pitches or bitches

**GavinZac** · 22/04/2007, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by superfrank

Oh maybe you missed that one. But pete seemed to think that UCD deliberately didn't cut the grass at Belfield when Cork travelled there last season as it was a perfect excuse for them to stop Cork playing that brand of total football you're so famous for.

i'd hardly call that conspiracy theories, i've seen plenty of teams 'adjust' the playing surface depending on who they're playing, including City.

**Raheny Red** · 23/04/2007, 9:23 AM

Check out the third post down!

http://forum.shelbournefc.ie/chat/vi...=116350#116350

**Raheny Red** · 23/04/2007, 11:42 AM

Rumour has it we are playing in Whitehall as a result!

**GavinZac** · 23/04/2007, 12:01 PM

Dermot Keely's intention to "make tolka a fortress" gets off to a good start with lads digging trenches.

**Mr_T** · 23/04/2007, 3:04 PM

Originally Posted by Dr.Nightdub

We moved to summer football what, three or four years ago? The sun has shone strongest in the summer time for somewhere around 5 million years. And no-one's made the connection?

Don't remember these complaints last year or the year before.

Actually, the move to summer football is part of the problem and makes pitches far harder to have in decent shape for the first third of the season.

Summer was previously the time when your pitch got time to recopuerate and grow in preparation for the new season. It was the time when any groundsman worth his salt earned his money as the work done in the close season was what got a pitch through the playing season.

The groundsmans objective was to have the pitch like a carpet in late July, and try and keep it in shape through the winter months till spring. By the end of a season it would always be struggling unless its was a particularly well located/drained pitch, but if it limped through to May the groundsman could patch it up for next year. Look up any resource on groundsmen or pitch maintenance such as the Institute of Groundsmanship in the UK and you will see that this is how the whole art of groundsmanship was focused.

Now with "summer soccer", bearing in mind that summer is a state of mind in this country, groundsmen get to November with a bog of a pitch. Can't go near it over the winter to do the vital close season work, and hit into a playing season in March. Usually theres not a let up in the rain to allow even a basic sanding and verti draining job to be done and the pitch starts off the season in shaky shape, and when the weather improves the groundsman has to take his chance when theres a couple of week window and try and do his job.

e.g. Shels having to relay their pitch at the minute, as its the first chance they'd have goten to go near it with machinery.

Harps are doing work on their pitch at the miniute too as we have 2 free weekends and finally a bit of weather.

Come about July and all eL pitches will be fine, naturally enough, as some kind of summer usually takes effect by then, however "Summer Soccer" actually impacts very negatively on playing surface conditions in early season, and yet another of the percieved benefits of summer soccer has proved to have been ill thought out and non existant.

Simple logic - sure its sunny in summer, the pitches will be great.

Actual story - we start playing just after the wettest quarter of the year and pitches will be terrible till July, decent for 2 or 3 months before tearing up again just in time to be left over for the winter.

**Erstwhile B�z** · 23/04/2007, 8:23 PM

Makes sense now that you explain it. Fair play, Mr. T.

**GavinZac** · 23/04/2007, 8:58 PM

Originally Posted by Erstwhile B�z

Makes sense now that you explain it. Fair play, Mr. T.

Except that its been exceptionally dry this year. Down here anyway.

**Erstwhile B�z** · 23/04/2007, 9:26 PM

I would have no problems with Shels crawling down to Cork to die

**pete** · 23/04/2007, 9:33 PM

A statue has been erected in Tolka to honour of Ollie Byrne.

**Mr_T** · 24/04/2007, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by GavinZac

Except that its been exceptionally dry this year. Down here anyway.

Yeah, but yous have a different climate down there! I remember going to Cobh when there was still snow lying up here and the bloomin daffodils were, well, blooming.

Seriously though, we've had a dry few weeks through the second half of March, but how dry was January and Februay and up to Paddys day!!

You now have to start the season with a ****e pitch and try and shape it up while playing on it as the weather improves. Over the course of the past 3 or 4 summer seasons this has probably lead to a gradual diminishing of the condition of eL pitches in comparison to junior pitches playing the traditional season.

In last years 'summer' season Harps had 2 games postponed in March due to the pitch being either frozen or waterlogged.

**GavinZac** · 24/04/2007, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by Mr_T

In last years 'summer' season Harps had 2 games postponed in March due to the pitch being either frozen or waterlogged.

imagine, then, what would (did) happen when the majority of games took place between october and march. more postponements, and an acceptance of a lower standard to avoid build up

**passerrby** · 26/04/2007, 10:50 PM

not trying to extend my thread but just heard the FAI has appointed a pitch inspector to carry out an assessment of all eicom league pitches, sounds like a good move

**Dr.Nightdub** · 26/04/2007, 11:02 PM

Mr. T, how then do you explain the discrepancies - some pitches are OK (haven't heard anyone complaining about Richmond, Turners Cross, Belfield, Dalymount) and some are in a poor to shocking state? Dublin and Cork haven't had a different climate to the rest.

**pineapple stu** · 26/04/2007, 11:40 PM

Originally Posted by Dr.Nightdub

some pitches are OK (haven't heard anyone complaining about Richmond, Turners Cross, Belfield, Dalymount)

Cork fans haven't stopped complaining about Belfield.

He does raise an interesting point, although the quality of gruondsman will still be an important factor in how good the pitches are.

**Mr_T** · 27/04/2007, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

although the quality of gruondsman will still be an important factor in how good the pitches are.

This is also very true. Some groundsmen may just have been caught out by the change in how things needed to be done.

Also, some pitches are harder kept than others, our is notoriously bad draining and no matter what the playing season 2 days of heavy rain will f*ck it.

Incidentally, the FAI did run a course for groundsmen earlier this year, which may have had something to do with trying to educate them to improve pitches in the summer scenario.

TG

**Mr A** · 27/04/2007, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by Dr.Nightdub

Mr. T, how then do you explain the discrepancies - some pitches are OK (haven't heard anyone complaining about Richmond, Turners Cross, Belfield, Dalymount) and some are in a poor to shocking state? Dublin and Cork haven't had a different climate to the rest.

Isn't it the case that Dublin only has one third of the rainfall levels of the Northwest though?

**Dodge** · 27/04/2007, 10:49 AM

Ridden Rock Solid?

**pete** · 27/04/2007, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Cork fans haven't stopped complaining about Belfield.

I have a problem with the length of the grass at Belfield but we will never agree on that.

The Turners Cross pitch seems to be deliberately left a little long at the start of the season maybe to protect it. I noticed this last year & seems to be cut shorter each week so in good shape after 4-6 weeks. Maybe some other clubs might adopt that but I am no groundsman...

**passerrby** · 27/04/2007, 12:39 PM

how many teams only allow there senior team to play on the pitch during the season and no training on it either that along with a good watering system would solve all problems

**Dodge** · 27/04/2007, 1:02 PM

Originally Posted by passerrby

how many teams only allow there senior team to play on the pitch during the season and no training on it either that along with a good watering system would solve all problems

Pats do all of the above. However I understand some teams allowing their reserve sides to use it rather than shell out for rent of a pitch elsewhere