Yellowknife soccer victories rekindle territorial dispute

Athletes from Yellowknife swept the Northwest Territories soccertrials for the Arctic Winter Games this past weekend, reopening a bitter debate among indoor soccer officials about the gap between teams from the capital and teams from regions.

Nearly 200 soccer players in teams from the territory's five regions faced off in Yellowknife from Thursday to Saturday, vying for spots on the N.W.T. team in the Arctic Winter Games, to be held next month in Yellowknife.

In the end, teams from Yellowknife swept all gender and age categories, landing them spots on the territorial team.

Coaches from outlying regions say the territorial playing field has not been level ever since they were forced to stop "borrowing" players from neighbouring regions to form competitive teams.

As a result, coach Michael Boderman of Behchoko said, some teams were short of players for this weekend's trials.

"It's just cowardice. It's just wrong," Boderman told CBC News.

"The outlying communities, they want to see evidence that they are being treated fairly, that they're being spoken about fairly and that they're advocated for that it's not just talk."

A territorial arbitrator had ruled in October that borrowing players from other regions goes against the rules set by Sport North, the territory's sporting authority.

The decision was applauded by Jack Simpson, a Yellowknife soccer official who said all regions should follow the rules.

"Everybody knew that these rules were not ideal for the community-based teams. I'd be the first to acknowledge that," Simpson said.

However, he added, the N.W.T. Soccer Association, Sport North and officials with the territorial government, as well as the community coaches, had a chance to address the issue two years ago.

"They should have, and they didn't," he said. "We[have] to make sure that that doesn't happen again."

Boderman, whose teams have represented the N.W.T. in six previous Arctic Winter Games, said people in remote communities no longer trust sporting leaders and officials to ensure that the whole territory is being fairly represented in the winter games.

"I have too much evidence, including this weekend, of the distance, the huge gap between the outlying communities and what is being said by locals here [in Yellowknife] involved in soccer," he said.

He added that some communities, such as Tulita, do not even have gyms or recreation leaders that enable children to participate in sports.

Critics said they saw the success of Yellowknife teams and players during the weekend trials as evidence that the Arctic Winter Games should be renamed the "Yellowknife Winter Games."