JAC seeks field upgrade with some help from Ste. Anne, Quebec

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

John Abbott College hopes to send its intercollegiate teams to do battle on home turf — of the artificial kind.

Two weeks ago, Ste. Anne de Bellevue applied for a government grant on behalf of the CEGEP.

If the assistance is awarded, the funding will pay for a synthetic surface, powerful lighting and new bleachers for John Abbott’s main sports field. “That’s the way things are going now,” said John Abbott athletic director Glenn Ruiter, who knows of at least four CEGEPs that have synthetic fields. “Artificial fields solve everybody’s problem.”

The carpeting will allow teams to practice in wet weather, when natural fields would normally be closed.

Ruiter said teams are at the mercy of unaccommodating weather conditions, especially in October and November.

Last fall, the fields were closed several times due to overuse and rainy weather. “That’s difficult if you’re preparing for playoffs,” he said.

As a bonus, he said the carpeting may even cut field maintenance costs over the long-term.

The Quebec education, recreation and sports ministry fund doles out $24 million annually to municipalities for the construction and renovation of athletic facilities.

The sports and physical activity development fund was created after the province finished paying off the Olympic Stadium last year.

Ruiter said the $2-million plan is “certainly feasible” and added the school has even considered taking the project further by building a sports dome on the site.

For now, however, the dome dream has been “really just an idea, nothing more than that,” he said. “We’ve been poking around just looking at any options,” Ruiter said of the dome. “That kind of thing would have to fit the campus and the needs of the school. It’s got to have more value as a package to the school.”

John Abbott’s “upper field,” closer to Highway 20, will remain natural.

Ste. Anne will apply for the grant on behalf of the CEGEP, and if accepted, the funding will cover half the cost of the project.

John Abbott is prepared to pay the difference with internal funds, Ruiter said.

Ste. Anne Mayor Bill Tierney said the revamped field will be a “West Island facility.”

As a John Abbott rugby coach for 10 years, he recalled how the school’s outdoor varsity teams often ran out of space during the shorter daylight hours of fall. “We certainly support the initiative and the application to the ministry,” he said.

Tierney said the field could be shared with Ste. Geneviève’s Collège Gérald-Godin and sports associations from neighbouring cities.

Ste. Anne expects to use the field, but will not be picking up any of the tab. “We’ve got to be very careful we’re not on the hook for any of the cost of it,” Tierney said.