The Cochrane Rangers Club is currently facing uncertainty after the SLS Centre's decision to remove the soccer-friendly turf flooring.
Last January, the Rangers Club got notified that the SLS Centre was going to replace the centre’s turf flooring with a new surface called Pulastic flooring. Last week, they officially started ripping up the old turf to install the new one.
The Philergos field at the SLS Centre used to host Home games for the Cochrane Rangers Women, who were silver medallists for soccer in their division at Provincials last year.
However, the new SLS turf floor material is currently not sanctioned by the Alberta Soccer Association (ASA), and therefore, the Calgary Women's Soccer Association (CWSA) does not recognize the Ranger’s home field at the SLS Centre, and will no longer schedule any games to be played there.
According to the Cochrane Rangers Director of Women’s Soccer Amanda Paffrath, this change will have a major impact on their competitive women’s team.
“This past winter we had a team that made it all the way to provincials and they were able to have their home games played here in Cochrane,” Paffrath said, “now they won't have a home field to play on”.
Paffrath said that about half Ranger’s women's games were hosted at home last season. But now, the team will have to commute into Calgary for nearly all of their games, forcing Cochrane players into the City to compete at the same level.
“Our Clubs were the driving force in building the Philergos field, both financially and administratively, and to say that our members are aggrieved by the turf removal is an understatement, “ Paffrath said.
Paffrath explained that despite the difficulties, their organization has shifted their hope towards the creation of a brand new soccer centre. She said that Cochrane Minor Soccer has plans for building a new indoor Soccer Dome that the Rangers can get behind.
The Cochrane Sanctuary Dome project will be a first class indoor facility that promotes health and wellness excellence for all. The plan for the new arena is to include a full sized professional turf field, an outdoor track, Sports Science Centre, FIFA grade turfs, Baseball and softball batting nets, plus a video analysis room.
“We don't understand why the Town of Cochrane and Rockyview county (joint owners of SLS Centre) would allow their Board to make such a short-sighted decision for our community.” Said Pafrath, “Soccer enthusiasm is on the rise across the country with a professional women's team coming to Calgary next year and our men's national team securing a place in the semi-finals of the Copa America tournament.”
Now, all that the Rangers association can do is sit back and wait, hoping that the Cochrane Sanctuary Dome will get approved and become their new home.
Response from the SLS Centre
A representative from the SLS Centre stated Wednesday after The Eagle's print press deadline that in early 2023 their team had consulted directly with Cochrane Minor Soccer and Calgary Minor Soccer upon finding surface issues with the old turf flooring.
SLS Centre CEO Erin Wagner stated that they invited both parties to discussions on multiple occasions and received nothing but support towards the construction of a new multi-sport flooring.
“We started to explore, you know, the cost-timeline associated with that, evaluated what other sports could and couldn't be played on that surface and concluded that a multi-sport floor would cater to the needs of most, whereas a high pile turf would be good for a singular team in Cochrane,” explained Wagner.
Wagner stated that although the Rangers competitive Women’s team will have to play their future games out of town, the new turf flooring will still provide the greatest benefit to the largest number of people.
“To invest money into an amenity that services the needs of one team there is zero economics that make that work, and so unfortunately we always are faced with making difficult decisions. And this is one of those where we can't be all things to all people,” Wagner said.
Wagner explained how the new turf flooring opens the opportunity for community members to play pickleball, badminton, volleyball, basketball, badminton, and more. She states that although this new flooring may be less than ideal for the Women's competitive team, it still serves as an overall benefit to the greater Cochrane community.
“Cochrane Minor Soccer has provided written support to us for our decision to change to a multi-sport floor,” said Wagner, “They were brought into the loop the minute we knew the turf was end of life and we had to make a change.”
Wagner also stated that she does not fault the Cochrane Rangers for their views, as it is their job to look out for their own interests as an organization.
