soccer on game fields

[ELA]

WaggleRT... I'm giving you a good mark! You must be a coach because you have a good view of this issue! If a school has a soccer and football program they should be working toward having two different game fields for each sport.

[st409]

Most of you guys act as if there is a land deed registered at your local courthouse that says ownership of the local football field is held by "the football team." This is simply not the case. You can argue about who puts in the most time in the care and upkeep, but the fact remains that it is not YOUR field. The field is there for the benefit of the entire school population. If the soccer team has to use the field, there really is no debate legally. It is their field as much as it is yours. If you can make an agrument without saying "we work on it all the time," maybe you can change my mind. Your work is simply an act of improvement on a system-owned property.

[PCNumba1]

It's the school's field. Not the football teams. Not the soccer teams. Not the taxpayers. Not the neighbors. It's the schools. The football team uses it. The soccer team uses it. Sometimes the track team uses it. Everybody puts in their fare share to upkeep and financial support. Trust me I've played both sports. The guys on the football side of the argument don't know the soccer side, and the soccer side don't know the football side. Both teams do support the field with time and money.

[footballdude]

You try spending 30 hours a week cutting the grass, fertilizing, weedeating, plugging, spraying and any other general maintenance, I bet you might change your mind.And in most cases, coaches don't get paid extra for this work.By the way, how much work do you do for free that is simply an act of improvement on a system owned property?

[Edited by footballdude on 3-27-03 11:42A]

[username]

We tried something at our school that worked really well.

 

We let the grass grow, then mowed it. Then we painted it up according to soccer rules. We put up a couple of goals and from a distance our football field had magically turned into a soccer field.

 

If you then later let the grass grow, then mow it. Paint it up like a football field. Put up the goal post (remember to take the soccer goals down). Stand at a distance and it magically turns back to a football field again.

 

You can do this over and over, but be careful. People may start to think you care about all kids in general and not just those that play specific sports.

[Time2Play]

So you are telling me that soccer people want stuff given to them, they do not want to work for anything? Also, it is the schools field, but how many times does the gym get used for anything but basketball or volleyball? There is a great deal of things that could be worked on in a gym when the weather is to bad to practice outside for any outdoor sport. As long as you dont have 80 or 90 athletes. But does everysport get the use of the gym when they want it, not in basketball counties like macon. I am all for soccer. My nephew loves the game and I hope by the time he is in high school we have a soccer team. But it is not right for them to damage a field and expect another program to fix it. Labor and cost. Now when the day comes if soccer will do their share in maintaing the field then I welcome them until WE can get them another field.

[Time2Play]

username, I think this would work great. I would be in full support as long as the soccer people helped raise the money when repair needed to be done to the field. I am sure that many soccer coaches do help, but if they are not going to help how is it fair to a football coach getting paid $2300 to coach and $0.00 to upkeep the field. Maybe the football coaches could let the field go to and then see if you have anything to play on in a couple of years.

[st409]

I remember a reading about a case in law school that involved a school system's property rights that involved a high school band that actually had to sue to obtain rights to use a football field. The court cited (I can't remember the case name, but it happended in Georgia) the principle of equal protection. The decision held that even though the property was called a "football field," it was actually an extension of the free appropriate educational environment. Being such, all students were granted equal access to its use. The suit used the same arguments that many of you are using (private improvement made to the property etc.), but the court ruled against the system and granted the band use rights. I think the same principle would apply to a soccer team's use of the property.

[PCNumba1]

Time2Play... here's the problem with your thing about the football coach not being paid for upkeep. There is much more damage done to a field during football season than there is during soccer season. The land between the hashes is pretty much trashed by the end of the season (well it is if you are any good), and then grass doesn't grow over the winter, so the soccer team has to deal with there being no grass in the middle of their field. I'm not saying that is the football teams reponsibility to fix the field FOR the soccer team, but instead it is the football teams responsibility to fix THEIR SHARE of the damage. Just as it is the soccers teams responsibility to fix their share of the damage. But a soccer team doesn't do that much damage to a field. When I played soccer, if we did any damage to the field (divits, etc.) we would fix it right after the game. It was the players responsibility to fix the field, and we did our fair share immediately after the game.

 

Both teams should fix their share of the damage not for the other team, but for the benefit of the field and the school.

[Time2Play]

I will agree with most of what you said. However, the middle of our field is already in pretty good shape. Good bermuda does not take long. We were 8-3 last year and played hartsville and smith county at home. So there were some pretty good teams on the field. I agree that most schools own the field and it should be there for all students. But I have seen fields after a soccer game (when wet) were they have done just as much damage as football games. Yes on the whole 5 football games will probably do more damage than 5 soccer games. But 1 home game every two weeks (that is what you average in football) allows the field to restore itself (bermuda) until late season when it becomes dorment. I know sometimes soccer fields may see two or more home games a week, not allowing time for the field to repare itself. I know that there is plenty of time for the field to get in good shape by the fall, I just do not think it should be left up to one program to take care of the field. I remember having a scrimmage on another teams soccer field once. If we had to play our games on a soccer field I guarantee you we would do our part in keeping the field up.

[shaggyJ]

you people still don't understand that soccer in TN makes no money. some schools don't even charge because they know if they do no one will come. i know i've been their. this 99% of soccer is supported by football is crap. if anything it is supported by the town's local youth leage. that's where a lot of high schools play. if the situation at your school is that the teams have to share make the soccer teams line the field just don't do it or ask them to provide their own paint it doesn't take long, i've done it. football COACHES get together with the soccer COACH and try to make a field friendly schedule if possible. try to impliment small things to build towards a better relationship between the two sports, but football coaches need to realize that half the money or even a fourth of the money to maintain a field can't come from a soccer team because they can't afford it.

[ELA]

PCNumba1... the real problem is that almost all football fields in the United states use Bermuda Grass. It isn't torn up at the end of football season, it goes dormant and stays that way until about JUNE. The temperature has to be about 78 - 82 degrees for it to begin to germinate and about four weeks after that to see a good coverage to spread. The football field is the most fragile of all athletic fields and if you have a middle school game each week, a JV or Freshman Team, Girl's soccer team, and varsity football team in the fall, you end up with about 27-30 games during a three month window. It is very tough to keep a field in top condition under these circumstances! Plus the band wants to practice on the game field at least once per week! Ask any professional grounds keeper and they'll tell you it is very tough on the playing surface when it is used this much! It doesn't cost all that much to create a nice Soccer field and unless you are in the playoffs, you never see more than a few hundred people at the games. The playing surface should be different for soccer fields so it just makes much more sense to develop a soccer game and practice facility if you're going to offer the sport. If the administration forces the two to share a field, then their must be cooperation between the coaches and practice time on the field must be extremely limited!

[Edited by ELA on 3-27-03 4:33P]