By Neal O’Reilly
Starting April 23, after nearly a third of a century of waiting, the Ottawa Royals Soccer Club will finally have women playing in their annual indoor tournament.
“I just thought this was crazy,” said tournament organizer Matthew Blackwell. “Why aren’t we promoting the women’s side of soccer?”
This is Blackwell’s third time hosting the indoor tournament, and he says the wait for a women’s division is certainly not due to lack of interest.
He already has five teams signed up, three of which are from out of town. He’s hoping for a total of eight teams.
“I would (eventually) like for the tournament to be 60 teams, maybe 40 men’s, 20 women’s,” Blackwell said.
He says the best scenario would be a separate women’s tournament, similar to the youth soccer tournaments the club holds in the summer.
In coming years, he’s hoping to add a money-prize division for women if there’s enough interest
Blackwell says at the youth level, during summer events, there are actually more girls participating.
Amie Lin, one of the participants who has already signed up says women’s indoor soccer is a growing sport, especially in the Toronto area.
“There’s no problem getting 10 to 12 teams for a tournament,” she said, adding that there’s often a waiting list at some venues.
Lin’s team, the Mississauga Selects, heard about the tournament from the Rexdale Blazers, another Toronto-area participant. Lin says many tournaments get publicized via word of mouth and through the Ontario Soccer Association (OSA).
She says she hopes the recent success in Toronto will spread around the province:
“Girls are always willing to travel. Going to Ottawa, for us, that’s no problem,” she said.
Blackwell says the tournament won’t put any financial burden on the Royals, because they can host as many as 60 teams in a weekend at Lansdowne Park’s Coliseum, which they pay the city a flat rate for. They only have to find volunteers, which Blackwell says is easy.
“I only have to ‘volunteer’ a few people from each of our teams,” he said with a chuckle.
Blackwell says there aren’t many indoor tournaments, especially ones that host women’s divisions, in Ottawa.
The Royals’ event is the only club-hosted indoor tournament in the city with a women’s division.
Lin says indoor competitions are becoming much more common. So much so that an amateur team like hers can easily attend five indoor and five outdoor tournaments in a year.
It’s surprising that there aren’t more indoor women’s events, Blackwell says.
He adds Ottawa is host to at least half a dozen OSA certified clubs, including Kanata, Gloucester and Nepean, that hold tournaments.
The Royals have been operating since 1966, making them one of the oldest clubs in Ottawa, and one of the most successful amateur ones (they won the first division in the city nine times in a row.)
The indoor event became an annual tradition in 1973.
The club fields a total of 33 teams: 12 mens’, five womens’, 10 boys’ and six girls’.