This Week's Letters
Can we play a pickup game of football?
Editor:
On Sunday Oct. 29th, myself and six others were playing a pickup game of touch football on the grounds of the town park, as we have done almost every Sunday morning from September through the winter for the past two seasons. We usually have six to eight people show up for a pick-up game (and I emphasize it is a pick-up game). We were approached by town employee Steve Quirk as we were playing on Oct. 29 and told that we cannot play football in the park and "that to continue playing we would have to move to the community field on the upper part of the park."
This field is used by youth soccer for games and practices and in fact, just a bit earlier in the morning, it was being used for that purpose. When that was our reply, we were then told that we would just have to call to reserve the field. Now, this is the last thing we would want to do. Our ages range from 21 to 43 and we are just basically running around for a couple hours to get some exercise. We cannot justify reserving time on any field and taking time from school age youths when fields are already in short supply.
Mr. Quirk also added that we were damaging the grass. Which leads me to believe that growing turf is a higher priority then the park being used by the taxpayers that supported the park in the first place. Even so, with that concern, I can assure you that we do no damage to the grass and challenge anyone to even point out where we have played this year. Mr. Quirk informed us that a phone call to reserve a field was all that is needed. When I did call to inquire about an alternate field for our "pickup game," I was told by Mr. Gullifer at community services that a form had to be filled out and then approval would have to be granted.
Does this seem a little extreme for six to seven people getting together to throw a football around to get some exercise? I'm sure the town employees are busy enough without having to take the time to regulate a pickup game of football. I then asked what is allowed in our town park. For the couple of hours that we are there on Sunday mornings, the park seems almost empty except for a few dog walkers and a few people strolling through. Mr. Gullifer’s reply to my question was kite flying. Which basically is telling us that we cannot use the park for football, so go fly a kite.
Scott Baldwin
Scarborough
Editor:
On Sunday Oct. 29th, myself and six others were playing a pickup game of touch football on the grounds of the town park, as we have done almost every Sunday morning from September through the winter for the past two seasons. We usually have six to eight people show up for a pick-up game (and I emphasize it is a pick-up game). We were approached by town employee Steve Quirk as we were playing on Oct. 29 and told that we cannot play football in the park and "that to continue playing we would have to move to the community field on the upper part of the park."
This field is used by youth soccer for games and practices and in fact, just a bit earlier in the morning, it was being used for that purpose. When that was our reply, we were then told that we would just have to call to reserve the field. Now, this is the last thing we would want to do. Our ages range from 21 to 43 and we are just basically running around for a couple hours to get some exercise. We cannot justify reserving time on any field and taking time from school age youths when fields are already in short supply.
Mr. Quirk also added that we were damaging the grass. Which leads me to believe that growing turf is a higher priority then the park being used by the taxpayers that supported the park in the first place. Even so, with that concern, I can assure you that we do no damage to the grass and challenge anyone to even point out where we have played this year. Mr. Quirk informed us that a phone call to reserve a field was all that is needed. When I did call to inquire about an alternate field for our "pickup game," I was told by Mr. Gullifer at community services that a form had to be filled out and then approval would have to be granted.
Does this seem a little extreme for six to seven people getting together to throw a football around to get some exercise? I'm sure the town employees are busy enough without having to take the time to regulate a pickup game of football. I then asked what is allowed in our town park. For the couple of hours that we are there on Sunday mornings, the park seems almost empty except for a few dog walkers and a few people strolling through. Mr. Gullifer’s reply to my question was kite flying. Which basically is telling us that we cannot use the park for football, so go fly a kite.
Scott Baldwin
Scarborough
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