Foul called on football players at ABQ park

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The Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department finds itself in the uncomfortable position of sounding like the ill-tempered neighbor down the block who shakes his fist and yells, Hey you kids, stay off of my lawn!

Of course, the kids theyre yelling at are adults, and theyre not just stepping on the lawn, theyre playing tackle football and tearing up the newly laid sod.

In September, just more than six acres of sod was put down at Vista del Norte Park on Osuna, west of Jefferson NE. The roots need to be established before team sports can be played on it, sometime in spring, said Alex Kiska, the recreation division manager for the city parks department.

Were not telling people to stay off the grass. Its fine to walk on it, have a picnic there, throw a Frisbee, fly a kite or walk your dog on a leash across it. We just need to give the grass an opportunity to establish itself and extend its root system before we have rough activities on it.

To be clear, the stakes are higher than some kid chasing an errant ball across a neighbors lawn. The cost for the sod and labor to install it was just under $100,000, and that doesnt count the cost of land preparation and the irrigation system, said David Flores, planning and design division manager for city parks.

For the past three weeks, a rogue football league has taken it upon themselves to use that field for their games, and theyve been tearing up the turf with their cleats, Kiska said.

Weve asked them not to use the field, weve placed signs there saying no league play until spring and weve told them we have plenty of other parks in town that they can use if they register, Kiska said. We can find a park for them.

Nevertheless, the Parks and Recreation Department has continued to get reports of intermittent football games there, most recently last Sunday.

One football team that has used the park has been identified as part of the Wolf Pack league. Sam Boughter, a coach with one of the teams, acknowledged that he was contacted by city Parks and Rec officials and told that the sod hadnt been established and we couldnt use it for games yet.

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Foul called on football players at ABQ park