News Municipal Sports turf
Petition pushing for new sports field at Hamilton high school appears to be paying off

A student-led petition to flatten a bermed green space at a Hamilton high school, so that it can be used for sports play, appears to be paying off.

Bernie Custis Secondary School is the only high school within its board that doesn’t have a proper sports field of its own. Instead, athletes from the four-year-old school must play at Tim Hortons Field – home of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger Cats – but its use is capped at 400 hours a year.

Work crews have been leveling the berms to produce a flatter terrain to potentially accommodate a sports field.

The petition, which has garnered about 400 signatures, began circulating earlier in the year. The late start at leveling the grassy area, however, means the school’s football team will still have to practise elsewhere. The City of Hamilton and the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board are each putting $32,500 into the leveling project.

The city’s Brightside Park, which is located a short walk from the high school, is offering a field for the school’s use, but construction isn’t slated to begin until 2025.