To think archery has no place on a public playing field?

[IroningThrone]

I live in a village with a large public sports/playing field - it has grass tennis courts, football pitches and such marked out. Dogs are allowed and I've always used it to give my dog a good run around (he's on a 50ft bright pink lead, not running loose. I tend to stick to the edges near the hedges so I'm not disturbing anyone!)

Walking today and just been shouted at by man setting up archery targets. They're set out so 1/3 of the field is now unusable. I'd planned to loop round the full field (as shown by the blue line- red dot is where he was setting up. Blue blob is where I entered the field!) He also wasn't shooting at the time so I'm not sure why he felt the need to shout at me that I couldn't go that way!

It's a public field with multiple access points - aibu to think that archery belongs somewhere where the access can be more controlled? A kid could quite easily run in from the side access and right across where he'd plonked himself!

Lol 😂

And this, my friends, is why we always RTFT! Good work, Greg

Thanks 🙏🏻 ☺️

I'd like to nominate this thread for classics. It's the best thread I've read in ages.

This thread really highlights the dangers of incomplete information!

it does seem disingenuous of the OP posting a pic like that and it does make me wonder how many other threads we’ve all contributed to where important facts have been omitted!

I did open this one assuming it was the mental ‘bison are going to kill us all’ lady, so slightly disappointed 😁

So Archers doing archery in their private archery club field. How very dare they, it means OP can’t let their dog off the lead.

Definitely a classics thread though it will be a shame for other residents if the archery club decide the best and safest course of action is to close the field.

The bloody entitlement of some people!

Originally voted YANBU.

Then read Greg’s responses!

Greg - you have stayed pleasant and helpful. You’re a great ambassador for the club.

Bet an arrow in your or your child's eye would have bothered you a damn sight more.

OP, you need to report this it's so dangerous.

@Rainbowshit

It's an ARCHERY field, the onus is on random people wandering across to watch out!

FFS. Take back my other post. Well OP, what do you have to say?

Sorry had missed the other posts.

Giving Op the benefit of the doubt, I’d assume that blacking out the club name was for her own privacy. Plenty of places have a Station Road, so that wouldn’t be outing. Basically Greg, you’ve outed the op rather dramatically, which is somewhat against MN etiquette even if it wasn’t your intention! Can’t blame her for not coming back really.

Personally, I’d suggest that the field should be closed any time arrows are flying around. Kids and dogs don’t read signs. Plenty of adults don’t bother to either.

Ok so I’ve responded to this thread after a member highlighted it to me. To make people aware of facts. The OP described the sports field but was making it clear archery shouldn’t be there then said OP googled and found said Club at which time they screenshot and blacked out said Club for privacy or other reasons. My point is they blacked it out which clearly stated Archery so at that point she could have investigated or not even posted as clearly it was labelled. Guess I’m in the wrong?. And all dog walkers will be refused entry because of this one person?.

We have village playing fields that have an archery club, you wouldn’t whinge about people having a cricket match would you? A cricket ball to the head could be deadly.

I agree GregJP

OP surely read Archery Club as she was blacking it out !

Will She/he have the courtesy to come back here to explain themselves? 🤔

I have sent OP a message asking them to come back to this thread to explain themselves. 🤔

Well yes, she could have googled and answered her own question rather than posting here, but I doubt she was intending anything underhand but blacking out the club name, as you seem to be implying.

If you get to decide who is allowed to use the field, then that’s up to you, but personally, I’d not want random people walking about if I was firing arrows. People, in general, are quite stupid, and always keen to blame someone else if something goes wrong. You don’t need to close the field all the time, only when the archery club is using it. Again though, you’re implying that it would be op’s fault if you decided to stop all dog walkers from using the field, which seems a bit unfair to me, especially since you’ve just outed her to your entire village.

With the dog. On the pink lead.

But she was literally blacking out the words 'archery club' to come on and complain that she didn't think people should be doing archery there? Are you telling me that you think she looked it up on google maps, though 'I'd better block out the name to anonymise it' and at no point thought 'oh, wait, it says 'archery club' - that might be important...'?

And as for outing her - anyone who lives there would recognise the field from the google maps image (and probably the dog walker with the bright pink 50ft lead). If she wanted to stay anonymous, she could have hand drawn a diagram....

Also you could black out the top bit without blacking out the part that said archery club...

Greg hasn't outed anyone.

OP has been decidedly underhand in her posting. She can clearly read, so she knew she was blocking out "Archery Club" when she did it. She could have just blacked out it's name if she was worried about being identified.

As it is, she blacked out the existence of the archery club then came on to complain about people playing archery

In my experience most people make assumptions about publicly accessible land in their area.

OP most likely thinks land that's publicly accessible is the same as public land, that it's owned by the parish council because the parish council owned the playing fields at the last village she lived.

Anyone can add a label to a map, Google are notorious for letting you claim addresses! A neighbour's home is labelled something like 'Smith Palace'.

Obviously I'm not suggesting you have done that, Greg, just that a name on a map wouldn't necessarily indicate to OP that it's an actual established archery club and not owned by the council.
As for the sign, I managed to fault to see the 'no dogs' sign on my local field, despite looking for it, until it was pointed out to me. Turns out I don't look up very far!

It's harsh to assume OP is being disingenuous. What would the point be?

Before this all started I sent a private message but no response.

What delightful morning/afternoon events I’ve had to deal with. I really do hope the OP returns. Everyone is entitled an opinion but facts will decide the outcome of this matter.