SOUTH GATE : School’s Goal: Quiet Soccer Controversy

Pius X High School officials say they have devised a plan that may quiet the controversy surrounding adult soccer tournaments at the school.

The Catholic high school of 510 students has come under fire from South Gate residents who say California Soccer Assn. tournaments there have drawn rowdy crowds who park cars in their driveways and dump beer cans and dirty diapers on their lawns.

Pius X is at 7851 E. Gardendale St. in Downey, but the athletic field faces a residential South Gate neighborhood. The school has leased its field for small adult soccer tournaments over the past four years with relatively few complaints, said Principal Michael Parmer. But within the last six months, the school has hosted two tournaments that attracted large corporate sponsors, purses of up to $15,000 and nearly 3,000 spectators.

Neighbors recently submitted a 37-signature petition to South Gate police that criticized the events.

In response, school officials met with the police chiefs of South Gate and Downey, campus staff and a California Soccer Assn. representative last week to devise a plan that will be discussed at an upcoming community forum. The meeting will be scheduled before the next game on May 14, said Parmer.

The plan includes banning parking along Gardendale Street, adding off-duty police officers for security during the games, prohibiting alcohol and providing extra bleachers and bathroom facilities.

Parmer would not reveal how much the school makes from leasing the field but said that the school also receives a percentage of the gate and concession-stand proceeds.

Police reported receiving few complaints until the school recently began hosting larger tournaments.

Some residents say they have been accused of opposing the games because of the almost exclusively Latino crowd that they attract. But Elisabeth Bowman, an outspoken critic of the games who helped circulate the petition, said the issue “is not racial.”

“I’m from Germany and we like soccer too,” said Bowman, 61, whose daughter graduated from Pius X. “But this is a little street and this is not a football field for professionals. It’s just a little school.”