City shuts down Frisbee tourney

A Waterdown high school teacher that has organized a massive frisbee tournament for the last nine years, is demanding answers from the city.

Tim Harvey had a valid permit for the annual Hamilton Invitational Ultimate Frisbee Tournament, which began this morning.

You might call it a “turf” battle, at Churchill park, in Hamilton’s west end.

On this day It should be covered by a crowded mass of athletic young teens, aged 14-18, but something happened.

“West Hamilton Soccer showed up, angry, called the city, the city came down, and kicked us off the field,” says Harvey.

The players, now without transportation, had to walk two kilometers to their new venue, Kay Drage Park.

Both the city, and the soccer club declined to be interviewed, for this story, but they did send emails.

Soccer club president Ken Sills said, ” I don’t think our volunteer-run community, soccer club is part of the story”. He said they just gave Harvey a “heads-up” that the fields were closed, and that their volunteers were very busy, and didn’t have time for an interview today.

As for that “heads up, “The guy who came up to us seemed a little hostile. He was a little, hostile, yeah,” said some frisbee players.

The city said they notified Harvey last Friday that the fields were unplayable. Then they said they did Harvey a favour: “City staff offered an alternative location for them to resume their tournament since they were not able to reopen Churchill field. The group was moved to nearby Kay Drage Park as it was the closest alternative and in better condition with better drainage and less saturation than at Churchill field.”

But Churchill has washrooms, and Kay Drage only has a port-a-potty, for 500 players.