Artificial pitches - is it time for rethink?

No. **** off.... Zzzzz

 

Drove past Marley on my way to the game and there is a state of the art 4g pitch there, good enough for semi pro-so cannot see why not good enough for the EFL. Don't they have them in Scottish football pro leagues?

 

SPL are looking at banning them from next year

 

The current vp pitch is like a carpet compared to yesteryear so no thanks also all they would do is give the away team the upper hand as on the whole the ball is 30 ft in the air

 

Yeah, never had rain and floods in winter did we

 

Makes no sense for us if we are not playing the ball on the floor so much. The pitch is perfect right now in favour of us against footballing sides

 

I played on one for the first time last year and it was a revelation. It's completely different to a grass pitch. The bounce of the ball is hard to predict and your foot just doesn't glide across the surface like on a earthen pitch. As soon as your boot touches the ground it's gripped solid, as I discovered to my cost. There's no give at all. It means you have to play standing up, if that makes sense, and it's impossible to play side on to an opponent. It transforms the way you have to play. Not for me.

 

I thought modern day pitches were about 70/30 artificial to grass anyway. Could be wrong.

 

Rubbish. How many times did you see Odour hoofing the ball. Nil would be my guess.

 

There should be a conversation but too many people are stuck with the stereotype of the pitches from the likes of Luton that you mention. Technology for both natural grass pitches and artificial pitches has improved so much in the last 20 years. With so many park pitches being sold off by councils and lots of grassroots teams struggling for a pitch then a club like ours having a 3G pitch is not only great for us on the pitch, it helps us massively financially and it would help out so many local clubs. If a 3G pitch is good enough for the Champions League it should be good enough for League 2. There is a myth that they cause more injuries and not good for the knees but currently there is no proof to back that up.
3G pitches are no different to grass pitches, there are good ones and bad ones so if it was to come in then you just need to set minimum standards for installation and maintenance.

 

and yet the SPL are looking at forcing teams to remove them. Livingstone reckon it will cost them between £2-3m

 

It’s the frequency and ferocity of the events. That’s the difference. My 10 year old grandson knows that!

 

Most teams in the Prem/Championship use Dresso based pitches which are around half grass half artificial. They provide a consistent great surface but are expensive both to install and maintain, Our pitch is probably the worst in the four divisions and not for the first time when embarrassingly the league stepped in and warned the club about the state of the pitch, Maybe its time to bring in a professionally qualified groundsman to oversee the care of the pitch.

 

I think the grounds staff are fine. The pitch probably needs money spent on it, which we wont/can't do. I remember a few years ago the line was "Pitch or playing budget?" I'd guess we are in the same situation.

 

We have a qualified professional groundsman but don’t have the funds to fix the pitch once and for all. Don’t forget he won awards for the pitch not so long ago.

 

Thanks for that I thought he was the groundsman at Odsal for Rugby League pitch preparation was not sure he had achieved professional qualifications

 

They've been blamed for multiple knee injuries over the years and I'm sure I read a report that the ban is due to player safety. I'll see if I can dig it out later.

 

Quite an unintended pun Dave?

 

Considering (as everyone is aware of) the weather we have had since November the pitch has stood up well. There have been some days when we have had no light at all, time to get the grow lights out of the West Yorkshire Police stores that have seized from the busted cannabis farms. With the planned solar panels being installed it’s a win win