Neither of the two St. Francis soccer pitches will be used at the start of this season to give them a chance to replenish themselves after a devastating season a year ago.
Community Services manager George Bell said letters were sent to all the users groups asking them to look at alternative sites for their games and practices this spring.
“The fields were re-seeded in the fall [of last year],” Bell noted yesterday morning. “What we need now is heat, sunshine, and water.”
Bell said the town is accepting tenders on a new “water line” that will access water to both soccer pitches and the three ball diamonds there.
He refused to disclose how much money was in the town’s budget for the watering system while the tender was still out.
The problem with the soccer fields arose because of a lack of a sprinkling system, said Muskie girls’ head coach Struchan Gilson, who helped spearhead the move to fix up the pitches (which are just two years old) in time for when Fort Frances hosts the girls’ all-Ontario championship in 2000.
The high school had sent a letter of its own to the town acknowledging the Muskies will be using the two adjacent fields at Westfort for their regular season instead of the two newer ones at St. Francis.
The Muskie girls’ team has been practising for the upcoming season at Sixth Street School these days while the boys have been training at Westfort.
Mayor Glenn Witherspoon assured a water system will be in place at the St. Francis complex this year in order to have the soccer pitches in suitable shape for the girls’ OFSAA championships in two years.
“We have to stay off the fields and let [the grass] grow and get a good grass surface,” added FFHS athletic director Bob Grynol. “If we don’t have the fields ready for OFSAA, it will be a thorough embarrassment.”
Three suitable playing fields will be needed to host the all-Ontarios, he added.
Grynol said Fort High has received money to add top soil to a “couple of low spots” on one of the fields at Westfort, which will be used to host the NorWOSSA tournament in May.
For now, the two high school teams and the men’s and women’s Borderland leagues are content to play at Westfort.
Paul Danku, president of the local men’s league, said he heard they may be able to play on the St. Francis pitches by June 1 but added they would be willing to stay off them for the whole year if needed.
But he warned everyone would have to abstain from using the fields to ensure they get better.
“If we’re going to stay off the fields, then the women’s league, the juniors, and the high school teams are going to have to also stay off,” Danku stressed.
Keith Gilbert, the boys’ high school coach who also plays in the men’s league here, said he also heard rumours they may be able to play at St. Francis by mid-summer.
But Bell warned that time-frame might be a little too soon, and also said everything depends on the weather.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
