The Tournament

Darlington Soccer has started another season outdoors. Hopefully it will be able to use the new fields soon. With its annual tournament approaching at the end of the month it would have been nice to use them at that time. With new nets, fields and the indoor facility right there, it would have looked very good on television. It is too bad CBC could not have been quicker in informing the club about Soccer Day in Canada. It would have really helped get more quality teams involved. As it stands now, a number of age groups will need to be combined so they can play.
Why is it that Darlington can never seem to get enough teams to participate. Is it the promotion of the tournament? Well they have handed out the usual flyers, the tournament is on the OSA website and they even got CBC to put it on TV. Could it be the fields. Well the location can be hard to find for out of town teams and they are definitely out of the way. Though the quality of the fields are usually still okay in June they are well wore and often weedy. It looks like someone did a donut in the middle of Hydro 2(?). Will this be repaired?
Maybe it is the quality of the teams? Darlington teams. There are no powerhouse teams at the club except the U-21 team and of course they will not be in the tournament. How many Elite or Premier teams are there in Darlington? A handful? Doubt it.
I believe Darlington's first step would be to get the tournament closer to town. Hell there will soon be a new hotel down the road from the new fields soon. Better team results will help as well as teams will want to play the best. So knock a few bucks of the price of admission for clubs coming with more than one team, as times are hard now. Maybe being the cheap one until numbers improve is the way to go.
Best of luck to all the teams coming to enjoy the tournament.

Pitch Parent