London’s high school football final turfed to St. Thomas

Article content

For the first time anyone can remember, London’s annual high school senior football championship will be played not in London – but in nearby St. Thomas.

The issue?

The growing pains of a booming city have filtered down to room to play – specifically, the right kind of venue to safely hold the finale between two teams vying for gridiron bragging rights this year.

Article content

None of the city’s 18 high schools has the field needed to play a well-attended championship game in November. They’re all grass fields, which can be a problem in often-soggy late fall weather and not as safe for footing as artificial turf that’s come to be expected in the championship game.

City hall-owned City Wide Sports Park isn’t an option, either, because of availability and fan accommodation issues, and the best artificial turf field in Southwestern Ontario – Western Alumni Stadium at Western University —  hasn’t held a high school game in years, in part because of previous security issues.

The Banting Broncos and Catholic Central Crusaders will clash, instead, Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. at 1Password Park, a city-owned recreational complex in St. Thomas.

“I would prefer to have the game played in town for all of our fans, friends and families,” Banting head coach Todd MacKay said. “A number of our parents are taking vacation or unpaid days to watch their kids play. It’s unfortunate, because these are fleeting moments in their children’s athletic careers and they don’t want to miss it.”

Article content

So, what needs to change?

Longtime CCH football coach Mark Howard, who is now assisting Crusaders head coach Alex Kurowski, said he believes it’s a city hall issue. The former Western quarterback played in a London high school championship and coached several at Western Alumni Stadium in a great atmosphere years ago.

“London really needs to up its game in supporting youth programs,” he said. “It comes down to facilities. If there was a stadium equivalent to what you see in a lot of different schools in the province, we’d be in good shape.

“You go west of Woodstock, towards London – none of the school boards put any money into facilities for sports. You go east of Woodstock, (a lot) of schools have turf fields with some sort of grandstands. Here, Western is the only player in the game and we’d love to grow that relationship again.

“We’ve got two amazing teams that played a six-point game a few weeks ago. Why not play the highest-level game at the highest-level surface at the best location possible?”

It’s not like the city hasn’t recognized the problem.

At city hall, the latest four-year budget cycle included a $6-million pitch by city staff to add two to three more turf fields and to explore partnerships to create new fields to meet growing demand. It was not funded and the only hope now appears to be for a white knight from the private sector to come to the rescue.

Article content

“The number of rectangular sports fields is adequate at the present time, but demand is expected to increase as the city grows,” the pitch reads. “It is projected that up to 28 additional rectangular fields will be required by 2039 — a rate of approximately three fields every two years.”

One of Canada’s fastest-growing cities for the better part of the last decade, London is on a growth tear that’s projected to add the equivalent of a city the size of Windsor to its population over the next 25 years.

One takeaway?

The pressure for more room to play isn’t going away, and is likely to only get worse.

With desperately needed new housing often the focus of London’s rapid growth, amenities needed to support neighbourhoods can be a second thought, said Coun. Anna Hopkins, who chairs council’s civic works committee.

“We have a housing agreement with the province to build 47,000 units, and that’s fine,” she said. “But my concern is the infrastructure that lags behind. It’s not only the roads and how we move around . . . it’s also our social infrastructure. Parks are just as important as the schools.

Article content

“It’s the sort of standard of living that Londoners expect.”

Hopkins pointed to the city’s five-year-old parks and recreation master plan, which is due for a formal update this year. The latest annual report from March makes no mention of a major sporting facility being a priority in 2024, but outlines the need to rework the plan and its “out of date” growth projections.

There could be some daylight down the road. Up for public input at city hall Tuesday, before another council committee, is a city hall-led rezoning proposal that would permit a new “regional sports park” on 13.5 hectares at Dingman Drive, near where highways 401 and 402 meet.

The report on the city’s parks and recreation master plan highlights the need to continue working with Western, Fanshawe College and the two London-area school boards for community access to their facilities. The master plan itself acknowledges that outside funding, such as grants or partnerships, would be needed for “specialized and/or single-use facilities.”

How does Western figure into the picture?

The university holds some community events over the course of a year at Western Alumni Stadium, including high school track competition through the Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) association, but it has clearly become a wait-in-line approach.

Article content

High school organizers were optimistic last week that a contract could be signed to have the game held at Western, but that’s not happening.

“Western sports and recreation deeply values our connections to the London community, and we’ve tried to support as many requests for facility use as we can,” Western athletic director Christine Stapleton said in a written response. “This includes hosting the (TVRA) track and field meet, the 2024 OFSAA track and field meet and the 2024 Canada Summer Games.

“During the fall and winter terms, our facilities are heavily used by our Mustangs varsity teams and Western recreational programming. When these seasons are complete, our facilities may be available for booking for community groups.”

The turf field in St. Thomas is fine, but wind-tunnel conditions there affected the passing and kicking in a recent Banting-South semifinal game. A natural destination would be City Wide Sports Park, but parking for more than a few hundred people is a concern and the on-site lot is unpaved with its share of potholes.

CCH played its semifinal at A.B. Lucas secondary school a few weeks ago without incident. But football games played on natural grass in November become a major risk due to the seasonal weather conditions.

Article content

The Tier II high school senior football finale between Woodstock College Avenue and the St. Joe’s Rams was contested on St. Joe’s home grass field.

The London high school junior final between CCH and Mother Teresa was played Friday in St. Thomas.

For now, Western remains the most suitable site for a high school final. But even if organizers are able to cover the costs of security and alleviate safety and liability concerns, there are no guarantees the university will offer a contract for field usage.

That remains beyond frustrating to some for a facility originally built with an intended component of community use.

“It’s the most central location, a better venue and an easy recruiting opportunity for the best university football program in the country,” CCH head coach Alex Kurowski said. “St. Thomas has a nice new turf, but if you can do it at your major university, then why not?

“It’s a showcase game for the kids. It’s a no-brainer. That’s where the game should be played. Now, it’s about let’s get it back there.”

rpyette@postmedia.com; moulton@postmedia.com

Article content