So today I got to watch a great little game of football between our Belmont Wanderers boys u7s and Pegasus u7 boys.
However slightly annoyed that some people choose to ruin these things. Let me explain, we have lovely pitches here in Newton Farm, south Wye of Hereford, ideal for kids/adults to play on or use. The land is public so anyone is welcome to walk around it or even take thier dogs for a walk.
Here lies the problem after checkjng the pitch was clear and the game had kicked of this morning, I was was walking along our respect barrier to notice there was dog mess, highly embarrassing and found myself apologising to parents.
The pitches are a vast area to check for what is other people’s mess, we as a club took the land on to primarily play football. Let me go into a little more detail about the arrangement, the council themselves no longer had a budget to maintain this land, it would have been left to become overgrown and no use to anyone. Now you Mr/Mrs Lazy dog walkers may say that doesn’t effect me, well Im afraid it would.
The grass would be to long and thick for anyone to do anything with, dogs wouldn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as they can now. Kids wouldn’t be able to play, there could be anything in hidden in the grass.
We have to pay monthly fee to cut the areas back, again it may not effect you directly, however with parents coming up to the ground to watch there kids play, seeing dog mess puts them off, reduces our income to pay for the maintenance, it’s a knock on effect.
I am very proud to live where I am, also very proud that we have a great football club here, also aware that this is a problem all over the place. We are continually trying to break the stigma that can occasionally be attached with being south side and don’t need it to be any more difficult.
All we ask is for support and cooperation so we can give something back to the community and something that people can be proud of here. Over the years we have witnessed a surge in growth of population in this area, however facilities haven’t followed suit, it’s up to us as the community to try and make the best of what we have, for the future population.
I know this message doesn’t apply to everyone just a select few that give dog walkers a bad name, and if this post only gets through to one of them then I have achieved something.
Just think next time your out walking your dog and you walk by after they do thier business, that could be a young boy or girl in a nice football kit running through it or getting covered in it. Take a bit of responsibility and pride, it will make a big difference, to others and probably yourselves.
Yours in Sport
Chris Tipping
Belmont Wanderers Football Club
Hereford
