By Jeff Austin Follow East Palo Alto Today on
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Posted on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 
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Coach Jeff Austin
Recently the President of the Mid-Peninsula Athletic Association went to a district meeting of all of the Presidents of the Golden Gate Football Conference. This is the conference that includes five different football clubs. San Jose, Mission Valley, San Mateo, MPAA and Pacheco. These are the five main clubs that make up this conference. The conference is growing, and next year it is anticipated that three or four more teams will enter the league.
Here is the issue. Our fields for playing football are in terrible shape. Football seems to be the lost sport in this area. It is a sad thing that for 50 years, youth football has been played on the fields of East Palo Alto. Ronald McNair is in desperate need of a face lift. This we all know (and if you don't, just drive by and look at it at Pulgas and Donohue Streets).
This meeting was a fight between the teams of this league on where they would have the playoff games for the league. Well in years past, the teams that were winning were of course selected to hold the playoffs at their fields without real question. This year 3 out of the 4 teams of the Mid-Peninsula Athletic Association are in first place. Wonderful, right? That would mean that the playoffs should automatically be held here at Ronald McNair. Well it was a dog fight from the opening statement of the meeting. The main bullet being shot by the San Jose and Mission Valley Clubs was that the field was crappy. That was there exact words "crappy".
I am very saddened by this true, but awful assessment of our fields. This is why we are trying to get our whole community involved in the project to bring an artificial surfaced multipurpose field for our kids to play football on. It is high time that the reflection of our city be uplifted. We can do this. If all of us put aside for a moment our own agendas and make this a priority.
The field will be expensive. Yet, if looked at in a long term way, the use of a multipurpose artificial playing surface will save our city in the long run. I am still writing this blog to get the community involved. I hope that you all will respond. Please sign up for this blog. Let these words come to your email box. Read them and then act.
When are we as a community going to take pride in the fact that we are just as good athletically and academically as any other community. We just have to come together to show them that. Unity! That is the call with this blog will you unify? Please leave a comment on this blog. Talk to us for we sure want to talk to you.
Jeff Austin is a coach for the Mastodons football team. To contact him through East Palo Alto Today about this article, email epatoday@epatoday.org. You can reach his article on East Palo Alto Today on Facebook.
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