Lancers rugby and soccer teams finally get to play at home

Loyalist College’s soccer and rugby field before repairs started this past spring. Photo by Tyson Nayler, QNet News

By Tyson Nayler

BELLEVILLE – After last year’s drought forced Loyalist College to renovate its soccer and rugby field, the Loyalist Lancers teams are now able to play a season on home turf.

For the fall 2016 season, the field was so dried out by the previous summer’s drought that it was deemed unfit to play on by the college’s’s athletic board, despite a rejuvenation program was had been started the previous spring. So all season both the rugby and soccer teams were forced to practise and play outside the college’s grounds; they travelled to Mary Anne Sills Park, a few minutes away from the campus.

But thanks to work done on the field this past spring and summer, the Loyalist field is once again available for games.

“We revisited the project and took a totally different direction, putting in an irrigation system that we had trouble with last year,” Loyalist athletic director Jim Buck told QNet News. “We tore up the whole field and started fresh with all brand new sod. So now it’s ready to go.”

Although the project went well overall, it didn’t get started as early as the college wanted it to because of purchase orders taking longer than expected, Buck said. Because some things still remain to be done, for the time being the field will only be used for games. The rugby and soccer teams are practising offsite, and will probably have to do so for the rest of the season, he said.

The total cost of the work on the field is not yet known, but Buck said he thinks it will come in around $118,000.

“This was to tear the field up, get it levelled, put in an irrigation system, put new sodding down and do the entire field, including the end zone, without cutting any corners.”

Along with the field renovations, the Loyalist athletic department also purchased a new scoreboard for the soccer and rugby teams.  It was something the school had been planning on doing for nearly three years, he said.

The scoreboard will take some time to be installed, and electrical issues will delay its debut. The school hopes to install a generator so it can at least be used for the last few games of the season, Buck said.

With most of the work done, Buck said the future is focused on maintaining the field, making sure that everything is kept up to date.

“We have a program that makes sure the field is done properly and aerated at the end of the season, as well as making sure that the field is being cut well and fertilized. We now also have a new irrigation and sprinkler system. So if there is another drought, we are prepared for it.”