I had the opportunity yesterday to view the San Pedro football pitch. It is woefully short of lighting and in need of other improvements as well. I would encourage any of you that can to have a look at the pitch and find some way to help improve the situation there. I have myself today committed to make a small contribution to assist in the purchase of some additional lighting. We all know how important football is in this community so let's show that we care and help with this sports facility.

Which pitch did you look at? The Ambergris Stadium down south of town? Or the one in town?

I can see the glare of the stadium from my house so I have always presumed that it is well lit.

The Ambergris Stadium is extremely well lit, although I wonder sometimes who is paying the bill when they leave those lights on all day. But if their lights can flood my living room, which they do , I don't think lighting is an issue there. If you are talking about the old football field in town, I believe that there are some major plans in store for that area. If you want to see some great football action, attend the organised matches at Ambergris Stadium.

What is a football pitch ?

Soccer field

I looked at the one South of town and it is not extremely well lit but rather fails to meet some criteria by FIFA and if the improvements are not made home games may have to be played somewhere else.
If there is a problem with light bothering local homeowners I would think that properly installed ligting would actually help with that.

Sorry, I didn't mean that last post to sound harsh. I did find the facilities way below standard though and in great need of improvement. There is not even a place for the players to chnage clothes and the toilet facilities are quite primitive.
I think we all know that football is an important activity to a fairly large proportion of the populatin here and improving the facility would be good for the larger community as well.

Martin is right, it is poorly lit and although upgraded little and often it is in poor shape with no changing rooms, broken fences, odd patches of grass and is probably the worst Stadia in the country, Semi Pro Football wise - certainly worse than five or six others I've visited. There are always other more important things to spend money on here, beit GOB or SPTB. In short radical improvement without private investment or foreign grants isn't going to happen. Even then its not a gaurantee of results, as I know of private investment siphoned elsewhere and there was a Venezuelan and Taiwanese US$10/20M grant to include Sports stadia around the country including a FIFA Standard National Stadium but that had to be shelved and the funds rediverted after costs escalted and other financial needs arose.

Bowing down to your superior knowledge Phil, cause you know I'm not a great football fan myself. But maybe if they actually aimed the lights at the pitch, it might help. Also, if they didn't leave the lights on all day, they might be able to save some money for additional lighting and changing rooms. I might not be a fan, but I do believe that young people here need better sporting facilities and I love listening to the matches and occasionally watching them from my roof.

Well, I have now made good on my pledge to make a donation toward the improvement of the football pitch and I encourage others to do so as well. Councilor Pablo Ico (tourism and sport) will I am sure be happy to show you the place and point out what needs to be done. His number is: 667-7724