Plastic Pitches
Yay or Nay
I know there’s plenty support for only grass pitches on these boards.
However, I don’t think the SPFL can outright ban the surface as it would likely cause a financial meltdown for those already with one. Livingston and Hamilton would be faced with a high cost returning grass in their parks [£750,000 each?]
That would cripple these clubs. And certainly, cancel any transfer funds and spell relegation in their near futures; making the investment a bad one. Plastic pitches are accepted in the lower leagues after all.
Any club already with a plastic pitch simply cannot afford to change it. But some players cannot play on the surface. Others struggle to deliver their best performances on it. So, the plastic pitch is hurting the image of top-flight football here and in leagues the world over.
Should the surface be banned from the top flight in Scotland?
As an alternate solution, there was talk about revamping Hampden, or changing it altogether. What if the national stadium was built with a few extra grass pitches in it’s grounds in a big revamp and the cost was split over all the clubs in the top two flights and led by the SPFL/SFA? Any club with a home ground and plastic pitch would be requested to use the national ground pitches, which would be grass.
At least two would be required at first.
Teams using the pitches could help to pay for maintenance in a new national ground.
Then no single club is lumbered with the initial outlay to upgrade. And the risk of relegation and continued burden could be removed from any single club. A team looking towards promotion wouldn’t be forced into planning for drastic costly changes immediately.
I think it would be appropriate including a clause making any club a member in the Scottish Premiership for three consecutive seasons with a plastic pitch to make it necessary to submit plans and business case for an upgrade to a grass pitch within a specified time period.
Plastic Pitches
posted on 16/9/20
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 16/9/20
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 16/9/20
comment by The Crystal Skull from thon Indiana Jones Disaster (U21917)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 21 minutes ago
BTW, not many folk know this but do you know what the SPFL did after the SPFA published the player survey? That's right, they ordered new, stringent inspections of all the grass pitches as well to not discriminate against the plastic scheite. Couldn't make it up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
nothing wrong with having these inspections tbh
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sure, but with the overwhelming dislike of plastic there is 100% no point in testing if it conforms to some technical specification because we can all see that meeting it does very little for the game other than ensure it is not even worse.
posted on 16/9/20
I liked the wee story from the other day that that Stokes guy coundnt adapt to the plastic pitch
Aye ok
Was nowt else , just the pitch type
So it wis....
And they shouldnt be allowed in the top flight.
We all agree ,,,,for once
posted on 16/9/20
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 16/9/20
Scarfy cvnts.
posted on 16/9/20
All Scottish cites and towns outside of Glasgow should be bulldozed and their resources used to make Glasgow into a kind of Mega-City One.
Their provincial mutants can be left to wail and gnash their tooth outside of our walls.
posted on 18/9/20
comment by The Crystal Skull from thon Indiana Jones Disa... (U21917)
posted 2 days ago
comment by Hot Shot Hamish (U21959)
posted 3 minutes ago
Plastic pitches are awful and have no place in the top flight. The state of some of them are simply embarassing.
Clubs should be given three years notice that they will have to find the £750k and change to grass or they will be out the league.
You have to think that having plastic pitches saves/helps generate over £250k a year so in theory they can afford to put that by if they live within the same means as all the other clubs who have grass pitches.
It should be the same for any clubs coming up.
We have a reputation as being a bit of a Mickey Mouse league in some peoples eyes and this certainly doesnt help that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
European money should ringfenced to ensure good quality pitches are at all top flight clubs in my opinion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you're referring to the payment received by all clubs due to other members participation being used to upgrade to grass, I'm in favour of that.
posted on 18/9/20
Is the question not more one about quality?
The ones in our league are visibly poor, if we are going to have them should we insist on higher quality
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kilmarnocks pitch is regarded as the one of the best surfaces available in the world when it was fitted 2 years ago!
they are all garbage
----------------------------------------------------------------------
All good points being raised. If they're garbage, then ban them. In any industry the parameters are set. If there is a better surface out there insist on that. If these decline with age, set a replacement timeframe and enforce that. Can anyone suggest a practical way to finance the upgrades to grass? Can stadia pitches be rented for non league matches for example to generate income?
posted on 18/9/20
Just to give some context, 3G pitches are usually perfectly safe and their introduction has prevented mud-baths, flooded pitches and postponements. The 2G pitch is a sand based equivalent. Players concerns about surface burns in the professional rugby sceen from tackles and muscle or ligament injury tends to stem from the harder base material used in their make-up. The manufacturers point towards a bad distribution of the rubber pellets to explain why this can happen in 3G and accept no responsibility for the problem. I’m not sure if there’s a better artificial product out there.
But it’s clear that a grass pitch is the preference.