Taken from wikipedia on the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in South Africa Pitch "The field was designed to be able to accommodate both football and rugby. The pitch is maintained by a group of 5 people, who work day and night to ensure the quality of the playing surface. The field is currently watered at 2 am due to a severe drought and heatwave in the area.[4] A 'pitch grow' lighting system is used to ensure that all grass on the pitch grows properly. A unit with 6 1,000 watt bulbs is used to help certain parts of the pitch covered by shadow due to the stadium roof" Talking about OT (Man U) http://buckeyeturf.osu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=954ostcard-old-trafford&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=170 "Like many football pitches we visited during our trip, Old Trafford's pitch is equipped with a series of grow lights to increase the photosynthetic activity of the turf. These lights cost tens of thousands of dollars to power each year but are almost a necessity in this part of the world where sunlight during the winter is minimal." HERE IS A PICTURE http://freeassociationdesign.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/mlr1.jpg
I am not a horticulturalist but I have read somewhere before that modern stadia have this issue being effectively bowls with high sides and overhanging roofs creating lots of shade. Old stadia always had corners open to the air and sun and smaller roofs, if any, so there was plenty of light and air circulation. Naturally the further north you are the less light anyway in mid-winter. But this is not a new problem, in the 'olden days' pitches became mud heaps anyway at this time of year. Maybe the issue is modern players that don't know how to play on anything other than a bowling green surface?
yeh i think thats about it with no open sides and less light we have less growth maybe invest in those lights and we will see a big change ?
St James have (or had) some of those lights. I saw them working when I was there for a meeting a few years back. But according to wikipedia (I know i know!) we do too Things may have changed but a bit of googling shows that this company still have us on their client list (along with most other premier league clubs) http://www.sglconcept.com/en/sunderland.htm What did we do in the days before the internet eh? So who knows what the problem is - maybe we can't afford the electricity bill?????
If I remember rightly from the TV commentator the european comps have minimum size limits for their pitches - I think the premier league has a smaller mimimum size limit so Stoke use the two different sizes for the different comps - I suspect this has something to do with Delaps throw ins which means that he has to throw them further for European games. Its within the law but bad sportsmanship as far as I am concerned - who would of thought it of that bastion of fair play Stoke City
We use those lamps at our stadium and if Sunderland use those lamps, I don't buy the shade argument because we get alot of shade in our ground and it doesn't affect out pitch.
Fair enough the pitch is cutting up...but....it was 7 times better than Milan's and 45 times better than Zenit's for champion's league games yesterday.
We use them as well. see them every match day in (I think it's called) Clark's coachworks opposite the south stand.
Their is a min. and a max. size of pitch that can be used. Have seen this happen a few times over the years. This seems to be what I'm seeing but doesn't seem right to me.. Answer The dimensions of the field are: Length: minimum 90 m (100 yards) maximum 120m (130 yards) Width: minimum 45m (50 yards) maximum 90m (100 yards) The center mark is incicated at the midpoint of the halfway line. A circle with a radius of 9.15m (10 yards) is marked around it. Goal area: Two lines are drawn at right angles to the goal line, 5.5m (6 yards) from the inside of each goal post. These lines extend into the field of play for a distance of 5.5m (6 yards) and are joined by a line parralel with the goal line. Penalty Area: Two lins are drawn at right angles to the goal line, 16.5m (18 yards) from the inside of each post. These lines extend into the filed of play for a distance of 16.5m (18 yrads) and are joined by a line drawn parallel with the goal line. Within the penalty area a penalty mark is made 11m (12 yards) from the midpoint between the goal posts and equidistant to them. An arc of a circle with a radius of 9.15m (10 yrads) from the penalty mark is drawn outside the penalty area. The Corner Arc: A quarter circle with a radius of 1m (1 yard) from the corner flagpost is drawn inside the field of play. Goals: Goals must be placed on the center of each goal line. The distance between the posts is 7.32m (8 yrads) and the distance from the lower edge of the crossbar to the ground is 2.44m (8 feet). Hope this helps.
I read that its to do with the concerts and it is not given long enough for the roots to root properly as there is not enough time given. I suppose the money we make from the concerts the club can afford to relay the pitch halfway through the season but with the grass not getting enough sunlight maybe a glass roof like at newcastle should of been considered when the ground was made if not considered now?
Turf (in spring/summer) should be able to take root within 14 days, no problem. No gardener mind, just going off what I see/read. Just look at your own lawn. Autumn/Winter, can't do much with it, grass does not grow from October to February. Not much sun in these months (or any other tbh). Can't see why the concerts would make a lot of difference as grass recovers in such a short period of time.
