Bob Mackin
Friends of Memorial South Park have defeated Mayor Ken Sim.
As theBreaker.news exclusively reported in the morning of Jan. 20, Vancouver city hall and the park board delayed the closure of Memorial South Park’s cricket oval for conversion to a FIFA World Cup 26 practice pitch.
Contractor Canadian Turner Construction was supposed to begin the $8.75 million, early works phase on Jan. 2, but bureaucrats were in talks with the University of B.C. about a plan B.
The Memorial South Park cricket oval, running track, playground and field house are scheduled to be closed to the public and transformed into a temporary FIFA World Cup 26 training site. (Mackin)
Late afternoon on Jan. 20, the city announced it had signed a letter of intent to use the National Soccer Development Centre at the Point Grey campus — home of the Vancouver Whitecaps — as a team base camp and training site for the Canadian men’s national team.
“Construction of the upgrades that were planned for Memorial South Park will no longer proceed, and the park will remain fully accessible to the community in its current condition leading up to, and during the FIFA World Cup 2026 event,” said the city announcement.
Work continues on the $16.25 million early works phase at Killarney Park.
Park board commissioners voted unanimously behind closed doors in October 2023 to turn Memorial South and Killarney parks into FIFA World Cup 26 training sites for $37 million. No public consultation occurred. Civic officials waited until July 16, 2024 to announce large portions of the parks would be closed for almost two years.
Friends of Memorial South Park garnered almost 2,000 supporters to its “Our park, not FIFA’s field” petition on Change.org.
Friends of Memorial South Park’s Cindy Heinrichs was “elated” with the announcement.
“This should never have happened in the first place,” Heinrichs said. “They did hear us — parks board did. City hall did not, Ken Sim’s office did not.”
In late November, Sim dismissed neighbours’ opposition: “I apologize for any disruption that happens. But if we were to make that decision over again, we would make it in a second. But let’s focus on the good.”
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