Article published Jul 12, 2006 Mayor, St. Joe put heads together on Capella Field
By BEN MERITT Staff Writer bmeritt@thehammontonnews.com
HAMMONTON -- Football may return to Capella Field this year.
The town and Diocese of Camden are in the early stages of exploring the possible use of the field for home games of the St. Joseph High School Wildcats beginning in September.
Meanwhile, Mayor John DiDonato has formally pitched the idea to the Hammonton Hawks youth football organization
For the Wildcats, the possible move comes amid a sea of controversy over a potential sale of the Catholic school's 10-acre athletic complex at Wood and Second streets.
The Wildcatters, a booster club for St. Joseph sports teams, and St. Joseph football coach Paul Sacco have voiced opposition to both proposals.
On Monday, diocese spokesman Andrew Walton said there are no plans to sell the athletic complex but he did say the diocese and the town are in the initial stages of an arrangement for the Wildcats to play on Capella Field.
"The Wood Street complex is not ideal. We are pursuing a shared services agreement, possibly a no-cost maintenance plan. But at this point it is just too early to tell," Walton said.
Parking has known to be cramped during games, while residential neighbors have often complained about noise and parking problems during the season.
DiDonato said the two sides have not yet conducted formal talks about the situation.
"We received nothing formal from the Diocese on this and we haven't scheduled any official meetings on this," DiDonato said Tuesday.
Last month, the town entered into an agreement with the Hammonton School District to lease the athletic fields at the middle school so that the district could receive $1.2 million from the town to relieve ongoing financial woes.
Under the agreement, the town is permitted to seek potential users for the fields -- the Wildcats football program being a leading candidate.
DiDonato said Tuesday the use of the field has been formally proposed to the Hammonton Hawks youth football organization.
Citing parking and safety problems at the Hawks' current home at the Hammonton Lake Park, DiDonato would like to see the group move to the more hospitable middle school grounds.
"They weren't really enthusiastic about the idea but they did leave the door open," DiDonato said of a meeting he had with Hawks officials.
Last month, Hawks representatives told The News they were against a move, citing recent improvements at the Lake Park, including new turf.
Bit DiDonato says the Capella Field could enable the Hawks to host state championship games because of the field's larger size. DiDonato also noted this would bring in more revenue.
"There's a lot of tradition and history at the Capella Field," DiDonato said of the field, which in the past has served as the home field for the Hawks, Wildcats and Hammonton High School Blue Devils, who now play at Robert Capoferri Field at the high school on Old Forks Road.
Like the Hawks, Wildcats head coach Paul Sacco, at this point, wants no part of a plan to move his state football powerhouse's home games to the North Liberty Street field.
"Let us stay where we are at," Sacco said Monday. "Through the graciousness and hard work of people to get that field ready, now all of the sudden we are going to move again?"
The terms of the agreement between the district and the town states that no team colors would be displayed at the Capella Field.
"We want a place to call home. If we're in a playoff game and we want to put our cap out on the field and put up red and white streamers, we can do that," Sacco said. "Why do we want to take a step backwards?"
Michael Rebecca will be the Wildcats starting quarterback this season. For the 17-year-old from Williamstown, he is just looking forward to playing, wherever the field may be.
"I wouldn't mind staying where we are now. I think a lot of my teammates would but it really doesn't matter to me," Rebecca said Monday. "I really don't pay attention to that stuff. I just want to get the season started."
In a statement issued Friday by the St. Joseph Wildcatters booster organization, the group's board of directors called St. Joseph's athletic complex, which includes football, baseball, softball and soccer fields, "irreplaceable."
"We fully support all of the improvements envisioned by the parish and diocese, but we believe it would be shortsighted to sell the athletic complex," said board of directors member Michael Woelfel.
Such a sale would leave the school strapped to find an alternative, such as using the fields owned by the town of Hammonton or the public school district.
"Borrowing or leasing so many fields from the town would be extremely impractical and is certain to bring us into conflict with the public school teams as well as the youth organizations, which presently depend on the same fields.," Woelfel said.
Rumors have surfaced that St. Joseph fields would be sold to a local housing developer, who plans to build upscale homes on the site. The current fields sit just off Third Street and Fairview Avenue.
"We need more fields, not less, and the sale of existing recreational space to a housing developer is an extremely poor decision for the school and the town. We believe this proposed sale will hurt the students of St. Joe and the people of Hammonton," Woelfel said.
Walton denied that the Diocese is considering selling the fields for residential development.
Meanwhile, the Diocese is still weighing its options for improvements at the parish and high school on Central Avenue.
"We're studying what has to be done right now. Pastor Carmen Carlone is assessing what has taken place so far and he is studying what has to be done," Walton said.
Purchased by the Diocese from the Hammonton School District for $1.1 million, the current St. Joseph High School on Central Avenue has undergone over $1 million in renovations.
Future campus plans include the construction of a team house, gymnasium with regulation basketball court and further athletic field improvements.
