A field of his own
Corner Brook renames field, honours Doug Sweetapple’s 50 years in soccer
CORNER BROOK — Seeing his name on a sign that will go up outside a place that he dearly loves left Doug Sweetapple feeling both fantastic and a little humbled on Tuesday night.
“It’s a difficult question to try to answer what naming a field means,” said Sweetapple as the City of Corner Brook and its soccer community came together to honour him at the newly named Doug Sweetapple Soccer Field on Wellington Street in Corner Brook.
“It’ll probably sink in over a longer period,” he said.
“It’s not something that you start out thinking that this will happen,” he said after the big unveil at the field that had been known as the Wellington Street Complex for the better part of the past 13 years.
“And the journey and all the things that happen from the beginning up to now, that’s where the glory is, in just being involved and just being a volunteer,” he said.
Sweetapple has been involved in soccer in the city for more than 50 years as a player, coach and executive member.
Later this month he and his wife, Lynda, will leave the city and relocate to Dartmouth, N.S., to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
The city announced it would be naming the field after Sweetapple in February — a move that came about after a joint proposal to do so submitted to the city by the Corner Brook Ladies’ Soccer League, the Corner Brook Men’s Soccer League and the Corner Brook Minor Soccer Association last October.
The groups all hold a strong affection for Sweetapple and credit him with a lot of the success the sport has had in the city.
That’s partly because as the volunteers have changed from year-to-year, Sweetapple has remained a constant.
And he did it for the love of the game.
He said a lot of people in different sports have the same love and desire.
“Mine just happened to be soccer.”
And even though he heard a lot of what people feel he’s brought to the sport and in many cases their lives, Sweetapple doesn’t consider his involvement to be all about him.
“I look at it as a team effort, like all the people that have been involved and I just happen to have been the person who stuck around the longest.”
Leaving Corner Brook is going to be very difficult, he said as he looked around the field, adding he could probably name every person there, from former teammates and executive members to current players.
And it’s not just soccer that he’s leaving as he’s involved in a lot of other things in the community.
“I’m leaving all that, but the good thing is I’m going towards (something). It’s not anyone pushing me out, it’s the draw on the other side.”
Even though he won’t be at the fields, he’ll still be providing some input as the organization gets used to operating without him.
“My vision is that we cater to everybody from the child who can hardly walk across the field but falls over, to the elite athlete. I think we have to continue to strive to provide for everybody.”
Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer Association president Doug Redmond travelled from St. John’s to attend the naming ceremony.
“Doug (Sweetapple) was really deserving of this award and for soccer it’s nice when you see someone of his calibre getting recognized,” he said.
“Everyone in Newfoundland knows Doug Sweetapple. Doug Sweetapple is known all throughout the province.
“He’s been so good to the sport. Soccer is Doug’s life and whether it’s Corner Brook soccer, western soccer, Newfoundland soccer he’s always contributed, and he does it with a heart and a half,” Redmond said. “It’s his life. Doug loves the game.”
Redmond said anytime he visits the city he never calls Sweetapple because he knows he’ll find him at a field.
“He’s always there and he’s always been there for the right reason. He’s there for the youth, he’s there for ladies’ soccer, men’s soccer — he’s just there for soccer.
“What he’s done for Corner Brook soccer no one will ever know.”