Looking back to this article in March 2014...http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...tic-pitches-set-to-return-to-English-football My answer is 'No' - why does Greg Dyke constantly seek ways of destroying our traditions. Football has always been about the mud baths and cancellations, why do we constantly seek sterile perfection, we only have to have a few hours of rain these days before a referee will decide not to clamber out of his hotel bed until at least gone mid-day for fear of damaging a blade of turf (Stevenage).
I'm not so sure that grumpygit would agree with you - don't you remember the look on his face as he handed £16 over to Peter Lloyd only to be told that the coach going to Stevenage wasn't !
Probably not but that was down to the mis-management of the situation. In the technology age of 2013/14 the communication and consideration was poor at authority level. There was no thought or that consideration given to travelling supporters. The onus remained with the travel company and the supporters, which is fair enough, it's how it's been for 100 years but modern day progress has to fit the needs of all, not just those that apply the rules. Quote: Chairman Greg Dyke chaired the meeting on Thursday in which a 12-person committee, including former Manchester United chief executive David Gill, agreed unanimously to abandon the “grass-only” snobbery that has been prevalent in the professional game since Preston dug up the last “plastic” pitch in 1994. The only snobbery i see is at the highest level because they are jealous of what the likes of myself attempt to hold onto or they purely fail to understand. Some will hold Maidstone has a good example of the way forward, however, the problem is it also changes the style of the game, evident in how such clubs progressed to the disadvantage of grass playing clubs. It's all purely about nothing more than the financial gain and I feel that is wrong. Nearly as good as grass is not good enough. People quote the weather as the problem, which makes me laugh and dismiss such reasons every time, as we live in the UK, the weather has always been the same, maybe the constant brain washing of global warming has affected people's reasoning. We are all becoming a bit sterile, watching goal keepers kick the mud of their boots and afraid to dive in that puddle of mud in case it messes with the hairstyle or layers of male toiletries and style. Grass roots should be precisely that, not 4G unless your using the namesake technology to prevent travelling supporters a wasted journey - but hang on...we don't count.
Modern day artificial pitches aren't like they used to be. Players can wear their regular boots because designed to be just like grass rather than the carpet type stuff that was availavle ten or fifteen years ago.
The opinion was gained from some 14 year olds, the new generation who played on the surface; 1. 'Because itâs like carpet it is a lot heavier underfoot when running and turningâ 2. 'If the ball is in the area it skids off the surface and isnât like playing on grass at allâ 3. 'When you play a pass that isnât perfect the ball picks up speed and carries away from the person you where aiming your pass atâ Hence it changes and dictates the style of the game.
My own personal experience of new artificial pitches is good. Personally I like them and have absolutely no problem with them. Can't say I found any of these issues above. Not to be one to doubt the all knowingness of some 14 year olds but these statements are nonsense. 1. 'Because it’s like carpet it is a lot heavier underfoot when running and turning’ what nonsense. Grass pitches can be far heavier and unless your carpet is a shag pile I certainly have never found a carpet heavy underfoot and difficult to turn on. But then again I haven't foot 4G pitches to feel like a carpet under foot. 2. 'If the ball is in the area it skids off the surface and isn’t like playing on grass at all’ the ball only skids off the surface in the area???? Well that's how that reads to me. Also grass can be skiddy in places but not in others. Also I doubt playing at the valley last year was anything like playing on grass or Stamford bridge a few years ago when it was close to a beach than a football pitch. 3. 'When you play a pass that isn’t perfect the ball picks up speed and carries away from the person you where aiming your pass at’ this is my favourite. Didn't. Realise 14 year olds were able to play a perfect pass in the first place, and the ball just picks up speed? 4G obviously defies physics. Keep all 14 year olds on grass and we will never see a stray pass. Don't think so. And your last statement of "Hence it changes and dictates the style of the game" surely any pitch and it's condition does this? So kind of seems a bit of a pointless argument. Feels like you are having a moan for the sake of moaning. Like I said, personally I have no issue with new pitches. Most teams already use them for training when the weather is bad. It certainly shouldn't be dismissed out of hand because it's not the norm and any trial would need to be over an extended period IMHO.
I think your misinterpreting my argument against GeminiSwift. I accept that whether artificial or grass certain conditions will change the style of the game in the same way a pool table with a new cloth on or an old worn table will act completely differently to how a snooker ball rolls. Albeit with football it will be whether the conditions are wet or dry. But unlike that snooker table, in football it adds another dimension to the game. Athleticism. In the same way why do football clubs these days constantly water a pitch, it is not just to keep the grass green. I left certain aspects out of my original comments, one being aerial. A bit like five-a-side dare i say. No more the Dave Shipperley's of this world being required. No more the mud path's of a Chelsea v Leeds 1970's final (I think it was). Yeah i live in the past but that is what traditions are built on. You say; So kind of seems a bit of a pointless argument. Feels like you are having a moan for the sake of moaning. Really?, I've always been consistent in my argument, even if wrong, supporting with evidence where possible. I fight the modern game and something i've never been shy of being vocal on, if that makes me a moaner so be it. But that same moaner is against ID, all seater stadiums, goal line technology, League 3, artificial pitches, the greed of the Premier League while lower league clubs are still going under, Hereford United being the next by Monday unless someone saves them. Artificial has had plenty of trials and the closest argument i've seen for it is the weather. I just find that totally absurd as a basis for an argument, how did football survive all these years, when more clubs seem to be going out of business than ever with the modern game, although not something that i can support with factual evidence on this occasion. Maybe I'm wrong with my argument but I've seen nothing to change my opinion, because all i see these days is a plastic modern age, artificial and sterile. I suppose I better run for cover now, I can feel a Miami thunderstorm coming on.
Having played on 3G pitches and am soon returning to playing on them I will give my view on then. For me there isn't too much of a difference between 3G and grass apart from it tries to promote playing football on the ground more. Hoofing on that type of pitch isn't as useful of a tactic due to the ball playing slightly faster on 3G. If it is raining or the surface is wet then that's where the difference between 3G and grass largens. On grass normally the ball starts slow down through the heavier pitch and doesn't bounce as much. On 3G the ball moves a lot faster on the ground when it is wet as the 3G immediately drains the water so you do get knackered if you are ball chasing. Apart from that I would only advise to not slide unless you really have to as you do get nasty friction burns. As a concept though it works wonders and it should definitely be allowed to be used throughout non-league. I would give it another couple of years before reviewing it's worth for the football league.
Thank you The Gills PegLeg...as some one that has played on the surface, you have unintentionally validated the great differences between grass and artificial and it also validates the points i made previously. You also hit on yet another point that I was aware but had not fully revealed in my earlier posts. Hoof ball! It might look nice, it might play nice, it might be pacier, it might be all weather...but it is not the same.