Redeemer’s soccer bubble is back up

Redeemer's soccer bubble is back.

It came back up (Friday) afternoon," says the Ancaster university's vice-president of administration of finance, Aaron Williams.

The 11-year-old dome had come down during the huge snow storm earlier in the week. An inspection a couple days later found a number of external tears that were fixed, he says.

Staff will be inside the reinflated bubble this weekend to find out if there's any damage to the interior.

Williams explains that the dome didn't collapse on its own, as initially suggested. The weight of the snow caused some sagging and a partial deflation, which set off a warning system. Staff on-site then made the decision to fully deflate it to prevent any further damage.

They had made the decision to bring it down on purpose," he says.

Provincial restrictions on indoor sports facilities had meant it wasn't in use at the time. But he says even if these were non-COVID days and rentals were ongoing, the school wouldn't have allowed people inside in that situation for safety reasons.

There was never any risk to students or athletic participants," he says, nor would there be if the situation was to arise again.

Redeemer is hoping to resume rentals on Jan. 31 when the restrictions are being lifted.

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com