The Pitch

[Tony Allen]

I have been a supporter since the early sixties and now live up in Yorkshire. I don't get to home games so don't really know whether our pitch is generally poor for this division or whether it has gone downhill since the groundsman sacking fiasco. A couple of miles from my house are the world headquarters of STRI Group (Sports Turf Research Institute) and they are involved with Wimbledon,the Olympics etc. Would it be worthwhile passing this company onto Ron Martin for consideration - I know that there are people on this website that have this access. We seem to have a pretty creative team at the moment but comments on the games suggest we are playing too much hoofball because of the pitch.

Tony Allen

 

[Jim Levenstein]

TBF though the pitch still was not great last night it has improved significantly. Can't be long till it's in half decent nick.

 

[RobM]

The weather for the next few days might have an impact. Oh and I didn't see the sprinklers on last night.

 

[Angell Delight]

TBF though the pitch still was not great last night it has improved significantly. Can't be long till it's in half decent nick.

I thought the same. Much better than previous games. Hopefully this improvement will continue. :thumbsup:

 

[mattytheshrimper]

The pitch started off not to bad last night and then it cut up badly in the second half. injuries are waiting to happen, its amazing that they haven't already.

 

[Jam_Man]

Still cut up pretty badly, nothing can be done with it now till next summer.

If we sacked the last groundsman over one game then a season of a crap pitch seems like we cut off our nose to spite our face somewhat.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Similar to those already posted, the pitch looked greatly improved cosmetically, however started to churn up as the game progressed, also appeared slippery with a few players skidding about near to the end of the game.

Better than before, but still needs work. Shame as we should be playing teams off the park with our slick passing, but pitch is still detrimental to that.

 

[ms brush]

I agree, a huge improvement from the start of the season although was cutting up towards the end of the game. With any luck we get a few more weeks of mild weather and it will carry on improving.

Agree though, that by comparison, it has been far better in previous seasons, so maybe the sacking of the last groundsman was a far more bad idea than we all thought! Ho hum. As they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing...

 

[Tony Allen]

These johnnies at STRI MIGHT be able to do some remedial work during the season - for example I think that they have input at Wimbledon during the two weeks play

 

[DCC]

Similar to those already posted, the pitch looked greatly improved cosmetically, however started to churn up as the game progressed, also appeared slippery with a few players skidding about near to the end of the game.

Better than before, but still needs work. Shame as we should be playing teams off the park with our slick passing, but pitch is still detrimental to that.

The pitch at Fleetwood on Saturday was like a bowling green, coincidence?

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

It was better last night but still cut up as the game got older. We've been blessed with a superb playing surface for so long so I think thats why this season it's a big talking point but compared to some pitches it still won't be that bad.

At least its not at the standards of Newport or the beach Colchester had

 

[mattytheshrimper]

It was better last night but still cut up as the game got older. We've been blessed with a superb playing surface for so long so I think thats why this season it's a big talking point but compared to some pitches it still won't be that bad.

At least its not at the standards of Newport or the beach Colchester had

This is different to other pitches though. It turf hasn't settled and could literally dig your hands in and little pick up a huge chunk of it if you wanted too. Something is seriously wrong. God knows what it will look like at Christmas time.

 

[mattitouk]

Sounds like the pitch is turning from bad to worse already, The BBC commentators said around half time, that it looked like "The Grand National" had just been run on it. :smile: :sad:

 

[Jam_Man]

It wont be sorted until next summer. Cant see what they can do with it when its needed every other week. Not going to magically fix itself over winter.

 

[LBBlue]

Unfortunately the pitch combined with the wind yesterday meant the chances of any football being played were zero. Going forward any signs of frost must mean games will have to be postponed or even abandoned if the pitch starts freezing with those massive divots. The grass looks an inch longer than usual and there must have been 60 to 70 large gashes/divots by the end of the game. The players must hate playing on it. As Jam_Man says it won't get sorted to next summer now. The club have said nothing since August when they said it would be a lot better for the Rochdale game. I think we need to be prepared for a lot of hoof ball.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Yep they have let the grass grow a bit longer but that has made no difference. Even the ref was putting divots back during stops of play.
The weather has been quite good for growing grass as well lately.
Just hope we don't have a harsh winter.

 

[BrettieAngell]

There was a massive divot near the penalty box in the North-West corner at one point yesterday, Lenny had to use both his hands to pick it up and put it back!

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

There was a massive divot near the penalty box in the North-West corner at one point yesterday, Lenny had to use both his hands to pick it up and put it back!

I think the biggest divot ever was that one near the South Stand/East Stand. A 2 hand pickup as well. It looked about 2ft square. I wonder if the sacked groundsman is looking down from his season seat and chuckling(serves them right) or crying, at the state of the pitch.

 

[SHRIMPERPETER]

I noticed when there was a big divot in front of me in the South west corner that it looked very sandy coloured underneath,wondered if it was too much sand laid before they grassed it is why it's not knitting together properly?

 

[bess30]

4 wins 4 draws 0 defeats love our pitch!!!