A group of volunteers repaired a playing field near Prince Andrew High School in Dartmouth on Sunday. - Tim Halman/Facebook

>Football sleds are seen on the field at Prince Andrew High in Dartmouth on Thursday.

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A group of volunteers is calling foul on the city of Halifax for reaping the rewards of their repair work on a Dartmouth playing field.

The group spent last Sunday removing rocks the size of desks, spreading soil and planting grass at the field behind Prince Andrew High School. This after years of asking the city or the school board to address the dangerous conditions on the field, which is used by school and community teams.

Parents, athletes and concerned residents took matters into their own hands because neither the city nor school officials would take responsibility for the field.

John Cabe, an assistant coach with the Prince Andrew football team, said he told local councillor Tony Mancini, “I don’t care who does it. If somebody gets a concussion, or gets hurt on the field, then you’re going to hear about it.”

Mancini arranged for the city to send soil, seed, wheelbarrows and other equipment to the field on Sunday.

About 25 people including Cabe, whose children attended Prince Andrew, MLA Tim Halman, who taught at Prince Andrew, and members of the football team worked for five hours.

The efforts helped but the field is still in “terrible” condition, said Cabe.

On top of that, the Prince Andrew football coach told Cabe on Wednesday that he’d received a call from the city’s field scheduler.

“(The scheduler) said oh by the way, the field has now been classified as under the Halifax mandate now again and in order to use it, you have to rent it now at $8.50 an hour,” Cabe said. “I said, this is ridiculous.”

He said the football team isn’t against rental fees but only for a field that’s safe and well maintained.

Cabe said the quality of school playing fields varies greatly across the city.

“For example, at C.P. Allen, the kids get to practise on the field free, on a turf field that’s beside their school. So there’s a disparity between the wealthier areas ... not that Dartmouth is poor, but ... we don’t have the ability to just go on a turf field and practise.”

He’s optimistic that a fairer arrangement can be worked out with Halifax Regional Municipality and talks are ongoing toward that goal.

“Staff are in communication with the group and are currently reviewing the situation,” HRM spokeswoman Brynn Langille said in an email.

Mancini is on vacation and could not be reached.