As I read the article online from the Vancouver Sun about the Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s proposed training facility in Delta I couldn’t help but be reminded of the blown opportunity represented by the failure to get the Whitecaps Waterfront Stadium built in downtown Vancouver. While Bobby Lenarduzzi rightfully laments the fact the Whitecaps could have played an exhibition game this summer against Everton FC if they had a proper facility to train in here the discussion in the article does not mention the Whitecaps stadium proposal. If the proposed Delta facility gets built as hoped by 2010 that will represent 7 years that will have elapsed since the Whitecaps stadium was proposed back in 2003. To date the Whitecaps proposed privately funded soccer stadium in Vancouver remains nothing but a proposal given the loggerheads which the team finds itself with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority et al. Did I just say proposed allot?, sigh.

One can only hope that the Delta facility does not meet the grim bureaucratic short-sighted fate that has befallen so far the Whitecaps stadium.

On another note I would like to point out the fake grass in Toronto’s facility which is being complained about again in a good article by the Toronto Sun. Soccer is meant to be played on real grass - period. Dumb compromises. Too many cooks in the kitchen can spoil the dinner.

John Kostiuk