What an atrocity it was on Saturday... I know we've been through all this before and a football match causes more damage than a rugby league match, but it can't be coincidence that the pitch turns to a mud bath every year as soon as those fat bastards touch it. I don't think it's so much the damage each individual game causes, but the fact it can't handle the stress of being played on twice at the weekend with no recovery time. With the players we have and style of football that suits us, I really hope the awful pitch doesn't cost us. I think there is only one solution to this problem, the Allams need to buy the stadium and kick the fat ****s out. Thoughts?
It doesn't help the fact the West Stand blocks the sun from getting to it. How many more threads are we going to have about the rugby league? You'd never have thought we'd just won 4 games on the same bit of grass.
Just because Blackpools is even worse doesn't mean we should be satisfied with our own. Imagine if we got promoted and it went like that next season, we'd be slammed for it and the premier league would probably slap a points deduction or something equally ridiculous down once Fergie and Wenger had a whinge about it. On that note, aren't the premier league considering banning shared stadia? If we were to go up and establish ourselves, where would that leave us/FC?
Rugby fans who say its football doing more damage are just talking complete bollocks. I'd love to know their reasoning behind it, rugby players do the same as footballers run about, but then they all grab eachother throwing each other about and jumping on each other (pretty gay) and then to top it off, they do a huge jump and slide when they get a try. The pitch was perfect right before the rugby season started again, coincidence?
It's getting more than considerably worse week by week. When we played Derby at home you could see grass all over it, now there's huge patches where it's nowt but mud. It's declining rapidly and could affect our season dramatically. If it's not a talking point I don't know what is...
Even grounsmen admit that football does more damage, miss kicks, slide tackles, lots of traffic in particular areas, fast changes of direction etc. all rip the turf up alot, rugby doesn't have as much of these things and the game is more spread out wearing the pitch evenly. Football really gives certain areas of the pitch a complete battering.
Looking at FL Show this weekend even Charltons and former award winning Ipswichs pitches looked worse than ours and if I'm not mistaken they don't play any code of rugby on theirs. It has been long cold winter after all. That said ideally I wouldn't want to share the Stadium with anyone else and would wish to keep it to an immaculate standard (aided by those high intensity lights) like the Emirates.
Actually, the groundstaff said it suffers more in the football season, not that football damages it more. If you think about it, there's not a lot of mud there in the first place, it's a plastic mesh with a weave that the the grass is supposed to grow through so sliding etc can't actually be disturbing much. The uneven nature of the surface is the lack of grass coming through. I did notice that the pitch looked far, far worse on the big screen replay than it did in reality, but the main problem seems to be little lumps all over the pitch rather than the more visible brown areas, which are possibly more even.
Ive been away for 4 weeks and I was astounded at just how much our pitch has deterorated over that period of time. There is something wrong somewhere and whilst I know the rugby cant help, I cant remember the pitch being like this in the first 10 years, even with both teams playing on it.
^^^^ This and to The Bullshit Man I note that you keep using term 'fat' when describing professional RL players e.g. ''...as those fat bastards touch it.'' ''I think there is only one solution to this problem, the Allams need to buy the stadium and kick the fat ****s out'' ''Thoughts?'' Yes, I have one or two. Have actually ever met any professional RL players? Or seen them up close?? You might hate the sport - fair enough that's your prerogative - but they hardly fat. It's not the adjective I would use. The vast majority are lean, muscled bound and extremely fit actually. Are you confusing them with the old RU forwards per chance? If you do meet any please let them know that you think they are ''fat bastards'' and let me know how you get on...
Can't say I've met any RL players as rugby league is an absolute non entity in my neck of the woods, but plenty of rugby union players about and half of them are like sumo wrestlers. It's still rugby, can't see there being much difference in their physique, specially when union is a faster game and damands higher fitness levels.
That'll be the rugby union where they constantly pile on each other in a mass heap, or take 5 minutes to contest a scrum before a foul is committed or someone deliberatly makes it collapse. Where they're always looking for a penalty at any given moment because running with it is second nature to passing it to Johnny Wilkinson, only for him to boot it out. The ones who generally do run with it have their background in rugby league- Ashton etc.
Brucie's comments in todays YP ...We’ve got three games before the international break and then it’s eight to play. That’s the tickly part. I wish only for one thing. I wish we could do something with the pitch, it’s far from ideal, but it’s out of our hands.” Surely throwing some serious short terms resources at the pitch is a must? That said we only have Forest left at home in March (what with the international break wkend 23rd) so if nothing else lets hope for some warmer weather any time soon.
Other teams cope with 2 sports being played on it- Swansea for example. If the state of the pitches in the Hull Boys League is anything to go by, i bet these footballers played on similar style pitches when they younger- few exceptions Gedo and Elmo. So these tarts should be ok with a bit of mud showing. If you go looking for any old excuse you've not got the right mindset and you'll fail inevitably.
I thought as much. Actually there is a massive difference in physique, positions and demands. I played and coached both codes over 30 years. 99% of RL players - even at the lower levels are not like 'sumo wrestlers'. Union isn't a faster game nor does it demand higher fitness levels. Indeed, since becoming professional, RU has only recently really caught up with RL in those areas. Your point about the pitch may or may not be valid, however, your reiterated point about the players is seriously wide of the mark.
I was about to say the same. Chuck on a few boxes of B and Q hard wearing grass seed as well and it's sorted. Hardly rocket science is it ?
LOL ...ideal, but as much as I have no time for Dull FC, why should they? It's a community stadium. While it stays that way they have a right to be there. We are there too so the likes of Lloyd will never again be able to lock us out of our ground. Regardless, it won't make a difference as to how much sun gets onto the pitch. Saracens RU have just got a new pitch/new stadium, which is all weather pitch (I'm not sure of how it is constituted) but it doesn't create the 'burns' associated with the early versions of these pitches. Indeed, the Sarries players rather like it. If it is ok for the rugby, and it works for football perhaps this might be a way forward.
