ALEXANDRA ROBERTSON
The 1019 Report

The summer months may seem like they are far away, but Geneviève Marleau is already stressed about planning her soccer club’s schedule.

“We can plan as much as we want, but we are not the ones who are making the competitive schedule. This is going to make it so difficult with the bridge,” Marleau said, frustrated. 

The general manager of the Saint-Lazare Hudson Soccer Club said the travel for her teams to and from the island of Montreal won’t be the only hurdle they have to jump.

“It’s going to cost us a lot of money just for the referees to come here,” Marleau said, explaining that although her association has its own officials, most of them travel from the other side of the Île aux Tourtes Bridge.

Marleau explained that there is quite an age range of those who play in this league; kids as young as 4 years old and adults in their 50s lace up their cleats.

“Children who are under the age of 9 only play locally, except for small tournaments, which are usually held in Montreal,” she said.

The game plan is to make an arrangement with the regions, and set the schedules for the games, so they are a little more favourable for her teams.

“We are trying to have the games played as late as possible. So the start time for most of them would not be before 7 o’clock at night,” she said.

But that doesn’t mean parents can avoid the chaos of bridge traffic. The timing may still prove to be a challenge.

“Kids can’t play that late,” Marleau continued. “They can’t go somewhere to play a game at 7 at night, then finish at 9. It’s impossible. It’s too late. They need to come back because they have school the next day.”

The other issue the club is facing is being on time for games. She said that her teams have been late for quite a few games. These were matches that they weren’t able to reschedule. As a result, they have to pay the price – literally.

“We’ve actually been fined for not showing up to games. One time, we had to pay $2,000,” she said with an audible sense of exasperation.

Since the Saint-Lazare and Hudson Soccer Club is a non-profit, that’s a devastating hit to the organization. It also doesn’t get much, if any, help from the government. From a lack of funding and constant headaches due to the bridge, it all weighs heavily on her mind.

“It’s not easy to budget for things like this. And, we just came back from the COVID pandemic, which did impact us a lot,” Marleau explained.

She and the other members can plan as much as they want for the upcoming season, but it’s not going to help: “We are looking at a very chaotic season – again.”

Aside from the threat of fines for being tardy to games, she’s worried about the overall well-being of the soccer club. Because the construction on the Île aux Tourtes Bridge doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon, she’s said people may not think it’s worth signing up to play.

“It’s going to be very sad if people don’t register,” she said, adding that it’s the kids – and really all of the players in general – who are going to suffer the most.

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