SOCCER PITCHES IN POOR SHAPE
Too many player

By TERRY LAVENDER

(First of two parts)

‘GO SKIING’
North Shore Youth
Soccer Association’s
advice for the 5600
youngsters who should
be playing soccer
during the Christmas
season.

They won't be playing this
Christmas because the
NSYSA has not scheduled
any games from the middle
of December until the end of
January. The soccer fields
are in such poor shape that
the association decided to let
them recuperate during that
six week period of heavy
rain.

The problem is simple:
There are too many people
trying to use too few fields.
Increased popularity for
sports in recent years has
created “a heavy demand for
playing fields by all users,
organized and unorganized,
including soccer, football,
baseball, field hockey, rugby
and the general public of the
North Shore.”

David Bolt, former
president of the McSween
Soccer Association, says
McSween used to have so
few players that one of the
mothers could cut up
oranges and distribute the
pieces to the kids at the
games. “Now we've got 1000
kids and 63 teams and no-
one's cutting oranges
anymore.”

It can only get worse, Bolt
says, because former youth
soccer players are joining
the senior leagues in greater
numbers. Seven or cight
years ago there were three or
four mens soccer teams, now

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“There are 8000 people on
the North Shore trying to use
the fields every weekend,”
Bolt says.

CONSTANT USE

This demand means fields
are in constant use, with no
time for nature or man to
repair the wear and tear
caused by the heavy traffic”
The mountains and the rain
make things worse, because
water can't drain properly
off fields that are dug into a
slope.

Local government neglect
is another problem, says the
report. ;

The councils don’t spend
enough money on recreation
and field maintenance, it
says. City spends $23.51 per
capita on recreation (City
staff dispute the figure), and
District $21.68. The Lower
Mainland average is $37.18.
West Vancouver spends 5.17
per cent of its recreation
budget on maintenance, but
the two North Vans spend
less than 4 per cent.

The net result is nine
decent fields out of the 31 in
North Vancouver, with 11
fields totally unsuitable for
soccer, according to the
NSYSA.

The problems for the
other fields, and _ those
operated: by the school
board, are uneven surfaces,
worn grass or eroded soil,
poor drainage, deep ruts in
baselines on overlapping
baseball diamonds or size.

KIDS INJURED

Injuries are a major
concern in the report. On

school dirt fields, heavily
used by the 6 to 9 year olds
youth

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SOCCER FIELDS in North Vancouver suffer from too

4

many games, plus a bit of inclement weather — to say
the least.

association, heavy rainfall
has washed away the top
levels of soil and = sand,
“leaving rocks, roots and
other debris exposed on the
playing surfaces.” Injuries
“occur to the children every
soccer weekend, game after
game,” on these eroded
fields.

Seycove School grass field
is also unsafe:

“The playing surface is

covered by holes of various
sizes, some partially filled
with soft sand. It is also
frequented with a variety of
valve covers, sprinkler heads
and a large hole covered
with outdoor carpeted
plywood. The overall
playing surface ts uneven,
bumpy and dangerous.”

And one City field,
Norseman Dirt, is avoided
CONTINUED ON PAGE B3

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