Thought I heard somewhere that the new 'plastic' pitches were a lot better than they used to be (better bounce and don't burn the skin as much). If that was the best long lasting solution I wouldn't mind sacrificing the grass for a dependable playing surface.
The pitch has always been poor at this time of the season - it is s particularly bad though after the snow we've had both this year and last. Lack of sunlight can be the only reason for its state - nowt to do with eggchasers. High intensity lamps to 'grow' the pitch are the only solution IMHO. Lets hope for a much warmer March.
Then why is wigans pitch rated the worst playing surface in premier league as they also use it for rugby every other week
What was the story with that logo? We've had on pitch advertising from both the football and rugby for years, and it's always been gone within a few matches. That Rugby match was in what? November? and here we are in mid-February and it's still not completely gone? What the hell did they use to put it down?
Do people really think that the rugby has no effect on the pitch at all ? I don't think the pitch at the KC has ever been this bad though , how do other teams clubs with big stands that block sunlight manage the problem ?
http://arsenalarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/lights-on-pitch.jpg This is what the big clubs use to emulate sunlight (lamps that people where talking about), hence why they have amazing pitches.
There is quite some money's worth their, can't see the council funding that. There is always sunny Melton.
Or the Dutch conveyer belt system. We could just move the pitch onto the South stand car park 5-6 days a week. Seems it also happens in Germany and Japan as well. Moveable pitch
It would be the SMC who paid to run them because it's maintenance. Coin toss between the SMC and the Council as to who bought them. Would depend on whether someone thought they could use the lamps elswehere when they weren't being used at the KC.
Seems that the Bristol City manager was not overly impressed with our pitch either.. 'It is the worst pitch we have played on all season, but it was the same for both teams. 'I feel for Hull playing on that pitch as they are a good footballing team and it doesn't do them any favours." Read more: http://www.bristolcity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=272588#ixzz1mC5ZKkME
Of course it has an effect, but it would if anything else was going on on the pitch too. Wigan's is at it's worst in December and January, as most other grounds are, when there won't have been any rugby on it for 2 months.
I think its a real problem with the type of football Barmby's got us playing. You cant play good on-the-floor football if the pitch isnt up to it. Not sure what the answer is as any option is likely to cost a few quid... I guess we should at least look into that "light" thing.. if its good enough for arsenal and the type of football they play.
The lamps were developed by a company in The Netherlands - I've seen them in use at the Amsterdam ArenA. Surely with the ferries, we could rent them for the winter months and get them shipped over at a cheap price? Or even offer P&O to be free match sponsor for a game in return for free shipping?
There was something in the HDM this past week about the pitch, with NB and john Cooper stating they both had concerns about its current state and it was down to us having 5 home games in such a short period, not sure if that includes an Hull FC match or 2, the pitch has been described by both of them as being threadbare in places and nothing can be done until the weather improves considerably, a heavy roller would flatten it but thats a quick fix for matches but it would still chew up during matches and need more development and repair, the problem we have is the all year use, where we could do with the 3 month rest period from may to august,
It won't be in use that much over the summer, FC play more than a third of our home games before the end of March, so although it's used heavily up til then the use over the summer isn't massive. Normally the pitch gets a 4 week break anyway when FC play all of our matches away from home.
It looks like they stained the grass which bled into the mud, so when no new grass started growing through because of the lack of sunlight and crap weather, there was nothing to hide the mess.
What a load of crap. There are playing fields all round the city that look better than the KC and they are having two matches played on Saturdays and two matches on Sundays, both rugby and football. It has got nothing to do with the rugby playing on it. It has to do with the quality of the turf laid and the groundstaff plus the lack of sunshine on the grass
