Skip to content

Soccer field for school use only, says former coach

The man who spearheaded the effort to fix the Queen Charlotte Secondary school field says he doesn't want to see it used as a community soccer field.
Jimmy Reilly moved off-island earlier this month but left behind a strongly worded letter for school trustees, which he requested to have read out loud at their June 27 meeting.
Mr. Reilly said that in his opinion, allowing the field to be used for community soccer games, rather than just school use, will destroy it.
"It cannot be used as the QCC home field on Saturday for the simple reason there are way too many teams in QCC," he wrote. "The two fields in Tlell can barely handle the influx of players."
For many years, the Queen Charlotte teams which play in the youth soccer league every spring have used the Tlell fields as their home base. Mr. Reilly said some parents don't want to drive all the way to Tlell and would rather see the new field at QCSS be the home base.
"On behalf of the Youth Soccer Organization and the parents and members of the community who did give up their time to make that school field a reality, please think long and hard about this issue," his letter concluded. "I know my part in this was with the school kids in mind not lazy parents who feel it's too much to drive to Tlell."
Trustees did not discuss the issue raised by Mr. Reilly at the meeting.
The policy at the moment is that the field is for school use, and if a community group wants to use it the principal's approval is required, said superintendent Mike Woods.