The Roots Hall pitch

[Whispering Bob]

IIRC wasn’t Ron warned by the ground staff that the pitch wouldn’t be ready in time and that the West Ham game should be moved to Wakering?

 

[in the know]

Yes.
And we still haven't replaced the head groundsman. They guys do they're best but with minimal experience

 

[Joolz]

I could be wrong, but I don’t remember pitches ever being relaid in the 70s or 80s. Is this a newish thing or was I just not paying attention?

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Add to that a severe shortage of people able to poke the pitch with a pitchfork at half time with the enthusiasm of an asthmatic ant with some heavy shopping.

 

[united we stand]

I seem to recall the pitch was ruined by playing the Spammers in a pre-season friendly before a course of treatment had had a chance to bed in. But then it was relaid using a system that Spurs had used for their new stadium I recall. But what, if anything, of significance has been done (or not done) which has brought about the current unsatisfactory surface? Any views or recollections?

Added to that the rumour/facts ( (whatever) was that the firm doing the pitch was delayed so it was done much later than it should have been. If I recall correctly they did West Ham’s pitch before ours and were delayed starting theirs ( machine broke down ?).
When they did ours there wasn’t enough time to do it the way it should have been done so we had to go for “plan” B.

I’m crap at finding old threads on here but there was on on here at the time with all the details

 

[londonblue]

Yes.
And we still haven't replaced the head groundsman. They guys do they're best but with minimal experience

Or budget I suspect.

 

[londonblue]

I could be wrong, but I don’t remember pitches ever being relaid in the 70s or 80s. Is this a newish thing or was I just not paying attention?

Probably true, but pitches were even worse then.

 

[Ricky Otto]

Even more recently than that our pitch was one of the best. Didn’t we transfer a grounds man to Barcelona or similar a few years back?

Not doubting you but I don't remember that. It does remind of the old Tiptree groundsman though, before they merged with Maldon the pitch there was always immaculate and amazingly the groundsman's next job was FC Porto! going from the Ridgeons league to preparing a ground for the champions league!

 

[LBBlue]

It was the summer of 2017 when the reseeding of the pitch was delayed. It was apparently done properly the following summer in 2018 and again the next summer.

https://www.southendunited.co.uk/news/2019/may/work-begins-on-roots-hall-pitch/

However I don’t think we relay it - we take off the top and reseed it. If the grass doesn’t throw down roots that grow deep enough its a problem.

It looks like the top of the pitch does not hold and feet give way.

 

[londonblue]

Not doubting you but I don't remember that. It does remind of the old Tiptree groundsman though, before they merged with Maldon the pitch there was always immaculate and amazingly the groundsman's next job was FC Porto! going from the Ridgeons league to preparing a ground for the champions league!

I remember a story in The Echo many years ago about a pre-season friendly of ours that was shown on TV abroad (no idea why, but IIRC it was against Spurs) and some club in Northern Europe was so impressed with the pitch they enquired about our groundsman.

Says a lot about the football on show if the only thing that impressed them was the pitch.

 

[ms brush]

It was the summer of 2017 when the reseeding of the pitch was delayed. It was apparently done properly the following summer in 2018 and again the next summer.

https://www.southendunited.co.uk/news/2019/may/work-begins-on-roots-hall-pitch/

However I don’t think we relay it - we take off the top and reseed it. If the grass doesn’t throw down roots that grow deep enough its a problem.

It looks like the top of the pitch does not hold and feet give way.

Agree, the pitch has never been the same since then, compounded by Ron sacking Ken and him not being replaced / reinstated.

I also think if our pitch is bad, the pitches at Boots and Laces will be even worse,
which i suspect is one root cause of our terrible injury problems - all of which got a lot worse since 2017. I am making a calculated guess here, and have no tangible evidence apart from the obvious - no money to invest in the pitches or groundsmen to sort the pitch problems out. May be coincidental, so dont shoot me!

 

[londonblue]

Agree, the pitch has never been the same since then, compounded by Ron sacking Ken and him not being replaced / reinstated.

I also think if our pitch is bad, the pitches at Boots and Laces will be even worse,
which i suspect is one root cause of our terrible injury problems - all of which got a lot worse since 2017. I am making a calculated guess here, and have no tangible evidence apart from the obvious - no money to invest in the pitches or groundsmen to sort the pitch problems out. May be coincidental, so dont shoot me!

I would think that the pitch is possibly contributing to injuries too. It is woeful at the moment, and has been pretty rubbish for a few years now.

However, years ago when we were all saying how good our pitch was, i.e. about 20 years ago, I was talking to a work colleague who was a goalkeeping coach with Watford's youth team and an ex-youth 'keeper for Watford. He told me that the Roots Hall pitch was always considered one of the worst around.

 

[in the know]

Ranger felt the pitch caused his injury. However, I would think not playing matches for so long would be a huge contributing factor. Being match fit from training is totally different to the fitness attained by playing matches regularly

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Ranger felt the pitch caused his injury. However, I would think not playing matches for so long would be a huge contributing factor. Being match fit from training is totally different to the fitness attained by playing matches regularly

I would agree if Nile had said the drop off onto the perimeter track caused it as he unbalanced and landed betwixt the both and that caused the tear.
The height of the pitch over the perimeter track is, imo, an accident waiting to happen.

 

[in the know]

That would make more sense MG. Think he was referring to a dip or divot in the pitch. I do think when not built up minutes in matches and league two pitch quality, it's always a possibility unfortunately.
totally agree about the perimeters around lots of pitches. Very dangerous

 

[Whispering Bob]

I see that Newport are playing their next two home matches at Cardiff’s ground, to ‘aid the recovery’ of their pitch. Where can we play?

 

[Holy Joe]

I see that Newport are playing their next two home matches at Cardiff’s ground, to ‘aid the recovery’ of their pitch. Where can we play?

Is that allowed??? All the fuss when Spurs ground was late and they had to keep extending permission to use Wembley - and Newport can just decide to use another clubs ground?

 

[londonblue]

I see that Newport are playing their next two home matches at Cardiff’s ground, to ‘aid the recovery’ of their pitch. Where can we play?

Southchurch park.

 

[Smiffy]

I see that Newport are playing their next two home matches at Cardiff’s ground, to ‘aid the recovery’ of their pitch. Where can we play?

Any park pitch is in better nick than Roots Hall right now, so take your pick.