Now that Vernon Minor Football has acquired enough equipment for the season, the focus is turning to finding a new home.Ray
Noble says he has the ideal solution. Noble, whose sons both grew up playing football locally, said the vacant Lakers Clubhouse would make a perfect facility for the association to store its gear and the former golf course would also be a great place for the city’s first full size football field.“You’ve already got a building that must be fairly stable because they were going to move the Elks in there,” he said. “Why not turn that into storage for minor football.”Noble said the idea came as a result of the Polson Park fire that burned the grandstand and destroyed most of the association’s equipment. He said that realizing they needed a field led him to the idea.“This all came about as a result of the grandstand burning and talking to a lady who had both sons affected by this,” he said.On the city’s official community plan, the Clubhouse is covered by a soccer field. Earlier this year the city offered to move the Elks Club to the building to acquire the entire Coldstream Hotel block but that move fell through.Noble said that with fields all over the city, the soccer association wouldn’t be hurt if the field was dedicated for football.Vernon minor football association president Keith Ridd said he had not previously heard of the idea but said the Marshall Field location would be a great fit. He said if the city was willing make the land available to them, the association could find the money to help fund the construction of the field.“That would be a great idea,” he said of re-locating to Marshall Field. “If the city came up with a plan to put Marshall Field aside I’m pretty sure we could come up with the partners.”Last week, Wendy’s Restaurants gave Vernon Minor Football $5,000, which will be used to build a proper football field. Ridd said the field is needed because there is no regulation sized field in the city – which prevents them from hosting provincial championships.The demand for football is increasing as more youngsters are strapping on the pads. The association has grown from four clubs last season to seven for 2006.Ridd said he’s particularly impressed by the Midget team (16 to 18 year olds) who petitioned the board until they agreed to put together a team this year. Despite the recent struggles to find jerseys and equipment for the start of the season this weekend, Ridd said the loss their equipment has raised the profile of local football and may be a boon in the long run.“It may end up being a silver lining to a very dark cloud,” he said. “We may end up with something better than we ever had as a result of this terrible starting point.”Several city planners were contacted but they were unavailable for comment. Council was scheduled to discuss Noble’s letter in Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting but the meeting was postponed until after press time.++++++++++++++++++
Don Quixote Note: Council decided to send Mr. Noble's letter on to GVSC to be part of their discussions about the future of Polson Park when the Committee of the Whole meeting was finally completed at 4:45 P.M..
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