RDN Parks staff cautious in saying youth soccer can use Rollo

Derek Kilbourn

Sounder News

Representatives of the Gabriola Soccer Association (GSA)once again presented to Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) regarding how to improve access to sports field for youth soccer use on Gabriola.

This time, it was at the Oct. 21 meeting of the Area B (Gabriola, Mudge, Decourcy) Parks and Open Spaces Advisory Committee (POSAC).

GSA President Matt McLuckie, along with coaches Glen Murphy and Jesse Capon, presented on behalf of the GSA.

The discussion started with GSA asking if RDN Parks staff had made any headway on forming an agreement with Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools to be able to invest RDN monies into maintenance at the Gabriola Elementary School field.

Rick Daykin, Manager, Parks Services for the RDN, had mentioned such an agreement at a POSAC meeting in 2023. He reported at the October 21 meeting that so far, there has been no movement on such an agreement. “We’ve been looking at the grounds down at Rollo, as an option to move that forward.”

Daykin was speaking of Rollo McLay Sports Fields, where the RDN has been looking at building a gravel practice field for soccer to use during the wettest months of the year.

He said if the POSAC members wanted, they could request staff prepare a report on what the implications would be if the RDN were to partner with the school district on maintaining the school field.

As seen in another soccer story in this Sounder, the School District has confirmed it will closing the school field to community use this winter.

Construction on the gravel field is expected to start soon, hopefully with the field ready to play on by the time the school field is closed for the winter.

In terms of any more soccer fields for Gabriola, that discussion is on hold until the RDN releases the final copy of the Electoral Area B Recreation and Parks Master Plan.

The committee of islanders working with the RDN on that project are scheduled to meet on December 12.

McLuckie followed up on Daykin’s statement, saying that if the RDN were willing, there could be more practices run and games played at Rollo. He said he knows there are longer term plans being looked at through the Master Plan, but for now, going into the 2025-26 season, the GSA will be in the same uncertain position they were in this year.

The respective leagues for the Gabriola teams were unable to schedule games on Gabriola because there was no contract or agreement in place with the District for field use. What the GSA is looking for is to be able to say to the league, on these dates, during the season, games can be played on Gabriola. He said all of the teams that play games on Saturdays would be able to play in the size of grass available in the outfields at Rollo – if the RDN permitted that – and would be able to rotate the areas of use to ensure one area isn’t getting too worn out.

Daykin was asked, if a report were going to be put together to look at implications of working with the school, could there also be a report put together on implications of allowing more soccer use at Rollo. Daykin said, “yes. Absolutely.”

McLuckie said the league has worked in a winter break to this year’s season, which should overlap with the weeks where the fields are at their soggiest. The fall season will end Dc 7 with a tournament in Nanaimo. The winter season will start up at the end of February, and run to the end of April. As McLuckie said, during, “the worst time of the year for field usage, [the fields] won’t be necessarily needed.  “So the fields will get that break already….there is a built in time of field recovery that hasn’t been there in the past that would be beneficial to school field or Rollo field, whatever that was.”

A concern he voiced was it will be very likely that the winter season will start in February, but the school field won’t be open to usage until late March or early April.

“So for that period of time, we’d sure like to host a few games on Rollo during that time.”

Daykin was asked by McLuckie and members of POSAC if the GSA could use Rollo for the February to April season for games and practices if the school field was unavailable.

He acknowledged that in the past, there were some errors made in using the Rollo fields, but said as long as coaches use good judgement, an are being diligent, that it would be possible.

Vanessa Craig, RDN Director for Area B cautioned that the RDN is spending, “a lot of taxpayer money on fixing up those fields and maintaining them, and we are hearing they are improved. They look great, and we wouldn’t want to damage them. I think we’re all on the same page there.”

The GSA representatives and RDN Parks staff will work on technicalities like having a place to store equipment and having nets at Rollo. RDN staff said the use of the field would need to be booked through the Gabriola Recreation Society, who handle the field scheduling for the RDN, so long as the use of the field for the requested purpose is approved by RDN staff.