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Councillor says city's soccer fields are embarrassing

THUNDER BAY -- A Thunder Bay city councillor says the city’s soccer fields are an embarrassment. McKellar Coun.
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McKellar Coun. Paul Pugh wants the city to make its soccer fields, in particular Chapples Park, a priority. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY -- A Thunder Bay city councillor says the city’s soccer fields are an embarrassment.

McKellar Coun. Paul Pugh on Friday said while he realizes Thunder Bay has other priorities it can’t ignore the state of its recreational facilities.

Pugh, a long-time season-ticket holder with the Thunder Bay Chill, said there’s no excuse why the Premier Development League team has been forced from its home at Chapples Park and now must play its home games on the artificial turf of Fort William Stadium.

And by no means is it the only field in rough shape, Pugh said.

“It is embarrassing,” he said. “We have a great sports community in this town … and the state of the soccer fields in this town is deplorable.”

The Chill called Chapples Park home for several seasons, but drainage issues left it virtually unplayable by late 2014 and the team sought an alternative venue. The field, renovated last decade by taxpayers at a cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, was also used by youth soccer programs in the city.

Pugh said some planning has moved forward in an effort to fix the problems at the Chapples Park facility, but actual progress has stalled for a number of years.

“I realize we have lots of constraints because there are lots of things that need to be done. But this is a sporting community and soccer is the largest sport in the world. It’s the largest participation sport in Thunder Bay and I don’t see that it’s getting the attention it deserves.”

Not having a proper spectator-friendly soccer facility in place could cost the Chill a chance at hosting important playoff games, Pugh added.

“We could be having lots of people coming into Thunder Bay for these playoffs, which the Chill normally gets. But it’s not just the Chill. We have the opportunity to have lots of people come into town for other events that have to do with soccer,” Pugh said. “I think we’re missing out. I think we could do a lot better.”

Chill director of soccer operations Tony Colistro said there’s no doubt the city’s soccer fields are below standard.

“I think for the size of our community, there’s no reason we should not have one or two quality fields for our kids to play on,” Colistro said.

The city is in the midst of creating a new master plan centering around its recreational facilities and playing fields, and has held a number of open houses to allow the public to have a say. In a survey conducted as part of the study, 70 per cent of respondents said they were unsatisifed or very unsatisfied with Chapples Park conditions. 

This is encouraging, said a patient Colistro.

“I’ve been around for 30 years and it’s been a long time coming. We just want to see some action,” he said.

Colistro said while the move to Fort William Stadium isn’t ideal, he does believe the PDL is more amenable than in the past to allow teams playing on artificial turf fields built for football to host playoff games.

But it’s not ideal.

“The decision makers make that decision when the time comes. If all is equal and there is a field that doesn’t have turf or football lines, they’re going to probably go with the soccer pitch. But lately we’ve been seeing a lot of playoff games that have been played on similar types of turf.”

The Chill play a pair of friendlies on Saturday and Sunday at Fort William Stadium.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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