The Warthogs Get Political: Finding a Field

Every year the team management hunts diligently for a decent practice pitch. When I get frustrated I try to remember that it's a marathon and not a sprint. We are trying to establish rugby for a group of kids who usually don't get included in the sport and try to groom them for success on the next level, hopefully getting them into college.

Can't we all agree that we want kids on ball fields instead of street corners? So let's make it happen. Why can things in Oakland, even good things, be so difficult some times.

We started out from Oakland Charter school, who can no longer sponsor us but still offers help when they can, three years ago. Charter is in the district of Ignacio De La Fuente. When De La Fuente ran for mayor, the team volunteered walking the precincts for him. I thought this might result in a little quid pro quo. I am still waiting on the "quo" part from his office.

Every year I call his office and every year his assistant calls me. She is always very nice. She puts me in touch with people, like the "Unity Council," a group that is supposed to work between the community and the schools for field space.

Last year, the Unity Council had us on a chewed-up pitch of old small astro-turf at Fruitvale and 16th Avenue. We had to share the spot in the dark with a soccer team. We had to supply our own lights. The border of the field was cement. If you played hard, you landed on cement. Not good. Columnist Scott Ostler captured the essence of the gritty park.

This year, De La Fuente's assistant once again referred me to the Unity Council and put me in touch with a woman from Oakland Schools facilities. Ideally, we want access to the nice lighted field at Oakland High School. The woman from Oakland Schools asked, "Why don't you try to use the fields down on Gilman Street in Berkeley?" The Unity Council called me once this year; I left three calls and never heard from them again.

Every year we also turn in a permit request to Oakland High. We have liability insurance. I cannot reach a live person in power at Oakland High. I have not heard back from anyone and must assume that they never even viewed the request or have turned it down.

I called the office of council member Jean Quan. An assistant called and told me that I had to talk to Parks and Rec downtown. Wow, what a revelation. She repeated the City policy of not using the grass fields during the rainy season.

I had a very nice call back from council member Desley Brooks. She listened to me for more than five minutes and seemed sincere. I appreciate her interest.

I have now been talking to at large member Rebecca Kaplan's office. Chris from her office called me back and seems supportive. He has tried to put me in touch with Oakland School Board Member Chris Dobbins to see if that might open the doors to a field at OUSD.

To the Oakland School District and the City I say this: These are your kids. We all say we want to help them so let's make it happen. As coaches we are doing this for free because we care about their welfare. Rugby is secondary to trying to teach them some lessons about accountability, teamwork and respect for authority.

We have lately been working out under the lights at Brookdale Rec Center, which is decent. We just need more help from the City for finding a full, regulation field for practice and for hosting matches. To me, this is a basic city service.

I went in front of the City Council at a recent open forum to make a little pitch. Got the sense that they were a tad jaded. Next time, I am taking a 20 kids with me and we will do the Haka.