Black Press
The B.C. government has established a $100,000 fund to promote female participation in soccer, to carry on the interest generated by the recent World Cup games that set new attendance records at BC Place stadium.
Community workshops will be held around the province this fall, with speeches by Canadian soccer personalities and free workshops to develop more coaches, officials and volunteers.
More than 122,000 players are registered with the B.C. Soccer Association. While more than 40 per cent of athletes are female, only about 20 per cent of coaches and officials are.
Nine World Cup games were held in Vancouver, with nearly 300,000 spectators. Canada’s quarter-final match against England was played before 54,000 people, the largest crowd ever in Canada for a national team match in any sport.