Coach throws flag on yard markers
City institutes dog ban at football field after complaints of droppings
Football is a dirty game. But for Albany Pop Warner players, practicing at Foley Field in Hoffman Park comes with a bit more risk than just dirty clothes.
Increasingly, the park is filled with dog droppings, left behind by owners who neglect to clean up after their pets. And coaches, players and parents say it has become downright unsanitary.
Tor Mcdowell, a coach with the program, said the team’s season runs August through November and when it comes time to practice, the poop is plentiful.
“Every day we have a problem with people not cleaning up after themselves with their dog,” he said during a Common Council meeting on Monday. “You would not want your kid coming home after sliding in ... you know,” he told the council, leaving the obvious unsaid.
The program’s president, Darmel Ricks, said last week a child fell in to some of the remainders, angering parents.
The Common Council passed an ordinance Monday that bans dogs from the park from August until November in an attempt to deal with the complaints.
Ricks told the council he hoped eventually the city could take even more action, such as a fence to keep people out of the field. The program’s problems with keeping their field clean go beyond dogs. Recently coaches and parents have been finding used needles nearby.
“It’s just been getting out of hand the last couple of months,” he said. “We’re looking to make
this program bigger and better. We’re just looking to have Foley Field back as Albany Pop Warner’s home.”
Councilwoman Sonia Frederick, who introduced the ordinance, said the football and cheer programs that Pop Warner provides are some of the best the city has to offer, especially in the South End. Each year, roughly 300 children join in.
“Our kids should not have to be playing in unsanitary conditions,” she said. “They deserves the basic rights and the respect and a clean field to play their sports on.”