Plastic pitches

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Doc Shrink

Doc Shrink

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Jun 28, 2002
Not too long ago Rodders was toying with the idea of laying Astroturf at the Leith San Siro. The main point was to use the pitch 7 days and generate an income stream.
Its fair to say that the idea was howled down by fans.
Its not grass was the main, and accurate, complaint.
However, time has moved on a bit and some prominent SPL sides even loan out players to lower division sides with astro. Quite unheard of a few years ago.

I have it on good authority that a current SPL side is canvassing hard to gain support for installing a 4G pitch, but is meeting considerable resistance from the bulk of the SPL sides.

Whats the view now chaps and chapesses?

Is 4G or similar, with the benefit of potential 24/7 use a go-er now?

Or still just not on?
Im told there is a 5G system now, which involves a combo of 4G and grass.
The problem seems to be how to cut the grass without fcuking up the plastic

Stirling the resident scientist may be able to advise on the plastic issue.
Im sure Dub and others can offer expert opinion on the other part.
:kos:
 
Im sure someone on here said we had a partial plastic pitch not so long ago?

Artificial surfaces can have a slow damaging effect on limbs and muscles, apparently atleast.

If they keep coming up with new ways to do improve pitches while proving there is a limited risk to players I can't think of reasons not to switch surfaces tbh.




Could hold open training sessions, I remember when I was younger there was like an open day, all the players were available for autographs etc, and like a skills school with the players and coaches on the pitch.

Clubs could do well out of it.

I think so anyway.
 
Personally I'd rather we stuck to grass. No real reason, other than tradition. Also not sure if it would affect attracting players, if they are not used to the surface.

P.S Change the fecking sig, it's disturbing. :shock:
 
If the players were happy then aye why not? I'd imagine what it cost compared to grass would mean it wouldn't be a significant financial risk anyway.
 
Instead of forking out money for a plastic pitch, how about investing that on maintaining the turf we've got? Easter Road has fared badly in recent years, we could do with ensuring it stays in good condition.
 
Dr Shrink said:
Not too long ago Rodders was toying with the idea of laying Astroturf at the Leith San Siro. The main point was to use the pitch 7 days and generate an income stream.
Its fair to say that the idea was howled down by fans.
Its not grass was the main, and accurate, complaint.
However, time has moved on a bit and some prominent SPL sides even loan out players to lower division sides with astro. Quite unheard of a few years ago.

I have it on good authority that a current SPL side is canvassing hard to gain support for installing a 4G pitch, but is meeting considerable resistance from the bulk of the SPL sides.

Whats the view now chaps and chapesses?

Is 4G or similar, with the benefit of potential 24/7 use a go-er now?

Or still just not on?
Im told there is a 5G system now, which involves a combo of 4G and grass.
The problem seems to be how to cut the grass without fcuking up the plastic

Stirling the resident scientist may be able to advise on the plastic issue.
Im sure Dub and others can offer expert opinion on the other part.
:kos:
Click to expand...
I understand Arsenal and Swansea both have that mixture of grass and some other stuff.
 
I'm sure our pitch is a mixture of grass and steel, as in stuff that was described to me a like a brillo pad below the surface. Without the soap obviously before someone asks! I think the idea is that the grass gets a better grip and is likely stay better longer and less likely to be divotted [which is a made up word but golfers will ken what's goin oan].

I was at ER in the close season and it was just a brown, earthy expanse so they obviously relay it quite often.
 
Garry O'Conner was asked, in an interview, if he preferred grass to astroturf, he said he did'nt know as he had'nt smoked astroturf.:smoke:
 
Had a look in Forfar's ground when I was up there recently and thought the grass looked exeptional...till I realised it was astro :gaga: no idea how the ball plays on it though...badly if I was kicking it most likely
 
I know that a few years ago 'astroturf ', because it didn`t ' give way ' like grass does, had an awful reputation for causing horrendous lower leg, knee and ankle injuries. Once a foot was planted it stuck. I`m not sure if that level of grip is required in football..:dunno: It may well not be like that now however, i`m not sure how the technology has developed but I`m a traditionalist i`m afraid and i think football should be played on grass. The only reason to change would be if there was some sort of financial benefit as i dont see much benefit to the players. To my mind we would just see an increase in injuries.
 
I don't mind playing on artificial grass as it's a quality surface in my opinion once the grass is suffering in colder months and at the end of the season but I've only used it for training and 7-a-side games. When the ball is hit along the deck though it goes like a rocket.

Injury is the worst aspect though as the artificial grass brought back a few underlying injuries. Tackling and diving tend to get sore too. I've not heard of '5G' before and I don't understand how they could maintain that with the grass but I think the artificial pitches need a lot more development before they can supersede natural grass.
 
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In the LOI, Dundalk play on AstroTurf but the rumour is that they want it out. Drogheda are supposed to want to put in their new ground when it's built. Supposedly they want to be able to hire the ground out.

The big problem with it is that it takes years to see if there are any long term effects on players.
 
I played for a season out here in California on artificial pitches. The advantage was that the ball played consistently and obviously we could play and train all day everyday on the same pitch without causing harm to the pitch. Tackling was a joke though cos if you slid in you'd cut your legs to bits - I found this out the hard way and it took several bad occurrences before my playing style adjusted. I guess it is probably only a matter of time before any sort of tackle where the tackler ends up on the deck is banned so maybe this isn't an issue. Dunno how typical our pitches were and it was 8 years ago so maybe things have improved.
 
vasco de gama said:
I played for a season out here in California on artificial pitches. The advantage was that the ball played consistently and obviously we could play and train all day everyday on the same pitch without causing harm to the pitch. Tackling was a joke though cos if you slid in you'd cut your legs to bits - I found this out the hard way and it took several bad occurrences before my playing style adjusted. I guess it is probably only a matter of time before any sort of tackle where the tackler ends up on the deck is banned so maybe this isn't an issue. Dunno how typical our pitches were and it was 8 years ago so maybe things have improved.
Click to expand...
This new combination of grass and whatever it is seemed to work :dunno: Swansea share their ground with the big rugby team in that area( can't remember what they're called)..Pitch is perfect - no cuts and grazes as in AstroTurf...Arsenal use it and I've been told Bayern Munich also use it now.
 
Football has to be played on natural grass. Artificial surfaces just don't behave the same. I'm not convinced that the technology has improved to the point it's as good as grass.
 
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