Most liked posts in thread: The Pitch…..what can be done about it?

It would be interesting to know just how many games have been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch since the work was carried out to the pitch in 2018, but prior to this winter when we have experienced significantly higher rainfall than in previous winters. There have been a few called off due to a frozen pitch, and let's not pretend that's something only our pitch is affected by, plenty of league 2 and league 1 teams face the same problem when temperatures plummet. I also seem to remember a few games being postponed due to Covid because of players testing positive, but other than this winter, I don't recall any other recent postponements for a waterlogged pitch. I'm happy to be proved wrong, but it does seem to me that it's this year's wetter than average winter that's done it for us.

 

Nothing this season but for a start for next season i would shove the tinpot games to another venue.
If crowds are around the 1,500k mark then put it at one of the local non league grounds or even Odsal ?????

 

This is from last night apparently. real Salt Lake vs Los Angeles F.C

 

Come on, Council and Bulls both skint.

 

Just looking at the Bradford weather forecast and virtually no rain Monday or Tuesday so hopefully the covers are off.

 

I always smile when I've watched a Premier League game or on the odd occasion Championship game and they are having the post match autopsy and behind the panelists are up to ten guys already doing work on the pitch 5 or so minutes after the game has finished, as you say its not just expensive to install but expensive to maintain.

 

Totally agree and again something I believe is a systemic view held by people at the club that we are all demented seals and no way can we challenge the status quo.

Typical can’t be done so stop asking mantra. Funny enough was one of my questions to the BBC forum that was not selected.

 

When I was a kid there actually was a spring and stream underneath the ground, round about the halfway line. It filled a once mill reservoir that was located between the railway and the Midland Rd .

We used to get millions of tadpoles from the stream . It can be seen in a photo I once posted .

 

The worst part is that each postponement will likely cost the club in excess of 5 figures.

- Wages of staff who have turned up
- All the catering which will have needed to be paid for
- Compensation to the away team i.e travel/hotel expenses and a portion of gate receipts (EFL Regulation 29)
- Loss of ticket sales via refunds / lower attendance for the midweek re-arranged game

 

He’s not wrong though Steve. No matter how much we protest or dislike facts. A solution has to be found, but stopping it raining isn’t one, and I’ll tell you what , the writing is on the wall now, it will get worse as the planet warms. Mitigation measures are the only answer . It’s a pretty endless list of very expensive solutions.
I’ve been looking at the Matchsaver covers as highlighted by Rod. They are waterproof yes, yet they provide no provision for water removal . Their advertising is vague to say the least. They mention

Germination
Matchsaver permeable pitch covers provide excellent germination properties whilst providing frost protection when waterlogging is not an issue. The germination properties of the covers have significantly improved the condition of grass on many of our customer’s sports fields.

The “ Air “ aspect of the rollers is merely a means of transporting the covers on across the pitch , ie a blown up sausage tube.

8 seperate sheets are required to cover a pitch and they do appear to be the same type of thing used at VP. There doesn’t appear to be a way of fixing the strips together to provide a completely waterproof seal. So water will run underneath the sheets . They don’t apoear to be what we are looking for as far as rain is concerned. Frost protection yes , snow protection yes shower protection yes, heavy rain it appears sadly not to be the answer.

It’s all here
https://matchsaver.com/case-studies-categories/case-studies/

 

The bloody country is bankrupt, we only have to look around. This country spent £112 billion in 22/23 paying interest on our national debt. Roughly 10% of the country’s output from all sectors.
Madness.

 

The game was cancelled twice. Once before kick off and I think half time (the photo supplied)
It was was finally played a few days after the 'official' season had ended (from memory).
The fully completed game was memorable mainly for Big Bobby chinning Fash the Bash and getting away Scot free. I was at both games and also schlepped up to Odsal for the called off game too.

 

Stop scaremongering Park. There is a tiny bit MIGHT come down during the early hours, other than that - blue sunny cloudless skies

I see you have ignored all the replies to your silly post. I wonder why

 

BBC weather for Bradford . No rain after 6 am tomorrow ,10 degrees, sunny with light winds.

 

Why will undersoil heating stop it getting wet? Will it boil the water off the pitch?

 

Ah here comes SpongeBob with his pearls of wisdom.

 

How does grass stop a deluges of rain…over many, many days and weeks ? .My local area is grass, grass, forest and more grass. The fields are flooded, the dykes, drains and rivers are full to the brim. It’s the sheer quantity of rain causing the issue as opposed to what it falls on.
Colchester is a really nice pitch……it was waterlogged as a case in point.

I understand totally where you are coming from , however its the sheer amount of rain this winter. Everywhere is just saturated. I tried to cut the lawns yesterday for the first time since November. I wish I hadn’t! It literally feels like walking on a sponge.

 

Why did you attempt to cut the lawn when it felt spongey?

Grass will soak up water much better than bare ground. Yes we have an enormous amount of rain this winter. The other half is an expert on all things drainage. All living plants like grass need water, no grass more water for the drainage to drain. He goes off the scale when ppl start digging up trees and bushes, he says it adds to our problem with excess of water.

Firstly if there had been grass on the pitch and it had not been damaged and died that would have helped with the drainage. Plus the earth would not have been rolled as it has been thereby hindering the drainage system. He fully understands why they had to roll it but that doesn’t distract from the simple equation hard impacted earth and sand does not help the drainage system even if we had less rain.