While many communities have beautiful soccer complexes, playing space is often at a premium. Youth leagues often get preferred or exclusive use of the nicest facilities, so adults looking to play often have to make do with whatever free space they can find. Even some youth leagues struggle to find places to play in rural towns. In urban areas, it can be even harder. Imagine trying to find a place to play pickup soccer in New York?
our neighborhood’s “front lawn” is a grass-less wasteland which resembles either a West Texas dust bowl or a messy mud pit, depending on the weather.
The cause is overuse of the lawn by a small group of sports enthusiasts who claim the field for their own every weekend and are ruining it for everyone else.
And now it is almost spring, and the players are already out on the field, once again assuring us that not a single new sprout of grass will grow there this year.
Other than by the soccer players themselves – and dogs that like to roll in the mud – the large central lawn is unusable to the majority of the community. And every year the dirt patch (which is visible from space on Google Earth) gets larger.
I thought the Halloween cemetery was pretty funny. But the author has a point. Soccer is VERY hard on turf, and overuse can make it impossible to grow grass, even tough Bermuda variants. But clearly there is a demand for places to play, and it’s not clear that the alternatives are feasible (cost, availability, insurance, etc.) The borough parks commissioner didn’t have much to say beyond ‘There’s not much we plan to do‘. That was followed up by a soccer player who often plays at the park, who felt soccer players were being unfairly maligned – many others used the park and wore down the turf. Finally, the Fort Greene blogger, Andy Newman, who was been following this issue, posted an extensive list of reactions, pro and con. It makes for an interesting read.
What do you think about pickup soccer in public parks? I’ve seen towns outright ban it. Others seem to take an almost racist attitude where signs saying ‘No Soccer’ are in Spanish only. Hispanic pickup games are widespread in our state. In our town, there was some initial grumbling when they used our new complex after hours, but they have always been very respectful of the ‘Field Closed’ signs during bad weather and when organized teams are using them. Otherwise, they play and so far it hasn’t been a problem. Our league hopes to be able to reach out to the Hispanic community through those pickup games to try and bring more of their children into our league. But that’s another post.
Has your town/city had debates like this? Public parks are for the public, so shouldn’t you be able to toss a Frisbee or kick a soccer ball? Do you just ban cleats? Ban soccer altogether? Thoughts?
March 16th, 2009 at 8:54 am
I speak for the soccer players in this case. Let them play wherever they can find space. It is a healthy habit and the grass in a park is not for just looking good…it is for playing and enjoying. Perhaos in the cases above, the areas of the park can be dedicated to sport and rotated over time to make sure the land doesn’t get abused. Regarding the front lawn, perhaos this is the only place the folks can pull a game together. I say, join in!
March 16th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I’m with Ed. Sometimes we so caught up in the appearance of our lawns that forget to enjoy them. Rotating through different areas of the park sounds like a good idea.
A lot of young Hispanic men gather at our Y to play in the afternoons. They have always been respectful of the signs closing the fields after heavy rains and during maintenance and regrowing. They’re a good group of guys who encourage everyone to join in the game. My teenage son often takes them up on the offer, and it’s done almost as much for his game as his formal practice sessions!
March 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Well … my Board of Ed is going to start charging for use of green space at the schools. And, they say, the funds will go into the general budget not field maintenance. Great. Can they really do that? If they receive federal funds, can they deny anyone the use of the space?
Anyway, when I was a kid we didn’t have green space. We played in the street. The game stopped when cars came and resumed immediately afterward. Green space would have been very nice and would have been used to death–brown space? However, green/brown space should be for kids and should be used and we should not erect “keep off the grass signs” or “stay home and play XBox” signs.
Play. Play soccer. Heck, roll in the mud. All is better than “keep off the grass.” If the green space is really important, then those who maintain it should actually work hard to maintain it with hardy grass and landscaping designed to accommodate the use and overuse of the space.
“Keep on the grass,” says I.
Cheers,
Sean
March 16th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I see both ends of this debate.
I certainly agree – people need space to play. If you attempt too hard to push people out of parks for pick up or recreational play – they will find places that might be semi-private green space that will anger land owners.
However, in the Atlanta metro area, the field use is being pushed to the limits with our perennial droughts, not to mention the budgetary limits of the parks. If players playing pick up games are driving fields (used probably 6-7 days a week when practice is counted) past the point of dust bowl, what’s that leave for the organization that pays rent for the field?
THe only other solution is to move fields from grass to artificial turf when feasible. Each of the parks in my home county (Forsyth County, GA) have had one field converted, and all 5 of the high schools have turf fields (the nice stuff). I’m hoping these fields will be more available – but we’ll see.
It’s really a societal problem – we encourage people to be active and participate in constructive activity, but where to do it?