that was not going to be utilized and be operated on a financially responsible basis.

So yes, we had a very public dispute, but the game is changing. And we are changing with changing times, and we are not apologizing for going forward with a very public effort to bring a trio of opportunities , a FIFA Championship, a national stadium, and an MLS franchise. We worked very long and hard on that. We are very proud of those accomplishments, and think it's the most significant trio of accomplishments in recent Canadian soccer history.

Q: The Serbian White Eagles and Toronto Croatia of the Canadian Soccer League have had a number of matches this season that have been marred by ethnic tension. Should these clubs and possibly the league be sanctioned by the CSA ?

A: Firstly, the Canadian Soccer League falls completely under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Soccer Association. I think at this time it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further. As you say, some of these incidents have reached the national media. We are monitoring the situation and we look forward to hearing from our provincial body in the off-season in terms of their own assessment.

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[kurosawa]

Part II

Q: Canadian fans were promised years ago that we would see a proper domestic cup competition involving our professional clubs. Is this close to materializing ?


A: It was very, very close to materializing just this month. We could not in fact bring all the parties together. Those parties being the USL clubs, plus our provincial bodies. We could not bring it to a final conclusion at the eleventh hour. We worked very hard and very long this past spring and summer on this project.
One of the insurances that we wanted to recieve from our confederation body, CONCACAF, was that the winner would gain entry into the 2007 CONCACAF Champions Cup. This is on the agenda for CONCACAF at their next meeting next month in November. We are hoping the decision will be a positive one, which will allow the Open Cup to take place in 2007. The winner of that championship would go into the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2008.

We actually came very close to pulling it off this year, but our member clubs did not want to proceed unless they had that guarantee in place. CONCACAF could not provide that guarantee. As a result, we are now working with CONCACAF, so we can secure this for 2008.


Q: We have lost not only a Coach but a Technical Director in fairly short order. Both men came in with visions of making major contributions for Canadian soccer. Why did they leave and have any problems been identified, and are any changes being made by the CSA to keep good people in our program ?

A: The two individuals who left, the reasons were very public. Frank, because he wanted to return to MLS with a very unique opportunity to coach the LA Galaxy of MLS. We were very sorry to see Frank leave, and were very happy with the way the team was progressing. However, Frank asked us to be let out of his contract, and we agreed to that.

As you know we have appointed Stephen Hart to that position for the balance of this year, and we will be commencing a search shortly for this position for 2007. Both domestic and possibly internationally as well.

In terms of Dick Bates, same thing. We had just signed Dick to a 5 year contract and had no desire for him to leave. He stated to us that he thought his career at the international level was coming to a close. Dick wanted to finish his career with a unique contribution to the evolution of Canadian soccer, but an unplanned opportunity in the Premiership came up, and it was too good for him to pass up.

The legacy of Dick is very distinct, in that he has left us with his research and development analysis of the last 9 or 10 months, and we are working on this right now. In fact, as we are currently advertising for a new Director of Technical programming. It is not our intent to start again from base one. We have the R&D completed, and it is now to be the responsibility of the successor to in fact start applying the lessons learned.

So while we are again dissapointed with seeing Dick leave, we believe we have got the potential for lot's of work to be completed, when that successor comes into the position. Hopefully the position will be filled by the end of this month.


Q: We have recently lost 2 potential Canadian international players to Portugal and prior to that the more high profile departure of Hargreaves to England. We now have more potential impact players considering playing for Holland, England and the Czech Republic. What can be done to stop this exodus of our top international talent ?

A: First of all, in two of the cases, Jonathon DeGuzman and Marcel DeJong, there is ongoing contact with both players. Both players are very aware in the interest that Canada has in both these talented players.

We are certainly hoping that Marcel will eventually suit up with our national men's team and our Olympic team as well, as we enter Olympic Qualifying next year.

Certainly in the case of Jonathon DeGuzman, we hope he will join his brother as part of our national senior squad. And in fact will take part in the incredible opportunity next year when Canada hosts the FIFA U-20 World Cup. There has been a lot of effort and a lot of communication has taken place with these individuals.

At the same time, we do live in a free world, and these individuals will have to make up their own mind. But yes, their has been communication and the CSA wants to see these players ultimately commit themselves to Canada. That's why we are spending time with these players to make sure they are aware of the opportunities that avail themselves as part of our national team program.

At the same time this is a free world, and the players will ultimately have to make a decision which they feel, will be in their best interest. We simply hope that after all the communication and logical explanation, that they feel the best decision to be made, is to come home and play for their national team.


Q: If you were a betting man, would you say that DeGuzman and DeJong will play for Canada ?

A: I am a very optimistic person. In fact I often say, if I can't be optimistic, who can be optimistic about the sport. Yes, I'm hoping both players choose Canada.

I think Marcel may be testing the waters a bit, but I think he had a great experience with the U-20 squad in Holland last year, and I'm sure Marcel will be with the squad in the years to come.

With Jonathon, I hope he follows the example set by his brother, Julian. At the end of the day, to come back home, particularly to particpipate in this very historic opportunity that Canadian soccer has it front of it, with hosting the second biggest FIFA event in the world, combined with launching our new stadium in Toronto.
We hope that in fact, Jonathon will come to that proper decision, and say there is only one team he can play for, and that is Canada.


Q: How about Adam Street of West Ham United, that is rumoured to be suiting up for the England junior team. Has there been any contact with him ?

A: I would have to check with our national team staff. That communication occurs between our national team staff and those players on an ongoing and regular basis.


Q: For most nations, the senior men's national team is the marquee of a nation's soccer federation. Has our men's World Cup team recieved the funding and prominence that is deserves ?

A: Certainly, it is the margquee of our federation as well. We are in a unique situation, where our national women's team is also ranked tenth in the world. The women certainly have a lot of profile across the country.

The symbol of our association is going to be our senior mens national team. We have been saying recently that we now have our new national stadium in place, now that we are seeing some progress with our mens national team, who are unbeaten in the last year. We are making every single effort to insure that we are in Soutrh Afica in 2010. Absolutely it has recieved the prominence. It has always and shall always recieve the prominence.

In terms of funding we are assigning as much as we can. What people have to realize, that not only are we running our national senior men's team, which is our marquee team, but our national senior womens team, which is on the verge of playing World Cup Qualifying that starts next month. We also run 11 different other national teams as well. It would be so easy to say, we going to shut down all funding and focus only on these two senior national teams. The problem is, you are short-changing yourself in the future. As a result, we have to discipline ourselves, while we put as much time, effort and money into these senior teams, we also have to work with tomorrow's players. If you don't, you are only short-changing yourself down the road.

We run our multiple youth teams and the U-20 team, and we feel our U-20 team we are working on right now, has the potential to send 4 or 5 players straight into the senior squad. Jamie Peters is already there, a player like David Edgar, I think Will Johston has had 1 or 2 caps. The goalie Asmir Begovic, some say could be the next Craig Forrest of Canadian soccer. So we believe there is a number of players from that squad that will step right into the national team.

It's also important for people to remember that with the international calendar that FIFA has put into place, the days of playing 20-25 matches are long gone. We are able to play only on those dates that FIFA has assigned to the international calender. As well as usually, an opportunity at the end of the European season in late May, early June. Having said that, the players, after a long European season are rightfully looking forward to going on vacation.

There is a number of balancing factors, but certainly our goal every year, we are looking to play 9-11 matches. That is the maximum that you can play. All you have to do is go on FIFA.com, check the international calender, and that is the maximum we can play over the course of the year.


Q: How about additional B-team matches ?

A: B-team matches are very difficult, because if we play outside of this calender, we have to physically go to these clubs, and ask for their voluntary release. Even for these upcoming games with our U-20 Czech Republic, the international calender is even being implemented for youth teams.

For us to get release of our youth players outside of the calender is very difficult. We saw that with our recent games vs the USA series. We had players that were not released by their clubs, because it was not an international date. So if we are playing B-team matches, it's going to be with those players in October or November, who have finished the USL season, That is a limited amount of players. College players, we may have to wait till the end of November or December.

Regarless, we still do that. I believe we have a camp in December and Janaury to try to deal with these opportunities. To try and put on B-team games in Canada in December and January is very difficult, if not impossible. But certainly we do those camps, to scout those payers and give them an opportunity to come and train with at least some members of the pool, and give them some caliber of games, usually down in Florida.



Q: What will be your biggest challenge in the next couple of years ?

A: My biggest challenge will be hundreds of thousands of tickets to sell, stadiums to renovate, and the second biggest FIFA event to stage. We have given an absolute committment to FIFA, that this will be the best FIFA championship at a youth international level.

At the same time, we have about 9 months to put our bid together for the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2011, which we hope to present to FIFA at the championship in July.
With a combination of staging this championship, with a combination of opening our national stadium, and welcoming MLS to Canada, and putting our hosting package together for 2011, we have our work cut-out for us.

At the same time, we have to expand the number of professional clubs playing in appropriate stadiums all across Canada.


Q: Any chance of hosting the Gold Cup ?

A: We have already publicly stated that the 2009 Gold Cup, at least the Canada section, will be hosted in Toronto, and yes, on Field Turf.



Q: Any closing comments to The Voyageurs ?

A: We need everyone to rally behind the sport. If we can't get excited with a FIFA championship, with a brand new stadium, with MLS coming to town, with the potential expansion of more professional soccer clubs, (that is a priority we will be working on), the Women's World Cup hopefully coming to Canada, with Canada hosting their home games for 2009 Gold Cup. My goodness, if we can't rally behind the game now, then we really have to ask ourselves a bunch of questions. We now have the opportunity in front of us, we have to grab it.