Superintendent Says Football Field is Unsafe, Asks Board to Approve New Turf

The superintendent of a Pennsylvania school district has expressed his concerns about the safety of the local football stadium's playing surface. 

According to the New Castle News, Michael Ross, superintendent at Union Area School District, has asked the school board to consider updates to Socs Roussos Stadium, saying the "football field has been in bad shape." 

At a meeting in November, Ross presented research showing how much it might cost to address the field, which is currently a grass playing surface. Union, which won the WPIAL Class 1A championship last season, chose this year to play an opening-round playoff game on New Castle’s Taggart Stadium turf field instead of its own natural grass.

Ross said the field at Socs Roussos is more than 40 years old and its foundation is a mixture of sods and grasses that were "Band-Aid" fixes over the years. 

"It looks like Swiss cheese," Ross said. 

The track which encircles the field is also failing. 

Union currently uses its football field only for football, unlike other districts which their fields in support of a variety of sports programs. The last time the field at Socs Roussos had to be refilled it cost the district $87,000. 

Ross calls an upgrade a "great investment."