Article content

Re: “Invest in soccer, not baseball” (Letters to the Editor, Feb. 3)

With respect to Loic Wandege’s letter, in which he suggested the city invest in soccer rather than baseball, there are some facts that need to be kept in mind before entering this debate. First, amateur baseball participation has been growing in Quebec since 2007. Second, baseball welcomes girls and has created teams and leagues specifically for them while keeping mixed teams. Third, the many boroughs of Montreal have processes in place to identify and assist low-income families wishing to participate in amateur sports.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Letter: Baseball parks have been neglected long enough Back to video

We should also keep in mind that soccer, a catch-all sport for young parents trying to help their children find their sport, has had a disproportionate amount of attention and funds come their way over the past 20 years. This is evident even in our own city: all one needs to do it look at the tens (hundreds?) of millions of dollars Montreal has spent on soccer complexes to the detriment of other sports, including hockey. Only two years ago, some hockey arenas were targeted for special attention after years of neglect.

Mayor Denis Coderre has only set aside $11 million over three years for one of the top three sports in North America. This money is a drop in the bucket when you consider the repairs needed on parks that have been neglected for far too long. In our borough of St-Laurent, we have seen increases in enrolment of 29 and 24 per cent in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Are we happy about the mayor’s news? Certainly! Will it cure our problems? It remains to be seen, but it is a step in the right direction.

Theo Michael (Registrar, Baseball St-Laurent), St-Laurent