Richmond Hill bocce players applaud council decision to explore indoor facility

Yorkregion.com
March 4, 2019
Sheila Wang

Richmond Hill council is considering bringing a permanent indoor bocce facility back to town.

Nearly 100 residents exploded into applause and cheers as soon as Regional Councillor Carmine Perrelli announced in Italian that council voted to look for options to implement an indoor bocce facility in Richmond Hill.

Council made the decision at a council meeting on Feb. 25 to accommodate the needs of bocce players after the town’s only permanent bocce facility was removed from Rouge Woods Community Centre last September due to the declining membership.

While the town has offered a portable bocce court at the Richmond Hill Green Sports and Centre and Park, bocce players complained that it was not up to standard.

Regional Councillor Joe DiPaola introduced the motion that directs staff to prepare a report with options of installing a proper indoor bocce facility in town.

“It was a real plus for our community. We were able to provide activities for what I think is the most important sector of our community,” DiPaola said, noting the current facility is not a proper replacement to accommodate the growing needs of bocce players in town.

A popular sport in Italy, bocce is similar to lawn bowling but is played on a granular surface where players toss balls in a court. There were more than 200 people who signed up for the former bocce facility at Rouge Woods when it opened in 2001.

But the town had to subsidize around 88 per cent of the cost in the first year of operation. The number of players dropped to 55 last year after the membership fee went up, as yorkregion.com reported.

Ward 3 Coun. Castro Liu, who seconded the motion, said the former bocce facility was the “wrong facility in the wrong place,” and would like to bring a proper bocce facility back to Richmond Hill.

While the vote was unanimous, Perrelli seemed to be the one in the spotlight.

At the beginning of the council meeting, Perrelli greeted a full house of audience -- a majority of them from the Italian community -- and offered to provide espresso for everyone in attendance.

As council deliberated on the motion, Perrelli spoke directly to the audience in Italian. He explained what the motion was and asked if everyone understood what was being discussed on council. During his two-minute monologue, Perrelli mentioned at one point that he used to play bocce as well.

“The English version is that we’re gonna vote shortly,” Perrelli summed up his comment in English.

After council voted on the motion, the audience stood up in excitement and celebrated the result when one of them went to hand over a slip of paper to Perrelli while talking to him over the bench.

Mayor Dave Barrow had to ask the audience to quiet down twice before council could proceed.

“I don’t know what’s gonna to happen next but I think we’re on the right track,” said Salvator Romano, a bocce player in Richmond Hill.