After spending years fighting for a soccer field, residents in Little Burgundy are now just hoping they get to use it one day.
Last spring the borough laid new grass at Oscar Peterson Park, but said it still won't survive too much running around. In a bid to keep it alive and growing, the field is closed to the public, with limited access given to a select few groups for a maximum of 12 hours per week total.
"It's like teasing to my mind, it's there but not ready," Taufiq Rahman told CTV Montreal. "12 hours. That's less than two hours daily, that's far from enough."
After the long battle to get the field, local residents are frustrated by being locked out. But where there's a will there's always a way.
"People who work 9-5, their shift ends, they come here and they jump," said Rahman.
Borough Councillor Alain Vaillancourt knows soccer lovers have been waiting years to use the field, but is urging them not to make matters worse by causing more damage to the grass.
The job to refurbish the field cost nearly one million dollars, mostly on decontamination, with the borough and local groups choosing a natural grass pitch over of Astroturf.
"It's a normal occurrence when you have a natural field and when we increase the hours as the years go on, it's going to be an exceptional field for kids to play on," Vaillancourt said.
For now Vaillancourt is open to booking some of the local teams on other fields to give nearby kids a chance to be kids.