Question on fields

[soccerrookie]

This is a serious question about field size and playing on football fields.

Why are there teams in South Louisiana that are still playing on football fields instead of full size soccer fields? Soccer is very big down there and some areas have some of the nicest soccer fields I have seen. But there seems to be a lot of schools playing on football fields.

Is it due to lack of land?

Is it due to lack of desire to play on a larger field?

Do you think it would be unreasonable to have a rule that would not allow a school to host a playoff round unless it was played on a regulation size field?

Just curious as to what others think as I feel that games should be played on regulation fields if the sport is going to continue to grow to higher levels in Louisiana.

[farwud1234]

because at any high school with a football team, football is KING and soccer programs don't have enough say at their schools to opt for larger fields

[number3]

The absolute minimum for a HS field: 100x55
The absolute maximum for a HS field: 120x75

I'm not sure what the standards are for pointyball (football), but by judging from the penalty area (or the 18 yard box for you non-technical types) which is 44 yards on the goal line (18+18+8) I think the width of most of the fields is right at 55.

[number3]

farwud1234 said:

because at any high school with a football team, football is KING and soccer programs don't have enough say at their schools to opt for larger fields

Not only this, but some fields have other issues which force them to go with the minimum width. Terrebonne is one, with the pole vault strip about 1-2 yards from the field itself. Dangerous.

[furriner]

rummel has a drain about 6 inches off the field. the field even slopes down towards it. IMO, a lawsuit waiting to happen

[sokerfan]

There are various reasons why soccer is played on the football fields.

- the public schools, expecially in Lafayette, will not build a soccer field for one school if they can't build one for every school in the parish.

- ALL of the public schools have been there for some time and the land is not available for a soccer field.

- the cost of a field is more than just property. The lights, concession stand etc is more than a booster club can raise. Even if a booster club was to raise the money, the school board would not allow that booster club to build on school board property.

- the only schools that I have seen with soccer specific fields have been private schools. maybe there are public schools, but not in the Lafayette area.

Maybe in the future, since soccer has grown so much, any new high school that is built will have a soccer specific field.

[soccerrookie]

It just seems like at a minimum a field could be built that all of the schools could use. Land up here in Caddo is an issue as well, as most of the high schools don't even have their own football stadium. They have to share.

Up here in Shreveport and Bossier, both cities have built soccer fields that are used for young rec teams all the way up to high school games.

Caddo has a soccer field that is used by all of the schools. Lacrosse is also played on that field. Granted, they hardly ever run the scoreboard and never have a concession stand, but at least it is a soccer field that does not have a crown on it.

Alexandria and Lafayette have very, very nice complexes. I'm not sure if the high school games are played there, though. I just think that there needs to be a push to get every school playing on soccer fields instead of a football field that is small and crowned.

[Mung]

soccerrookie said:

Alexandria and Lafayette have very, very nice complexes. I'm not sure if the high school games are played there, though. I just think that there needs to be a push to get every school playing on soccer fields instead of a football field that is small and crowned.

The HS games in Alexandria are played on football fields. Why? They have stands for easier viewing, and access is controlled, so the teams can collect admission fees to make some money. Given the weather conditions during HS soccer, the Crossroads fields would be destroyed if used by the high schools. I agree that it would be nice to have a regulation field or HS soccer, but the money is just not available, and I actually like the great view from the stands, as opposed to the sidelines of virtually every soccerfield that I have visited.

[furriner]

Increasingly, I believe we will see more of the situation in NOLA, with Joe Yenni stadium. It will be used by multiple teams (Rummel should be playing there), be turf, be wide and flat. There really is no good reason for a school (especially a public one) to pay for the building and maintenance of a field that is used for 12-15 weeks of the year (I think football season may be even shorter).

Why not have multi-purpose fields with lines in different colors? It works at Yenni, St. Paul's and Newman. I have also heard rumors (granted for some time) that most of the Northshore public schools are going to turf in the next couple of years.

[lcpsoccermom]

one of the issues in NO right now is that the stadium in City Park that was being used for high school is still not ready after Katrina. And I thought that the stadium Caddo uses was actually Shreve's. Caddo has to practice at AC Steere park, as they don't even have their own practice fields. Loyola uses it's own football field and it's very nice. Parkway uses Tinsley and it's horrible. And they have problems getting parents to volunteer to work the concession stands and such. Fields are a money issue. The rec complexes that spend so much money on the fields don't want them torn up during high school ball. I know Calvary is getting a turf field put in. Again, money. When you are talking about St. Paul's and Newman, they have the big bucks and have to stay in competition with the other private schools.

[ShreveDad]

lcpsoccermom said:

And I thought that the stadium Caddo uses was actually Shreve's. Caddo has to practice at AC Steere park, as they don't even have their own practice fields. Loyola uses it's own football field and it's very nice. Parkway uses Tinsley and it's horrible. And they have problems getting parents to volunteer to work the concession stands and such. Fields are a money issue. The rec complexes that spend so much money on the fields don't want them torn up during high school ball. I know Calvary is getting a turf field put in.

The field at Shreve is owned by Caddo Parish School Board. Shreve, Magnet, and Byrd all use it as their home field. Southwood and Huntington use Cargill Park as their home fields. Shreve has its own practice field next to the school. Magnet has the room but they moved to AC Steere for practice a couple of years ago. Byrd uses the fields behind LSUS to practice.

They have talked about putting turf down at both the football and soccer field behind Shreve. Money is the big issue. Calvary has a turf field and it is fantastic. All you need is a million dollars.

[copakid14]

Caddo moved from it's own lit field at the school because 2 years ago there was a drive by at practice. Safety is the big issue for Caddo. This year one of our players got her car stolen out of the school parking lot when we met there to travel to a tournament. Ridiculous.

[nwlasoccerfan]

The impact of fields is noticeable in the playoffs as teams who mainly play on full sized fields all season adjust to the narrow game of a football field and the other way around. Certainly some home advantages are increased.

The worst effect is that the skills and style of play promoted by the narrow game are not the ones favored by coaches at the next level. No college ever plays on a football sized field. It one of the factors that places Louisiana girls at a relative disadvantage in competing for college scholarships with players from other states. While we are all very proud of those who obtain scholarships, the numbers indicate that Louisiana is not heavily recruited by out of state colleges (or in state for that matter, can you picture an LSU, ULL, or Tech football roster where 80%+ are from out of state?)

Club coaches regularly complain the it take weeks of practice to undo the habits developed in the high school season. If we are serious about promoting soccer as a high school sport and creating opportunities the players then the games need to be moved off of football fields. If we are satisfied with second class then just say it is a problem (money, school board, booster club) that someone else will not solve.

[soccerrookie]

This is exactly how I feel about the fields. There needs to be a standard across the state.

If you could only host a playoff game if it was played on a soccer field, would this help motivate school boards/booster clubs/etc. to look at building or finding a field to play on? Would this even be fair?

[sokerfan]

You have to understand that in most cvases finding a "Soccer field" is not the problem. Most teams if not all want to play at their school. For instance, the Laf / Barbe game could be played at the UL soccer facility if they were to ask. The Laf players want to play at their field and their stadium. The cost involved to build a soccer specific field cost alot of money and soccer does not bring in the revenue needed to do this. Soccer barely brings in enough money to pay the refs and the games and definitely doesn't bring enough to cover travel expenses. Until we see a few hundred in the stands at every game it won't happen. I do wish like you that everyone would have the same size fields to play on so there was no "home field advantage" other that the team you put on that field.

[soccerrookie]

STM had a very nice field. The plexiglass shields around the player's benches were nice as well. It was a first rate set-up.