Port Colborne mayor wants Niagara to unify arena rules
Hockey season is here, and with teams travelling around Niagara to play, parents and players are left to navigate a dizzying set of rules and restrictions that change from one municipality to the next.
At a recent meeting of the 12 mayors in the region, Port Colborne Mayor Bill Steele said he urged them to consider picking a single set of rules for arenas that can be used across Niagara. Each community came up with its own rules, so in some municipalities parents can attend games, while other arenas don’t allow spectators.
Some change rooms are open, while others remain closed.
“I talked to the mayors with regards to hockey rinks, and rinks in general not just hockey, about the fact that almost every municipality has different rules,” said Steele, a onetime president of the Port Colborne Minor Hockey Association.
He said keeping track of the rules, from one arena to the next, is tough for parents, and even tougher for the players.
“It might be easy for some adults, but it’s the kids — they show up and they’re allowed to do something at one arena, then they go to another arena in a neighbouring community and the rules are completely different,” said Steele.
He said the lack of a clear set of unified rules is leaving staff at Port Colborne City Hall to field an array of calls and complaints from confused and angry parents.
“Our staff are inundated with ‘Well, you can do this in Pelham,’ or ‘You can do this in Lincoln,’ so if we can get together and have one set of rules, work with public health, work with our hockey associations and our figure skating association, and come up with one set of rules, I think it’s going to be a lot easier on our arena users,” said Steele.
“It should be one set of rules, the same everywhere,” Steele added.