Plastic Pitch?

[Mav]

Not sure if what's being used here is the same technology http://www.espnscrum.com/premiership-20 ... 75953.html However the feedback from those who have looked at it seems pretty positive so far.

[Sexy_Gulls]

I'm all for it. Nothing wrong with an artificial pitch, unless you want to blame another inept England performance on it.

We get shafted by frozen and waterlogged pitches every season, disrupting any momentum and causing a fixture pile up later on. Plus we should be aiming to play passing football so not playing on a quagmire would help.

[SuperNickyWroe]

If Plainmoor gets an artificial pitch ( ) I'll go and watch all my football at Home Park...

you are barred.

[AustrianAndyGull]

What? You mean like William Shakespeare? :-o

[Dave]

Forgot to say earlier, seeing real close up shots of the pitch on T.V really did show what a poor state the pitch is in, with the rain and hail storms that hit through the night and the forecast for the weekend being warmer but wetter think it is fair to say I think we can all be glad the team are away this weekend, don't think there would be any chance of getting a game on if we were due to play at home. This is a concern, the pitch is wrecked and no sign of the weather drying out any time soon, beggining to wonder how many more games are going fall foul of the weather.

It has been suggested to me by a couple of fans that it could be down to pipe work laided for the new stand, before I get shot down no idea if that is the case, but I think the club will have to do something with the pitch during the summer break, do not think I can remember the pitch being this bad in a long time, and we have bad winters before.

[stevegull]

Call me old-fashioned but I remain a sucker for the good, solid slide tackle through the mud which churns up the pitch. I've yet to see an artificial surface which lets you go to ground without tearing your knees to shreads.

[happytorq]

Call me old-fashioned but I remain a sucker for the good, solid slide tackle through the mud which churns up the pitch. I've yet to see an artificial surface which lets you go to ground without tearing your knees to shreads.

wow, really? where do you live?

I've gone arse over tit many many times on the 3g and 4g stuff and been fine (I'm a clumsy swine). There is some research to suggest that the newer artificial surfaces are actually safer, because it doesn't slide and break in the wet like the real stuff can.

given that you're old fashioned, am I to assume you also miss the old leather footballs they weigh as much as bowling ball in the rain and give you concussion when you try to head them?

[Southampton Gull]

Bloody Yanks, say NO to plastic..................

[supergulls]

I gave the plus sides earlier for the club in terms if revenue but as a player it has to be grass.

[stevegull]

Happytorq - I'm not sure I meet the criteria you've set out for me!

I live near Kingsbridge (about 30 mins from Torquay) and am only 19 so I don't exactly remember the old leather football!

From my own experience of playing on artificial surfaces they have torn up my knees tremendously and I don't even like tackling! I appreciate however that I haven't played on these fancy new pitches everyone is raving about.

However, without 'real' pitches you can't get this:

[youtube]g7Rnt5C2qaQ[/youtube]

[mini_mid_devon]

Recently I played away at Keynsham Town in the Toolstation League for Elmore FC.

Keynsham have a "plastic pitch" which was a rubber crumb artificial pitch with all this high-techno grass gizmo stuff!!!

It took Elmore a while to get used to the way the ball moved around the surface as we expected it to whizz over our heads and any pass with any amount of power would go for a goal kick meaning we overestimated everthing within the first 15 minutes. Unexpectently the way the ball moved round was very true to a high level playing surface and was very odd to play on as the ball held up and stuck to the pitch, like any other decent surface would.

Sliding tackles were also odd as it hurt more to hurl yourself into a tackle on grass than it would on this artificial pitch.

What I am getting to is that in the first part of the game, we didnt know what to expect and Torquay can capatalise on this as teams come down to the "hallow turf"!!!

After the game I was talking to the Keynsham coach who talked about the main benefits...

Firstly, no game is ever called off for obvious reasons meaning when the bad whether hits, the attendences rise...Keynsham are the highest supported team, on average, in the Toolstation Divison 1 coincedently.....Torquays attendences could rise as "groundhoppers" and alike would be attracted to a "different" ground...fans would be intrested in coming down to watch football on the only "plastic" pitch in the football league.... Almost like a USP!

Also he said that the pitch is used almost 24/7..."The floodlights are always on"......the under 6`s to under 18`s use it.....schools and colleges use it and 3 mens Keynsham sides use it. Many teams such as the colleges would pay to use the facilities. Torquay could work some money back in to pay this "£600,000" off. Torquays ground at the moment can only just manage with 2 games a week...

The coach also mentioned that the only maintenence ever needed is to replace the rubber crumb onto the pitch.....half of which was in my boot after the game!!! The pitch lasts about 10-15 years and you can see that over this time-frame the costs seems to look a lot less daugnting!

The potential of the facilities for Torquay United can also be incredible....Football is a seasonal sport and in the summer our population quadrouples....a fantastic opportunity for the club to host music events, bands and random other gatherings which the club can promote.....all we have is that bloody Sunday carvery at the moment!!!!!

On the whole, if used to its full potential, a plastic pitch would be an exellent move for the club going forward.

(Elmore also won the game 3-1.....happy days!!!)

Mini_Mid_Devon

[Gullscorer]

I can just about remember playing with the old leather balls. I never thought they were that heavy, though they did sometimes hurt a little when I headed them. In fact, I have to admit, one header hit me so badly I was knocked down and had to give up the game. I never played Rugby again.

[Lloyder5]

I can see the benefits for training and reserve games etc but how would it help bring the community to the club Lloyd?

By being a facility that is availble all year around for local clubs to train on. You would have adults and kids rolling up to Plainmoor to train and play football (or other sports). Great opportunity for the club to market itself,provide serivces. B&L would also get more business etc.

[Jerry]

Would there be any possibility of getting some government funding if we can use a new pitch in partnership with Westlands, in the same way as the classrooms under Bristow's Bench?

There are artificial pitches at a lot of the other schools in the area (Paignton College, Audley Park and Torquay Grammar all have them), so it seems to be something schools are keen on these days.

[PhilGull]

What happened to our pitch anyway? I seem to remember a few years ago a lot of money was spent on drainage and relaying it with some special type of hard wearing grass, we had some wonderkind groundsman in and it was the best thing ever!?!

As for getting a modern 'plastic' pitch, why not! For small clubs like us the hassles and expense involved in postponing matches is just too much.
I'm assuming for example the Exeter game reeded extra Policing and stewarding paying for twice?