Linkside High turns tables on residents over use of sports fields

For years, the Linkside High School sports fields were open to the surrounding community, allowing people to walk their dogs and children to play at their leisure.

However, after a petition was submitted by some residents to ban a girls and youth soccer team from playing matches on a Sunday afternoon, due to noise complaints, the school decided to shut the gates — to everyone.

Now, a second petition is circulating, where other residents are asking the school to reconsider its decision and instead to welcome the Ad Astra Football Club — which has members from all over the city, including the northern areas — to their fields.

They said this would not only promote sports development, but give the rest of the Linkside community a safe space for activities.

The issue first reared its ugly head at the end of March when the soccer club had their first match on the school grounds.

Ad Astra is an all-female club with players ranging in age from nine to 22 from all over Gqeberha.

The club’s public relations officer, Morne du Plessis, said most of their players were grade 8 to 12 pupils, many of whom attended Linkside.

“Our club approached the school about possibly using their facilities because there was an existing relationship due to the fact that several of our players also play for the school.

“It made sense because some of the girls stay close by, and it provided our team with a safe space to train and play.”

Du Plessis said the alternative would be to look for a field, possibly in an unsafe part of town, where their players might be reluctant to train and other teams might not want to visit.

After the school agreed, the teams had a couple of training sessions and played their first match on the last Sunday of March.

The following week, a petition was submitted to the municipality by some residents, calling for the club’s games to be banned due to noise pollution.

Once the school caught wind of the petition, a decision was made to end their agreement with Ad Astra — and close the school off to anyone else wanting to use the facilities.

In a letter addressed to Linkside residents, dated April 24, the school explained that it had never given permission for anyone to use the facilities after hours, but had also never denied them access as it considered the use of the grounds a public service.

“We have neighbours who use our athletics track to watch the sunset, parents who use the cricket nets to help their children improve their skills, children who use the rugby field to learn place kicking, and children play around on our hockey field,” the letter said.

“We have allowed this to continue for many years because we realise it gives parents

peace of mind that their children are safer in school grounds than they would be in a park or in the streets.

“The school has not benefited financially or in any other way from the community using our grounds.

“In fact, our maintenance budget has increased.”

The school had also suffered damages to its facilities as locks and fencing had been damaged, tyre tracks were left on the fields and pitches, and dog faeces littered the grounds.

Yet, it had still allowed the public access.

“As you know, we have been trying to accommodate a young ladies’ football team on our sports fields due to the absolute lack of facilities in the metro, especially for females.

“Some of the community members have made it abundantly clear that they do not support our endeavours to provide a safe space for ladies to train and play matches because the noise is a hindrance to their peace and quiet.”

Following the petition and threats of legal action, the decision was made to close the facility to the public and reinforce perimeter security.

The school said it was a difficult decision to make, and it felt it was an injustice to the greater community that the complaints of a few residents had led to this decision.

Since the letter was issued, a second petition has been circulated in a bid to reopen the grounds to the public, as well as the Ad Astra Football Club.

The resident who started the second petition, but did not want to be named, said many other residents believed the initial complaints were “petty and discriminating”.

“Besides giving our own kids a safe space to play and practise, the grounds offered a team of young athletes a space to practise and play matches.

“The school grounds were promoting development and now that’s gone,” the resident said.

Ward 7 councillor Brendon Pegram, who was aware of the soccer club’s use of the school grounds, said he received a petition with about 50 signatures from Linkside residents complaining about the noise on a Sunday afternoon.

He said the decision by the school to close its facilities was not an order by the municipality, as the petition was only the start of the process.

“The petition was submitted to the municipality’s petitions commission, which will conduct an investigation and call the affected parties to a hearing where the matter can be finalised and a decision made.

“I am also aware of a second petition asking for the exact opposite of the first petition, and the same process will have to be followed,” Pegram said.