DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Prairies Premier League must be in more rural communities

The long-awaited announcement that the Prairies Premier League would establish a semi-professional soccer league in Saskatchewan and Manitoba was finally made last week.

For years I had read rumours a League 1-style competition would be coming to the Prairies, and as a soccer fan, I’m happy to see it finally happen, but for the league to thrive it must quickly expand outside of Winnipeg.

There are two reasons for this opinion.

The PPL is basically a junior A hockey-style league and for the past decade the strength of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League has been in the smaller communities. Teams like Portage, Dauphin, Winkler, Steinbach and Virden have become the top franchises in the junior A ranks, graduating way more players to the next level and drawing significantly more fans than their Winnipeg counter-parts.

If you look to the soccer ranks, the highest level of amatuer competition is the Manitoba Major Soccer League, where sides like Niverville and Winkler lap their competition in terms of getting fans out to their games. When I was working in Winkler, the fanbase was excellent, even though they played at a much lower division in the soccer ranks.

Senior hockey, which is another good comparison, still can draw over 1,000 fans for big-time games in rural communities like Morden, Ste Anne and Oakbank.

The Providence Pilots also do a good job of bringing fans out to soccer games, even if the fall weather is chilly.

If plans are to be believed, Manitoba will eventually have eight teams in the PPL. If the league is to thrive, I think it must focus on smaller communities, and try and copy what works in Junior A in Manitoba.