BOUNTIFUL, Utah – Parents in Davis County are upset after they and their children were told to leave the fields at West Bountiful Elementary School on Saturday during their soccer games.
Parents said there were about five games in progress when a police officer came over and told them they all needed to leave or receive a citation. The soccer teams are part of a league organized by the South Davis Recreation Center.
According to West Bountiful Police Chief Todd Hixson, a janitor at the school had called police to say the teams were not allowed to be using the fields. Hixson said they contacted the soccer league’s coordinator, who made the decision to terminate the games for the day. The coordinator then asked police, Hixson said, to remain at the field until the teams left. According to Hixson, the officer did not threaten to cite anyone.
The league’s season began last Saturday, and parents said the games on that day went on without problems. Travis Atwood is a parent of one of the soccer players, and he said they weren’t given very much information about why they had to leave.
“The only thing that he could say was that there was a lawsuit that was pending and couldn’t really go into it,” he said.
Alison Sorenson said the timing of the issue may impact whether her daughters will be able to play soccer this year.
“I think it’s really unfortunate because we’re too late in the season to sign up with another group, so unless this gets resolved by whichever parties are having the dispute I’m just concerned that my daughters won’t have a place to play,” she said.
Parents said a recreation center employee told them the league had been cancelled, and they would be reimbursed.
Fox 13 reached out to recreation center and school district officials regarding the issue but has not yet received an answer.
