The wheels were again set in motion for a multi-purpose playing field at City Park.
A resolution at a Jan. 31 meeting passed, setting the stage for the field to be added in the area between the campground and the BMX track.
According to Coun. Michael Wirischagin, who proposed the motion, it isn’t going to be anything too fancy. The field will measure 60 x 90 metres and will have an additional five-metre perimeter around the field.
“All it’s going to be, essentially, is a sprinkler line going down the middle of it, that they’re going to move to the outskirts,” he said.
“It will be the leveling of the field; planting some grass in those spots they’re going to level out and putting up two goal posts. It’s a bare-bones type thing.”
In addition, Wirischagin said that a Telus line will be taken out and relocated and as well, a few mature trees will be removed and some younger trees will be relocated.
Clint Faulkner, a member of the executive committee of the Boundary Wanderers rugby football club, said that a field at City Park won’t only benefit rugby players (as some people have said), it will benefit the city overall.
“I’d say half of our team, at least, has kids that are school age and again, there’s a benefit to the community for the children and also, for the downtown businesses, getting one more venue, within walking distance to the downtown. We saw that as being a good thing,” Faulkner said.
He also said that the area where the field will be located is an area that is being under-utilized.
“That portion of City Park is derelict. The people that seem to frequent that area are your vandals and drug users and I understand that other people do (actually use the area) but it’s not a particularly well utilized part of the park,” he said.
“You look at the part of the park that is utilized, the BMX course is of course by the BMXers, the trail, the tot lot, but that whole area – the open space that we want to utilize – there’s not a lot of families down there utilizing that. Sports teams obviously aren’t utilizing it.”
Another group that Wirischagin and Faulkner say can benefit from this is the new Boundary Youth Soccer Association and Jeff Olsen, the association’s president, said youth soccer will take advantage if need be.
“When we have our house league playing we intend on having maybe 15 or 20 games going Sunday morning over the Boundary area, so what does one field do for you? Maybe support a game. But for tournaments and attracting people to come to Grand Forks, (it’s a) great idea to have a top-notch facility,” Olsen said.
In terms of rugby, there has been some concern expressed that the dimensions of the field are not that of an official rugby field. Faulkner dismisses that notion.
“For rugby specifically, there’s a maximum size – I think it’s 120 x 75 (metres), I’m not exactly sure of the numbers – but there’s no minimum,” Faulkner explained.
“It is, in essence, by definition, a full-size field and actually, because there are different variations of rugby – there’s sevens and 15s and also 10s – but it’s a great sevens field. When there’s only seven of you to cover the whole area, people like it to be a little smaller.”
Wirischagin said that the budget for the field would be around $25,000 and hopes that it is completed by fall.
Faulkner said that through fundraising efforts, the Wanderers have been able to purchase detachable goalposts.