Salem football bleachers to stay mostly closed this season after fan fell through plank

The City of Salem will keep more than half of the bleachers at the football field on Walnut Street tarped and blocked off with caution tape for the rest of the high school season after a fan had part of their body break through during a home game on Sept. 11.

The city approved a structural study on Oct. 18 as a first step toward fully repairing the home bleachers. It wants to know if the structure is sound and the seats can be redone or if it all needs to be rebuilt from scratch, city administrator Ben Angeli said.

The city’s midget football teams also play at the field.

“The city is being very aggressive,” Angeli explained. “… Some things have gotten overlooked because of the financial situation (in Salem), but this is not going to get overlooked. This is going to get taken care of.”

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The city put new boards on one area of the bleachers for fans to sit in. The lumber cost $4,800, Angeli said.

Salem high school football coach Montrey Wright was discouraged seeing the bleachers in that state during the Rams’ 30-13 homecoming win over Haddon Heights on Oct. 9.

“It just hurts,” Wright said. “It’s a hurt feeling to go from that community center (next to the field) being shut down, the only community center the kids had in the community, and the kids got to come out here and see the whole stands, stadium tarped up with caution tape, it’s a black eye. I think it’s bad because our kids work hard for us and it’s sad that we can’t give ’em what they deserve. It’s sad.”

Many fans chose to watch the Haddon Heights game standing at the railing along the field.

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Anthony Stanback, 52, is a 1987 graduate and sent two kids to Salem, one played football and one played in the band.

He’s been coming to games for years but stopped sitting in the bleachers because he felt they were too “dangerous.”

“It’s unsafe to sit there,” he said. “Bees in there, the wood’s old. Nobody’s ever fixed it.”

Wright understands the need for safety but was disappointed more couldn’t be done to create a better environment for the fans.

“This is wrong,” he said. “It’s disrespectful. If you're out there with me, (the kids) are running, working extremely hard and they see this coming out for homecoming? Who wants to see their homecoming like this? We had to spend our homecoming with tarp and caution tape in the stands. That’s not right. Then we turn around and see a kid like (Salem grad and Indianapolis Colts running back) Jonathan Taylor rush for 120 yards on national television and we can’t even take pride in what we have at home. I think that’s just not right. It’s not right at all.”

Angeli said the city is putting a plan in place to get it fixed.

“It starts with a structural study,” Angeli said. “… We want to make sure it’s a structure that will stay there a long, long, long time whether we put aluminum or wood (for the seating), and we have to decide what the best way to go about that is. We’re faced with the financial part of it. We always put safety first. It made more sense to close down those sections instead of present a dangerous situation for anybody.”

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Angeli also stressed that the issue won’t be put on the backburner.

“It’s not going to be ignored,” he said. “We’re going to take care of it by the next football season. Hopefully before that.”

Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at jfriedman2@gannettnj.com. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.