Sligo announce a planning application for extensive redevelopment of The Showgrounds:
https://www.sligorovers.com/planning...s-development/
Per Philip O'Doherty:
"However, in terms of European football there's a move away from it. Some of the European leagues have banned it totally. Premier League matches in Holland for example. Indeed, from 2025 Eredivisie clubs are obliged to play on natural grass."
Its not just the top divisons which have this requirement for grass. In England, all EFL teams also have to have it. Which meant that when eg Sutton Utd and Harrogate Town got promoted to Lge Two from the National League (5th tier), they had to rip out their plastic pitch at a cost of £500k+ (though substantial grants were available).
Meanwhile, Gary Hamilton, Glenavon manager, was talking about this recently. He said kids are now growing up (in NI, at any rate), who've hardly ever played on grass, even his own kids! And the Man Utd scout for NI mentioned that they are at a real disadvantage when they go across the water compared with the locals, who are used to grass (presumably in the Academies?).
Also, many kids can't afford to buy studded boots for grass pitches in addition to the trainers they use for plastic.
Sligo announce a planning application for extensive redevelopment of The Showgrounds:
https://www.sligorovers.com/planning...s-development/
Great to see that excellent Club planning an upgrade.
No hanging around waiting for Councils to bail them out.
Fair play to them. Really impressive plans. Let's hope it actually happens.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
This is surely not an issue, I play regularly on 3/4g plastic pitches and have never seen anyone wearing trainers. If they did in this country considering our weather they make as well wear two banana skins instead.
Plenty of football boots if not most are fit for dual purpose of grass and plastic.
When you see a positive development as a good excuse to say something negative...
They'll still need public funding.
It's a fantastic plan, the ground is in a great location with plenty of space. If it happens it'll be gorgeous with the backdrop. Hopefully the era of neglected football facilities is coming to an end. The public attitude does seem to have shifted a bit.
I think there is a better chance of Sligo's new plans coming to fruition than the long and drawn out plans of other clubs. ?
Give the fans a terrace you cowards
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
It's valid enough. Kids are all wearing small moulded studs or blades now. Those sort of boots are rubbish on soft grass pitches. I went in to buy myself a pair of 6 stud boots recently in Letterkenny and found it incredibly difficult to find any sort of variety in them. It's almost entirely all moulded studs and blades in shops.
More and more plastic pitches are popping up, and I'm in the camp that they should be banned for games, whatever about a training facility, they're not good for your body to play on.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Kerry FC have announced that more seats will be installed at Mounthawk Park very soon.
I'd love to see the expected costs involved. Bohs were to upgrade and rebuild with circa 10,000 capacity for €30 million and are now getting completely new stadium with capacity circa 7,800 for €40 million. Sligo hope to upgrade and rebuild capacity in excess of 6,800 for ???
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Well I play Saturday morning without any issue have had the same pair of adidas predator esque style plastic blades for about 2 years they cost me £45 in JD and do the job rightly for that and for 5s/7s/astro league during the week. I don’t think I have wore metal studs in probably 10 years actually.
I am nowhere near a good enough footballer to worry about my boots too much but what I would say is most of the boots I see these days are multi surface and can’t imagine any problem at all. Any parent who has their child running round in 3/4 different sets of boots for different surfaces is off their head it is not a reasonable criticism of youths playing on plastic pitches (there are no doubt others).
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
I use blades all year round without issue. I'm very slow now and take an age to turn so runners would probably do? I wear the astro runners on artificial surfaces. Agree with ye that those surfaces shouldn't be allowed
My playing days are well behind me, so I'm only going by what Hamilton was saying and he was emphatic.
Perhaps he was referring to Academy-level youngsters, who need every advantage they can get if they're to have a chance of making it?
P.S. Shouldn't have said "trainers", meant blades.
Last edited by EalingGreen; 23/11/2022 at 9:17 PM.
I've been in Safe Standing in England i.e. capable of being converted back to seating for European games etc and it's excellent - best of both worlds, as it were.
Not sure why SRFC aren't putting in at least one SS area (if only for home fans?) to accommodate that, for assuming they aren't selling out every game, they could maybe persuade a few extra to attend if the SS area was a couple of Euro cheaper?
Anyhow, the plans certainly look very impressive and are putting a lot of other clubs to shame.
Bookmarks