Digging up the pitch....
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Top stuff! The club handing out free grass to the supporters
Why did the club install astroturf? Was the pitch always poor at hq in the late 70's/ early 80's?
It was awful UTR's. Most of the goal mouth was covered in sand come October.
Some of that pitch is still growing in my mum's back garden.
Cheers, I was only five years old when they changed it. Another question then, why was it so bad, poor drainage or soil or useless groundsmen?
That's cool, so there is a patch or waterlogged muddy turf in one corner of Mums back garden then?
I should of put 'Trying to grow.' It's next to a bit of turf I borrowed from Lord's cricket ground in 1982 which has assisted the QPR turf. So there's no waterlogged corner in my mum's garden. She also has a piece of Loftus Road astroturf among my QPR memorabilia in one of her cupboards.
Christ! I'm starting to sound like Tony Incenzo. I was only 15 or 16 at the time in my defence though.
I grew up on the wormholt and as the youngest had the little box room bedroom...when they were laying the omni turf I 'found' an off cut almost big enough to cover the whole floor.... Halcyon days indeed!
When you jumped off the bed did you bounce up and smash your head on the ceiling?
Yes, the pitch was not that good. However there were many that were worse. Derby's Baseball Ground was simply horrendous with matches often resembling mud wrestling competitions.
We were first to lay the synthetic stuff, closely followed by Luton, Preston and Oldham. Trailblazers, if you like, and we were seen to be in at the start where many people thought that football would be 100% Astroturf.
Me and my school chums used to walk into the ground during lunch times and kick about with a tennis ball on the just-laid astro turf pitch until we got chased off. They poured tons and tons of sand onto it, possibly to aid drainage (?) so no wonder sliding tackles would end up with grazes and friction burns. We all nicked bits of the off cuts, sadly mine got binned years ago.
Didn't we also have It's A Knockout and American Football during the astro-turf days? It was meant to be the way forward but miserable twits like Kenny Dalglish had the FA ban it.
The pitch used to be a quagmire from November onwards covered in sand, it looked more like a beach than a football pitch, but that was the norm at that time. Then from March onwards when it dried out the ball bounced everywhere like it was hitting concrete.
As Eamon said above the Baseball Ground in Derby was a pure mudheap, there was an occasion of a televised game when the groundsman had to go onto the pitch and repaint the penalty spot because the referee couldn't find it after he had awarded a penalty.
White Hart Lane was no better, I went to a game with my Uncle and Cousin and at Half Time the half way line and center circle had to be marked out again as they had been lost in the mud......
Today's players don't know how lucky they are to be playing on pitches that resemble a snooker table, although the game is probably all the better for it......
As Eamon said above the Baseball Ground in Derby was a pure mudheap, there was an occasion of a televised game when the groundsman had to go onto the pitch and repaint the penalty spot because the referee couldn't find it after he had awarded a penalty.
White Hart Lane was no better, I went to a game with my Uncle and Cousin and at Half Time the half way line and center circle had to be marked out again as they had been lost in the mud......
Today's players don't know how lucky they are to be playing on pitches that resemble a snooker table, although the game is probably all the better for it......
The ball was also a lot heavier, it is amusing watching old footage of games played on those muddy pitches in the rain. You could strike the ball hard as you like and it would only move a few feet.
Yes, today's players are a bunch of fairies compared to back then. A modern starting eleven wouldn't know what hit them if for example they played a 70's Leeds team.
My uncle often says about players could be having a proper fight, the ref would never show a card, just give a free kick!
Local history says that the pitch was so bad because of the clay underneath. Apparently when the central line tube was built the spoil was dumped on the land under our pitch, this was before Shepherds Bush FC and Rangers laid a pitch on the site.
I remember watching a match at the Loft end I always stood to the left of the goal, there was a shot the ball was goal-bound the Loft jumped and cheered only to see the goalie pick the ball up as it got stuck on the goal line. All I remember it was a horrible night weather wise pouring with rain and I can't remember who we playing or the score!
I got some of that old pitch! I remember the astroturf too. The ball used to bounce really high and often caught out defenders from opposing teams. We had a great home record but didn't do well away, so things did even themselves out. Of course, the pitch provided ready excuses for opposing managers, maybe they shouldn't have got it banned!
I hope you don't mind me saying but you seem to be a bit of a "serial pitch nicker" there Mr 999's. I was admiring your lovely artificial lawn in your back yard the other day. Did that come from Loftus Road too?