Ballenas Whalers Football Society has been trying to raise funds to purchase new goalposts for the upgraded Ballenas Secondary School playing field.
The Whalers are looking to play on their newly resurfaced grass turf that was done with the creation of the all-season rubberized track at the school.
The society plans to install new high-quality goalposts to match the new improvements done to the field and to increase community pride. Without the goalposts, they will be unable to play or host games on this field.
The goalposts would cost $21,175 and with shipping, and other parts and labour, the total is $26,667.20. The society is aiming to raise close to $7,000 and is hoping the Qualicum School District will allocate $10,000.
The society has had little success in raising funds and recently suffered another setback when the Regional District of Nanaimo board rejected their Oceanside Recreation Services Community Grant application for $10,000 during its regular meeting on July 9.
The RDN's Community Grants Committee denied the application as it failed to meet the grant's criteria. The issue is the property on which the goalposts would be erected, which is owned by the school district. It was discussed again at the RDN board meeting for consideration.
"We felt that application was quite strong and had strong merits on its own but we also felt that it didn't quite meet the requirements for our new community grants policy because it's asking for installation of capital building on land that it doesn't own. It's owned by the school district," said Lauren Melanson, Area C (Extension, Nanaimo Lakes, East Wellington, Pleasant Valley) director, who is also a member of the grants committee.
Melanson said that because the Whalers application had a strong case, they wanted the RDN board to consider it a "standalone grant."
Area H (Bowser, Qualicum Bay, Deep Bay) director, Stuart McLean, made a motion asking the board to approve the Whalers application.
"It's a strong application unfortunately on the technicality that the Whalers football club does not own the property where it practises, which is the high school and it is public land," said MccLean. "I think, even though it's a grey area, I think the understanding is there that it will be taken care of. And so, that is the main reason why we have that rule in our policy, is to ensure that they society doesn't receive fundings for a capital item they cannot maintain."
Nanaimo director Ian Thorpe was wondering if the school district funds the football program, which is part of the high school's activities. The Whalers society, which is a non-profit organization, runs the football program on its own without placing any undue burden on the school. They raise their own funds to pay for the football program, which has been in existence since 1996.
General manager of Recreation & Parks, Tom Osborne, indicated the RDN said, "it's very common in District 69 for shared field to be used across the board, both with Parksville, Qualicum Beach and School District 69 field. So it's a collaborative provision of fields that helps the board in our decision."
The Whalers do not have any other fields or venues in the region to play or train on in Parksville Qualicum Beach. They're not allowed on RDN and city parks or fields where soccer, baseball and softball groups predominantly play. The Ballenas field is the only place they have.
The goalposts would be shared with the Oceanside Lions Football Club as well as for rugby programs.
McLean's motion did not pass as the voting was tied.
