DDO on Montreal’s West Island wants a new full-size indoor soccer field

The city of Dollard-des-Ormeaux on Montreal’s West Island has plans to build a new full-size indoor soccer field. 

City staff have applied for provincial and federal government grants to finance the majority of this project, but are still waiting for their approval. 

Currently, the local soccer association has access to outdoor soccer fields, but winter weather limits when teams can practice and play throughout the year. 

“When you have something for kids to play in the winter, more people are going to join and they’re going to know that they can play this all year round,” said Vittorio Iampietro, president of the Dollard Soccer Club.  

“If you don’t have a place for kids to play, they’ll find something else.”

“There’s a desperate need for indoor soccer. Soccer has become a sport that is being played and training is 12 months out of the year,” said Maya Spano, director general of the Dollard Soccer Club, adding, “our programs are club-based that are licensed by Soccer Quebec and Soccer Canada, so we do have some obligations in order to continue the training year-round.”

The city of DDO says the proposed full-size indoor soccer field would allow for standard 11-a-side play, but would also have the option to divide the turf into three seven-a-side fields.

“It’s also really a surface, you know a synthetic surface that can be used for other sports as well, whether it be rugby, even baseball or football,” explained Paul Desbarats, director of sports, recreation and culture for the city of Dollard-des-Ormeaux.

“The added benefit there is for the West Island is that we have quite a few Sport-études programs.” said Alex Bottausci, mayor of DDO. “They’ll be able to tie into our facility and be able to provide that sport.”

DDO hasn’t decided yet where the indoor field would be located, but will likely be using land already owned by the city. Bottausci says that the project would cost somewhere between $18 and $24 million. 

Bottausci adds that the city has been talking about building an indoor soccer facility for more than 10 years, but since the closure of the closest indoor soccer field in Lachine, there has been a real need for this type of facility. 

“It will be centre city,” explained Bottausci. “We’ve looked at a couple of locations, and in there we’ve done our pluses and minuses, advantages and disadvantages, and it would be located relatively close to the Civic Center, closest to the (Autoroute) 40 essentially, for easy access in, out.”

“Without an indoor facility, we have to drive out of town, sometimes far. We need to go either to Baie-D’urfé, Laval, Repentigny,” said Iampietro.  

“We are really at the heart of the West Island, the location will attract the 20 plus thousand soccer players in the West Island,” said Spano.

“We’re waiting for grant money. Once we get the grant money, then we can start to move forward,” explained Bottausci.

“I’d say anywhere between now and two-and-a-half years, we could probably have something built.”