Soccer is a highly popular sport in Santa Paula with about a thousand youngsters playing regularly, many with the AYSO. A matter of council debate has been the use of fields by adult players, many who belong to out-of-town teams and were using local fields for practice.At one point the council examined having the fields redone with artificial grass but the cost - hundreds of thousands of dollars for each field - put the idea on the back burner.Even having field repairs done by an outside contractor proved to be cost prohibitive, but the council approved a plan where city employees did much of the work.The fields were closed in March leaving about 17 adult and dozens of children’s teams without a place to practice.Although there is an official soccer season “. . .in Santa Paula, soccer is a 12-month sport,” City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz noted at the May meeting.
Soccer fields open! Players can return to Las Piedras, Teague parks
August 22, 2003
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula soccer players and fans can get back to their game with the opening of the soccer fields at Las Piedras and Teague parks.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesSanta Paula soccer players and fans can get back to their game with the opening of the soccer fields at Las Piedras and Teague parks.Acting City Manager Paul Skeels told the City Council at a special meeting Monday night that the fields, closed for extensive repairs, are now again open.Public Works Director/City Engineer Cliff Finley “Wanted me to tell the council that both Las Piedras and Teague soccer fields were completed Friday and are open for business,” said Skeels, who again is sitting in the city manager’s chair during Wally Bobkiewicz’s vacation.The state of the city’s soccer fields had been a matter of council concern for several years and there was an outcry at a May meeting from soccer players who discovered the fields had been temporarily closed.
