Don’t give away high school football’s home turf to pro soccer
Turning over a publicly funded facility to private business is wrong, Tim Enger says.
High school football in Edmonton has been played since 1922. That first year saw six teams: Victoria, St. Joseph, Strathcona, St. Mary’s, Eastwood, and Westglen. It has grown and become part of the rich fabric of activities available to youth in metro Edmonton.
The addition of Lillian Osborne and Oscar Romero high schools last season and the addition of Sturgeon Composite this season will make a record 28 high schools in the Edmonton area offering football.
Several stadiums have come and gone, but the one constant has been Clarke Stadium. Built in 1933, it has handled myriad activities including Eskimo games, concerts, junior and university football, a few incarnations of pro soccer and summer festivals.
But the most consistent tenant the past 85 years has been high school football. In 2001, the stadium was rebuilt for the World Track and Field Championships as a smaller venue to handle football games with multipurpose abilities – just like a proper civic stadium should do.
With the later addition of artificial turf, Clarke was now hosting over 1,200 hours of community programming, including over 130 football games from atom to junior. It continues to be the home of Edmonton’s amateur football.
Now that is all in jeopardy. Over the last two weeks, seemingly out of nowhere, has come the possibility of a resurrected FC Edmonton in a new Canadian Premier Soccer League and new demands of city hall to increase seating at Clarke to 7,000 and give the soccer team “priority tenant” status, naming rights and food rights. This ask from FC Edmonton and the CPL went to the community and public services committee on April 18 and was met by a definite vibe in the room to get things done.
When we presented concerns about this proposal adversely affecting high school football, we were met with crickets. Even the Edmonton Eskimos were cast in a bad light for having the audacity to point out they have a fairly negotiated lease with the city for usage of Clarke for practices when Commonwealth isn’t available until 2021. The Eskimos have funded $25 million to the Commonwealth area over the past decade.
Probably the most unfair statement came when FC supporters argued turning Clarke into a soccer-only facility would benefit sports inclusion and diversity.
There is no more inclusive situation in high school than football. With rare exceptions, nobody gets cut and we take all comers. Visit teams at Eastglen, M.E. LaZerte, Queen Elizabeth, Archbishop O’Leary, Jasper Place, Ross Sheppard, Strathcona, and you will see incredible diversity of cultures, beliefs and body sizes. Diverse youth pulling together for a common cause — football has that in spades.
New Canadians are also flocking to the sport, most notably Harry Ainlay’s defensive end Lwal Uguak, whose parents emigrated from South Sudan. He has just received a full Division I scholarship to the University of Connecticut.
More immigrants every day are thrilled at the opportunity to take part in a uniquely Canadian experience, Canadian football at the high-school level.
Turning over a publicly funded, multi-use, revenue-generating facility that serves youth sports to a private business — all on the ask from a league whose existence hasn’t even been established yet — is troubling enough. But they’re talking about taking away our home.
Clarke hosts 50-plus high school football games each fall. Every other comparable facility is full with bookings. Where are these games supposed to go?
Jasper Place Bowl is being renovated this year and Foote Field is usually only available one night a week for high school football. These are your sons, and in increasing numbers, your daughters. They’ve done nothing wrong and deserve to keep their home to play.
We wish FC Edmonton success and are willing to continue to share Clarke, as we have gladly done this past decade. Perhaps they should follow the lead of the Edmonton Scottish Society who are set to open Canada’s largest indoor soccer bubble. They had the foresight to fund and build their own place; why can’t FC?
High school football has over eight decades of memories at Clarke.
Don’t take away our home.