South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Bombers will take ‘great care’ of rugby fields, crowds won’t be huge

Letters+to+the+editor

Letters to the Editor 

To the editor:

I’m writing in strong support for the new rugby facility lease on the Meramec flood plain of Sunset Hills Golf Course on West Watson Road. We have lived in Sunset Hills since 1993. I have played golf at the Sunset Golf and Tapawingo courses and played adult softball as well as hundreds of youth baseball games on the “dream fields.” I have even coached some junior high football practices, and I feel that I have a good idea of the area.

My family has also been involved with the Bombers Rugby club for over four decades. My two sons, Kyle and Jack, both recently played for the Bombers. My brother and I played back in the day and still support the organization.

My son Kyle played “high-school rugby” even though Lindbergh didn’t yet have a team. It does now, and youth rugby and other “non-core” sports are growing.

The Bombers club is a class act, typically the best in St. Louis and one of the best in the region. The younger players are mentored by the older doctors, lawyers and businessmen still playing on the team.

The club has played on some terrible and dangerous rented fields over the years. I have no doubt that they will be good stewards of the property and cherish its every use.

I can also state with certainty that the club and its alumni will fund, manage and operate the property with great care.

Being local to the area I have lived in the traffic patterns on Gravois, West Watson and Weber Hill. The morning and evening “cut-through” traffic along West Watson can be a pain. The few rugby events won’t correspond and impact this traffic. I have no concerns about the weekend rugby events creating any significant traffic impact. I wish we had huge crowds.

Again, being local to Sunset Hills, my family has used the great parks and walking trails in the area. We have some great pathways along the Meramec, and we have occasionally used them over the years.

I must admit that the mosquitoes typically run us off. We have never seen any overcrowding at our flood plain Sunset Hills parks, and we certainly don’t need to use the remote rugby fields site as more underused walking trails.

Bill Manley
Sunset Hills

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