Home NASL & USL FC Edmonton Snow patrol: Caps, FCE and CSA “unanimous” in decision to postpone match

Snow patrol: Caps, FCE and CSA “unanimous” in decision to postpone match

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Three Vancouver Whitecaps supporter ran onto the snowy field. They dodged snow-removal vehicles and then unfurled a bright blue and white banner, with a fist in the middle.

It would only be a symbolic gesture of defiance, as the visit was the only act that hinted that a soccer game was supposed to be played at Clarke Field on Wednesday.

After referee Dave Gantar deemed FC Edmonton’s home pitch unplayable, officials from the Canadian Soccer Association, FC Edmonton and the Whitecaps unanimously agreed to postpone the first leg of their Amway Canadian Championship semifinal, which had been set for Wednesday night. The Edmonton leg, now set for May 20, will be the second leg of the series. The Whitecaps still host a match on May 13, but it will now be the first leg, not the second.

Snow began to fall late Tuesday night in Edmonton. And, though forecasters had originally predicted it would peter out by the morning, it kept coming. It was heavy, wet snow, too. At 2 p.m. Wednesday, the call was made to scrub the game.

FC Edmonton General Manager Rod Proudfoot said that, even if the field was cleared, the turf underneath was soaking wet. With temperatures expected to be below the freezing mark by Wednesday night, the fear was that the field would become icy.

Three Whitecaps supporters who made the trip from Vancouver decided to visit Clarke Field on Wednesday.
Three Whitecaps supporters who made the trip from Vancouver decided to visit Clarke Field on Wednesday.

He said “the weather was not going to be much better” Thursday morning, so playing the game the next day at noon was out of the question. He said the decision to postpone and reschedule to the 20th was “unanimous.”

“Player safety is paramount,” said FCE coach Colin Miller.

“When the studs start to pack underneath with snow, it becomes dangerous.”

Miller said he won’t change his approach towards the series, even though the Eddies now have the advantage of the second leg at home.

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5 Comments

  1. left back

    May 7, 2015 at 9:49 am

    With all the money and professional sporting clubs in Edmonton over the past 2 decades… it is strange that they haven’t developed an ‘alternative’ site for such occasions…. seeing it is winter 6 months of the year….

    i wonder if soccer has come up in the design thinking of the new hockey arena downtown?… if Edmonton could convert that into a soccer pitch… and all they have to do is bring in temporary sod like NYCFC is doing at Yankee Stadium… that would be a facility and location Edmontonians could really get behind… you would see 15 thousand fans for FCE… i am sure.

    • Kent

      May 7, 2015 at 1:21 pm

      A hockey rink is 61m by 26m. The absolute smallest a soccer field is allowed to be is 90m by 45m. You cannot fit a full size soccer field inside an arena. Basketball and hockey can share a building, and football, soccer, and baseball can share a building, but that’s about the extent of useful ground sharing you can do.

      • italk2u

        May 7, 2015 at 5:23 pm

        And no doubt, Van Oekel would be bouncing his goal kicks off the steel girders…LOL

  2. footy

    May 6, 2015 at 11:52 pm

    So now the weather might come as an advantage to Edmonton, if they can manage a tie or small loss in Vancouver.

  3. Steedman

    May 6, 2015 at 5:30 pm

    Although it would have been a great spectacle to witness these two Canadian clubs battling it in the snow and the elements, the players safety is #1, especially since both are just starting their seasons.

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