Response to ACA Statement on Cemetery Fields from Hampshire FC/Amherst Soccer Club

Response from Hampshire FC/Amherst Soccer Club:

We would like to respond to the ACA Statement on Cemetery Fields and address any misunderstanding as it pertains to our organization. 

The Hampshire FC/Amherst Soccer Club (HFC/ASC) has hosted the Memorial Day Tournament for 21 years.  Over the years, we have utilized fields in Milford, Nashua, all of the Souhegan High School and Amherst Middle School, Spaulding, Wilkins, Cemetery, and Bean fields in order to accommodate the approximate 250 teams we host.  Other than Memorial Day weekend, the SHS and AMS fields are used primarily by the school teams, and we share the remaining fields with Recreation and the other sports organizations in town throughout the year.  Fields in Milford and Nashua are obviously not for normal use by Amherst organizations. The fields utilized for the Tournament in no way reflect field space available for practice and games during the regular seasons.

The Memorial Day Tournament is our Club’s only fundraiser, and is an enormous undertaking with overhead including but not limited to, field rental fees, school rental fees, referee services, environmental costs (toilets and dumpsters), state fees, team awards, advertising, transportation, equipment and balls, personnel, etc. Our NET income (a mere fraction of what was reported in the ACA Statement) is utilized to offset costs to our membership.  In addition, we are pleased to note that with the large influx of guests from all over New England, NY, and even Canada, our tournament continues to provide a valuable economic benefit to the Amherst and surrounding area business communities in terms of shopping, restaurants, hotels, etc.

It is also important to understand that the landscape of sports has changed dramatically over the last 20-30 years.  For most sports, (soccer, lacrosse, baseball, football, field hockey, etc.) private club teams are the feeder programs for public school sports.  Club teams provide the coaching expertise, the organizational structure and the mechanism to prepare athletes for any level of play, including middle, high school, and in some cases college.  HFC/ASC pays a user fee to the Town of Amherst for field use and in turn provides an instructive and competitive program for soccer players’ ages 4 to 19 years old. 

HFC/ASC appreciates the support of the town, schools, and local businesses, and has worked diligently to maintain our reputation and relationship with these organizations.  We are proud of the program and service we provide to our youth, parents, and community members and hope that this statement clarifies the misinformation published by the ACA.

Sincerely,

HFC/ASC Board of Directors