No portable soccer nets in NOTL parks, club president says

Bill 99 - Garrett's Legacy Act - would require all portable soccer nets to be anchored to the ground for safety

President Carrie Plaskett of the NOTL Soccer Club supports any efforts to make kids safe on soccer fields

A bill to improve the safety of portable soccer nets passed an important hurdle to becoming a law last week at the Ontario Legislature.

Known as Garrett's Legacy Act, Bill 99 passed through its committee study Thursday and will be returned to the house for its third reading as early as in the fall.

The proposed law is named for Garrett Mills. The 15-year-old Napanee, Ontario boy was killed in May, 2017 when a soccer goal post in a park tipped over and fell on his head while he was doing chin-ups on it. His father, Dave Mills, has become a vocal advocate for safer movable soccer goal posts since Garret’s death.

“We don’t currently have any portable soccer nets in use in our parks,” says NOTL Soccer Club president Carrie Plaskett. “Other than the very small Pugg nets (pop-up all-mesh mini-nets) used by our Timbits division, all our nets are permanently anchored to the ground.

Bill 99 is the fourth version of the proposed law that's been introduced since Garrett Mills' death. The current attempt to pass the law, spearheaded in April by Progressive Conservative MPP Ric Bresee, whose Hastings—Lennox and Addington riding includes Napanee, has already gone further than the previous three tries.

If passed, the new law will require that movable soccer goals be securely anchored to the ground whenever they're available to be used. Any additional requirements for portable goal posts will be up to the minister of tourism, culture and sport to set after the law is passed.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commision, 42 people, mostly kids, were reported killed in the U.S. and Canada 1979 and 2017 by falling soccer goals that can weigh as much as 400 pounds. Hundreds more are hurt each year.

“When I am on the soccer fields I constantly see kids climbing on our nets,” Plaskett says. “Even one situation, one death or injury, one tragedy is too many. Definitely, the NOTL Soccer Club would support whatever changes that would make things safer for kids.”