Does high schools have to provide adequate facilities for school sponsored sports teams??? What if a high school has both football and soccer but the soccer team is not allowed to use the turf. The soccer team has to use a field behind an existing school that has no fence, holes in the ground, no locker rooms, and a creek running beside of the field where the ball rolls into. The spectators have to use the restrooms and concession stands that are at the baseball field that is across the creek from the soccer field. It just doesn't seem fair when the football team has a turf field with all the bells and whistles one could ask for. Is this acceptable by @OHSAA regulations?
Game Field Question
- Thread starter SEOhio411
- Start date
soccerdad72
Well-known member
Given what you described, I would say the holes in the ground might be the one thing that might make the officials determine the field to be unplayable (e.g. unsafe). The rest of the stuff, while annoying, wouldn't preclude a school from hosting a game. There are some schools around us that have some pretty crappy fields, but as long as the dimensions are within the acceptable ranges and it's lined with goals and nets, that's usually enough.
winbypin
Well-known member
No joke....7-8 years ago my kids HS played a team just starting a varsity program and their field was essentially someone's yard. They lived out in the country so the yard was pretty big and it was surrounded by corn fields. They have since put a field on their school grounds.
Do the schools around you with crappy fields have a nice turf stadium that they could be playing on but denied by the athletic department?
Was the HS team school sponsored or a club team? I have watched some soccer games with HS age kids but it was a club team. School insurance would not allow them to use school facilities so they played in a field. I would think that if it is school sponsored then they should have the right to use any school facility available.
soccerdad72
Well-known member
The ones that come to mind did not have a football stadium either - their football teams either used a different high school's stadium or at a city-owned stadium (e.g. Byers Field in Parma). Notable exceptions in the case of JV-B soccer games - those I've reffed have often been on some practice field or a middle school.
That makes sense if the school didn’t have a football or other facilities. I know there are a lot of districts struggling and even cutting some extracurricular programs due to funding. This is not the case at all. There is an excellent stadium with turf and even a new scoreboard that the football team plays and practices on then the soccer team plays on a field filled with holes and no fence for the ball to roll into the creek. It is really sad that they value one program and not the others. The football team also has a giant charter bus that about half the team can ride on with coaches and others have to ride regular buses along with no access to the charter bus to other school sponsored teams.
winbypin
Well-known member
It was a HS team in OHSAA. They had no facility available. It's a small school and doesn't have football so no stadium.
An individual school can choose to relegate soccer to whatever facility on campus that they want. They could decide that football only gets the stadium and the soccer team(s) play on an ancillary grass field. It may create political issues within the school's own ecosystem, but that is NOT an OHSAA issue - and it is not an official's issue unless the field is deemed unplayable.
Reminds me of a club game. My club was established but the home team was new. Their field was a cow pasture. It had been cleaned at least but the field was rough and small but the worst was when the owner warned us to not touch the fence behind the bench are. The fence was electrified because the cattle had been moved to that side of the fence.
Isn’t it a Title IX issue?? It is definitely making a difference between the girls and boys sports.
soccerdad72
Well-known member
Pretty sure Title IX doesn’t have anything to do with fields and facilities.
If you provide different facilities for boys v. girls it could be a legal issue. Both have to have same or equal opportunities.
soccerdad72
Well-known member
But if both boys and girls soccer teams are on the same crappy field, it would be legal.
winbypin
Well-known member
But the school isn't requiring only the girls soccer team to play on the crappy fields. They are requiring all soccer teams to play on the crappy field.
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Old_School
Member
Was the program Jackson Center? I remember their first year as a varsity program and I officiated one of their home games. It was literally the middle of nowhere surrounded by a house and barns. The pitch seemed closer to Indian Lake than Jackson Center SD. I am glad they had the space and funds to build a nicer facility closer to their school.
winbypin
Well-known member
That was them. It was closer to Indian lake. Field was small too. But they have made strides as a program.
It doesn't say it is specific to a particular program. It says that athletes have the same access to quality coaching, equipment, and facilities. You can not build a palace for one program and not allow any other program to have access to it. I know most schools may have a nice facility for a particular program but any student or athlete of a district can use it. This stadium is closed and used only for football practices or games.
winbypin
Well-known member
The boys and girls soccer teams have access to the same quality of facilities and equipment. Can't speak to the coaches.
You're stretching.
soccerdad72
Well-known member
I feel for you, but I really don't think there's much you can do except complain to the school board.
It is sad because the AD is also the football coach.
As others have said, this is not a T9 issue, nor is this an OHSAA issue. Your complaint is a local/school district one, and your recourse is to go up the chain of command within the school district ... up to and including the elected school board members.
If one gender was allowed to play in the football stadium, and the other not, then it could be a T9 issue. But since soccer (both genders) is being relegated to a "bad" facility, it isn't.
Do you are trying to say that one program can have the best of the best while others have little to nothing?? How is that fair and equal??
belied dat
Active member
No Title IX issue. There is no rule that says all programs have to have the same, fair, equal, etc. If that is what they provide for soccer, then that's what they have regardless of what other sports have. Let's say there is girl's football (even flag football since it's really blowing up these days), the school district cannot restrict the girl's football team from using the turf or it would be a Title IX violation.
Or, if there were two separate basketball facilities and there were obvious differences in quality, boy's or girl's would have a Title IX grievance -- whoever has the lesser facility. Same for a weightroom situation if there were different weightrooms the kids have access to.
As long as the facilities meet whatever may exist with OHSAA standards within each sport, there are no rules against quality. It's crappy places do this, but it's not rare by any means. It's not even that rare at the college level either.
It is definitely crappy that not all programs are treated the same especially when it very easily could be. It is sad to have a stadium paid for my tax dollars by the citizens and their own children can not use it unless they play football, cheerleading, or in the band on Friday nights.
winbypin
Well-known member
Try a board meeting to bring attention to this.
belied dat
Active member
This is the way forward. For any changes like this, garner like support and go do it. Can start by having a few events to ensure it all works and there's no issues, until moving over full-time.
missouri88
New member
Another route where the school may have erred in compliance with Title IX is with how the stadium was funded. Private donations must be done in an equitable manner. You mentioned a charter bus for the coaches and part of the team to ride on, where other teams do not have this opportunity. That would strike me as a Title IX violation even if the charter bus was paid for by a football booster club. The likelihood is the principal is the Title IX Coordinator. Every school system has to have one. Reach out to the principal to see who it is and request a meeting with your concerns about the school's compliance.