Image credit: BCSPL

By Marty Hastings

SOCCER FODDER

BC Soccer Premier League franchise coming to Kamloops?; Rivers FC hires women’s coach

Apr 3, 2024 | 6:34 PM

KAMLOOPS — Lyle Dos Santos was hired in October as general manager of both the Kamloops Youth Soccer Association and Rivers FC, the latter a club that fields men’s and women’s teams in semi-pro League1 BC.

He told CFJC Today on Wednesday (April 3) that the KYSA, in partnership with Rivers FC, will in August apply to BC Soccer for a BC Soccer Premier League [BCSPL] franchise.

Dos Santos said the hope is for the new franchise to hit the pitch in time for the 2025-2026 campaign.

BCSPL inclusion is part of Dos Santos’ plan to complete an all-Kamloops soccer development pathway that starts in the under-three ranks in the KYSA, includes the high-performance BCSPL and feeds Rivers FC and the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack of U Sports.

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“It really is about creating something where the kids here have an aspirational pathway that they can dream their biggest dreams and be able to achieve the development model here and they don’t have to leave the community to be able to become the best version of themselves until you hit a certain age,” Dos Santos said.

“Right now, we don’t have the connectivity locally, where you go from a local youth soccer club and then into the BCSPL, which is the high-performance league, starting at 13.”

Dos Santos said BCSPL franchise Thompson Okanagan Football Club [TOFC], for which many high-performance Kamloops players have toiled in the past, is in the process of merging with Kelowna United FC.

“They [TOFC] centralized in Vernon historically, but down the road they’re going to centralize in Kelowna, which really does make sense from an operational standpoint, being the biggest population centre. They’ve done an amazing job,” Dos Santos said.

“It then forces the issue for us. It would be very, very difficult for kids from Kamloops to travel to Kelowna two, three, four times a week to train. It leaves us a bit on the outside looking in but, candidly, it’s time for Kamloops to have access to this league and take care of its own development internally.”

In addition to solving travel woes for Kamloops-based TOFC families, the new franchise would encourage soccer growth across the Interior and Okanagan, according to Dos Santos.

“We now have Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton, all these different markets, competing to get onto one team, which really doesn’t give enough kids opportunity,” he said. “It really is a big piece of the pathway if kids have the aspiration of playing for the Canadian national team or the B.C. provincial program. You pretty much have to be in that league to kind of be within the Canadian soccer pathway.”

Dos Santos, from Kitimat, moved to Kamloops to play soccer for the University College of the Cariboo [now Thompson Rivers University] and won the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association title with the 1998-1999 men’s team, the school’s first CCAA championship.

His wife, Haley Bartram, played for the UCC team that was coached by her father, Mike Bartram, and won the 2000 CCAA Championship.

The KYSA named one of its tournaments after Mike Bartram, the longtime player, coach, official, administrator, volunteer and Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame member who died of cancer in 2000.

Lyle and Haley left Kamloops in 2008 and eventually settled in Coquitlam, but their son, Elijah, returned to Kamloops a few years ago to play for the TRU WolfPack under head coach John Antulov.

Elijah continued a family tradition by winning the U Sports soccer championship with the WolfPack in 2022.

Lyle and Haley have followed Elijah back to the Tournament Capital, leaving Coquitlam — and their old jobs — to chase a new dream.

“Building a football eco-system here from U3 to League1, this is the vision for the next … until they cart me off,” Dos Santos said, noting Antulov was influential in the decision to return to Kamloops.

“This is the vision and journey for myself and Haley, my wife. We decided to make a wholesale change. We love this game. It comes out of our pores. We wanted to give back the opportunity we were blessed with in our youth.”

RIVERS FC HIRES NEW HEAD COACH

Dave Corke has been hired as coach of the Rivers FC women’s club, said Santos.

He brings experience with Abbotsford Soccer Association, the Fraser Valley Cascades and Fraser Valley Alliance, along with other organizations, and a UEFA “A” Licence.

“He’s got a tremendous resume and, most importantly, he’s just a great human being,” Dos Santos said.

“We’re proud to have him as part of the organization.”