Sussex council allows High Point football to return to Brookside Park

After weeks of controversy, the Sussex Borough Council passed a resolution last week allowing High Point Midget Football and Cheer to once again use Brookside Park for the remainder of its Fall 2026 football season.

The resolution, passed unanimously at the council’s Sept. 15 meeting, stipulates – among other things – that the football organization shall deliver a certificate of insurance and an application for use of the facility, collect trash after every usage, roll and re-seed the field late this fall or early next spring and remove the scoreboard unless it does not belong to that organization.

Sussex Mayor Robert Holowach said use of the field for 2026 was not approved because the league did not submit paperwork on time. A letter was sent from the borough to Crampton on Aug. 17 informing him the league would not be able to use Brookside.

“The field use for 2026 was never approved because we did not receive a completed application with their certificate of insurance,” Holowach said. “So, it was a surprise to us that the field was already being used when we had not approved it. But in any event, we all agree on both sides it should’ve been a conversation between the parties instead of decisions being made in a vacuum, and for that the entire governing body apologized.”

High Point Midget Football and Cheer President Frank Crampton agreed that any issue with documentation could have been handled differently.

“We hand delivered the field use application and I am pretty sure the certificate of insurance was with it,” he said. “If not, we had the same issue last year when I was in my first year as president when we forgot to include the certificate of insurance. All the [borough] did was send me an email saying they needed it and I sent it over and it was done. Hopefully the next time something goes wrong with a youth sports program the [borough] is a little more transparent and reaches out with a phone call instead of sending a legal letter.”

Crampton added he had the feeling that an act of vandalism in the park in the spring may have been a driving force behind the town’s August decision not to let his organization use Brookside.

“What I took from the Sept. 15 meeting was they were upset about the vandalism that took place in the spring when kids broke into our trailers and used the spray paint all over the park,” Crampton said. “I helped find the culprits and baseball – who also uses Brookside – helped us clean the park. We didn’t want the kids prosecuted so I stipulated that they join the football team to incorporate some discipline into their lives and one kid did just that.”

Turns out Crampton was on to something.

“[The initial decision to not permit football to use Brookside] was an outcome of the vandalism situation,” Holowach said when asked about the matter. “That was the driver for the overarching conversation.”

As for the scoreboard, it has not been needed since midget football began playing games at Woodbourne Park in Wantage years ago. Since then, Brookside has been mostly used as a practice field for football. This year, when Brookside was not available, High Point High School donated the use of a practice field.

“I am trying to find out who owns the scoreboard so we can determine who is responsible for it,” Crampton said. “As for using the Brookside, we have seven tackle teams, four youth flag teams, three girls flag teams and five cheer teams so we need fields. Brookside has been part of the football program since the 1960s.”

Looking past 2026, Holowach said the resolution highlights expectation for the use of the fields for recreational sports.

”As long as that is complied with then the leagues will certainly be welcomed back,” he said.

Councilman Nick Southard, who is the council liaison to midget football, did not return a message.