beginning of the end for artificial pitches in the top flight ?

[worcesterhibby]

From BBC:

Scotland's professional footballers have voted Hamilton Academical's pitch as the worst in the country.
In a survey conducted by Professional Football Association Scotland, the Scottish Football Association and Sports Labs, League Two's Stirling Albion claimed the top spot.
Two of the three lowest-ranked were artificial pitches used by Premiership sides Hamilton and Kilmarnock.
Accies plan to lay a new surface this summer.
Throughout the season, players from all 42 professional sides rated each surface post-match with a score of one to five on an app called 'Pitch Rater'.
Top of the rankings was the pitch at Stirling Albion's Forthbank Stadium, ahead of Peterhead's Balmoor Stadium and the national stadium at Hampden.
"We want to have a proper debate about the level that artificial surfaces should be used," said PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart.
"The results of this survey say the players in the Premiership don't want to play on it.


League Two's Stirling Albion's pitch was voted best in Scotland's top four leagues"Of course, as you go down the leagues there is perhaps a place for them but we need to have regulation in place that means clubs are putting aside a sinking fund, money which means they can be replaced sooner because they do deteriorate.
"We need to open up a proper debate and club owners and decision-makers have to listen to what the players are saying.
"They have voted in numbers to say they don't like artificial surfaces and that is something that should be looked at."

[murray26]

Alloa athelic have the worst pitch I’ve ever seen.. not fit for purpose..

[neil7908]

I really hope so, its crazy they're allowed in the top flight

[Viva_Palmeiras]

I was treated a bout 3 years ago by a physio who was at Hampden about 2-3 years ago when they were discussing artificial surfaces and injuries. He was a bit coy but did agree when put the suggest it causes more injuries, but that the economics meant they would support artificial surfaces.

[PatHead]

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Alloa athelic have the worst pitch I’ve ever seen.. not fit for purpose..

Dunfermline’s first plastic pitch was even worse.

[Billy Whizz]

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Alloa athelic have the worst pitch I’ve ever seen.. not fit for purpose..

Been relayed since then though

[worcesterhibby]

Admins..just noticed the Pitch ratings thread..might be worth merging..apologies for starting a new thread, I didn't notice the other one.

[weecounty hibby]

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Alloa athelic have the worst pitch I’ve ever seen.. not fit for purpose..

Alloa relayed the pitch at the cost of about 300k. It helps clubs like Alloa survive which is good as they will never play in the top league. Premiership clubs should not be allowed to have them as proven by the results of this survey

[Sioux]

The respondents to the survey were players. There are no responses from SFA or SPFL, or from club owners for that matter, in that article.

Players and fans can moan and greet all they want, but until dialogue with ruling bods, nothing will happen.

It will probably take a career ending injury, proved to have been brought about by the pitch, to get action. It's up to officials like Fraser Wishart to start the ball rolling on behalf of the players. He may well have done so, but brick walls are for banging your head against.

[worcesterhibby]

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The respondents to the survey were players. There are no responses from SFA or SPFL, or from club owners for that matter, in that article.

Players and fans can moan and greet all they want, but until dialogue with ruling bods, nothing will happen.

It will probably take a career ending injury, proved to have been brought about by the pitch, to get action. It's up to officials like Fraser Wishart to start the ball rolling on behalf of the players. He may well have done so, but brick walls are for banging your head against.

Maybe, but the survey was paid for by the PFA and SFA...we really need the fans to get this moving, so the press pick it up and we get some momentum behind a movement to ban artificial surfaces in the top flight.

[Billy Whizz]

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Maybe, but the survey was paid for by the PFA and SFA...we really need the fans to get this moving, so the press pick it up and we get some momentum behind a movement to ban artificial surfaces in the top flight.

I’m all for grass on the top division, but what do we do if a team gets promoted, and they have an artificial surface. They can hardly turn it to grass in a few weeks

[RyeSloan]

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I’m all for grass on the top division, but what do we do if a team gets promoted, and they have an artificial surface. They can hardly turn it to grass in a few weeks

They get a one year dispensation?

[Viva_Palmeiras]

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Dunfermline’s first plastic pitch was even worse.

A Hibby was the first and last I imagine streaker to do a Klinsmann-style dove on the turf.

[Keith_M]

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Dunfermline’s first plastic pitch was even worse.

I remember a lot of Celtc Fans were quite critical of it at the time, getting behind their Manager (I think) who criticized it for having the potential to cause serious injury.

A Celtc Fan of my acquaintance at the time wasn't happy with my reply to his rant about the pitch, that it was a bit hypocritical from a group of Fans that used to sing "Bobo's gonna get ya!"

[ancient hibee]

Top pitch is Stirling-what kind of pitch?

[Toldo123]

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Top pitch is Stirling-what kind of pitch?

Grass

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk

[0762]

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Alloa athelic have the worst pitch I’ve ever seen.. not fit for purpose..

Alloa changed their pitch. Spoke to a few players they all say Hamilton the worst. Interesting that a few also said Kilmarnock was poor.

[worcesterhibby]

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So, out of the bottom 4, 50% were grass and 50% were artificial.
how would many of these players know what it was like to play on Hamiltons pitch to rate it the worst.

the brief was clearly to show up artificial surfaces as being poor but no mention of where the others are placed.

like all surveys it's a, here's what we want you to think.

seemingly players from the away team are asked to vote via an app every time they play. Full details of ratings on this thread http://www.hibs.net/showthread.php?3...-pitch-ratings

[Bishop Hibee]

Artificial surfaces should be banned from the Premiership.

[LancashireHibby]

The problem isn’t the artificial pitches themselves, but more that clubs are seemingly allowed to install pitches of a lower grade and aren’t pressured by the SFA/SPFL to maintain them properly. The real top drawer 4G pitches as used in Russia and the like and at a few sites in the UK show hardly any difference to grass but obviously the cost of maintenance means the economic benefits are much reduced.

[JimBHibees]

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A Hibby was the first and last I imagine streaker to do a Klinsmann-style dove on the turf.

Thought that was a pars fan.

[blackpoolhibs]

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Alloa relayed the pitch at the cost of about 300k. It helps clubs like Alloa survive which is good as they will never play in the top league. Premiership clubs should not be allowed to have them as proven by the results of this survey

I have never understood that argument, if you cant supply a grass pitch that is of the sufficient quality needed to play football, then you need to look at how you finance your club.

Football is for the fans, and 99% of football fans hate plastic pitches, and i'd say 100% of the players prefer grass.

As a spectator sport, games on plastic are not the same game, until such times as they are, they should not be allowed in my opinion.

I understand the financial aspect for these smaller teams, but Kilmarnock have one, Hamilton too. Whats stopping Hibs and Hearts next, or Dundee?

I dont want to watch football on the current quality 3G pitches, and i have not even mentioned the advantage they give to those who have them.

[worcesterhibby]

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I have never understood that argument, if you cant supply a grass pitch that is of the sufficient quality needed to play football, then you need to look at how you finance your club.

Football is for the fans, and 99% of football fans hate plastic pitches, and i'd say 100% of the players prefer grass.

As a spectator sport, games on plastic are not the same game, until such times as they are, they should not be allowed in my opinion.

I understand the financial aspect for these smaller teams, but Kilmarnock have one, Hamilton too. Whats stopping Hibs and Hearts next, or Dundee?

I dont want to watch football on the current quality 3G pitches, and i have not even mentioned the advantage they give to those who have them.

This totally. Even the really top, top quality artificial pitches aren't as good as grass. A poor grass pitch is better than a good plastic one in my opinion. It's just another example of money interests getting the priorities of a football club all wrong.

"If we install a fairly cheap artificial pitch we can hire the ground out for concerts and other sports..we can sack the groundsman...we can make some money !"

-yes but the players will get injuries, the fans will hate it, the standard of football will be effected, good players will be reluctant to come and play here and other teams will think we are a Noddy club.

" Yes, but, no ,but...we can make money and have concerts and American football and lacrosse and stuff...does football and the fans really matter that much ? did I mention the money ?"

[Billy Whizz]

https://stv.tv/sport/football/141739...pitch-in-spfl/

[Swedish hibee]

We play on them from a young age over here, and it's not held any of the scandi countries back.

[where'stheslope]

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I have never understood that argument, if you cant supply a grass pitch that is of the sufficient quality needed to play football, then you need to look at how you finance your club.

Football is for the fans, and 99% of football fans hate plastic pitches, and i'd say 100% of the players prefer grass.

As a spectator sport, games on plastic are not the same game, until such times as they are, they should not be allowed in my opinion.

I understand the financial aspect for these smaller teams, but Kilmarnock have one, Hamilton too. Whats stopping Hibs and Hearts next, or Dundee?

I dont want to watch football on the current quality 3G pitches, and i have not even mentioned the advantage they give to those who have them.

Not a good argument, as older fans will remember what pitches were like back in the day!

We had a pitch with a slope in it, and mid winter it could be a quagmire the same as most other pitches at the time.

The pitch that came out on top Motherwell, has a slope from one side to the other and dips into the bottom corner in front of the away stand, how can that be the best playing surface?

The injuries that happen don't just happen on plastic pitches, the same injuries happen on grass.

The main problem of grass over plastic will always be usability, away from match days and lack of maintenance throughout the season for the plastic pitch.

Hold a concert at the stadium with fans on the pitch, takes weeks to repair, while on plastic it remains playable.

Its all down to finance!!!