plastic pitches

[lord bunberry]

I'm just watching the Irish football on sky and its being played on an artificial pitch. Is it time Scottish clubs went down this route.

[snooky]

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I'm just watching the Irish football on sky and its being played on an artificial pitch. Is it time Scottish clubs went down this route.

Naw, but it might suit the plastic paddies though

[bingo70]

I think so, it might not be as good as grass but It's better than mud and that's what we play on most of the season, plus it'd be another way of making money if it could be hired out.

[madabouthibs]

My lad trains on that 3G stuff at Broxburn Juniors ground, its superb that surface!

[Hibhibhooray]

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I think so, it might not be as good as grass but It's better than mud and that's what we play on most of the season, plus it'd be another way of making money if it could be hired out.

They are now playing rugby on artificial pitches in England, so why not football

[lord bunberry]

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I think so, it might not be as good as grass but It's better than mud and that's what we play on most of the season, plus it'd be another way of making money if it could be hired out.

That's the way I was looking at it. Its all very well people saying its not as good as grass but for more than half the season most club's pitches are so bare that you can hardly see any grass

[LaMotta]

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My lad trains on that 3G stuff at Broxburn Juniors ground, its superb that surface!

Played a full ninety mins on that pitch and its brilliant. 3 or 4g better than grass imo. Certainly for players who like to dribble and pass the ball on the deck!

[JoeTortolanoFanClub]

I play on a 4G pitch every week. It is fantastic.

[Macaroon]

Another Hibs first?

[Prawn Sandwich]

Summer football is the answer.

[HibbiesandtheBaddies]

In order of preference:

1. Summer football
2. Plastic pitches



99. Muddy / sandy / cabbage patches.

[ScottB]

Don't Arsenal have a mix of artificial and grass? Could be the way forward in the short term at least.

i don't think summer football would help our surfaces, judging by how wet our summers have been in recent years!

[blackpoolhibs]

Scottish clubs in the main have poor pitches for quite a fair chunk of the season, and for that reason i'd be in favour of the 4-5G pitches. Although i'd also be in favour of summer football too.

[sleeping giant]

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My lad trains on that 3G stuff at Broxburn Juniors ground, its superb that surface!

What age group mate. My boy plays for the under 14's

I agree about the pitch. Feels better than grass :-)

[goosefat]

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Don't Arsenal have a mix of artificial and grass? Could be the way forward in the short term at least.

i don't think summer football would help our surfaces, judging by how wet our summers have been in recent years!

Regardless of how wet it is, grass always grows in the summer and not nearly as much in the winter, hence the reason that 3 months into the season pitches become chopped up and can't recover. Playing football in the summer would at least give a chance for pitches to maintain some level of quality for a larger part of the season. The argument that just because our summers aren't great we shouldn’t bother with summer football doesn’t really fly – in terms of grass growth, spring/summer is always better than autumn/winter no matter how poor the spring/summers are.

Artificial pitches (although they do also need a level of skilled maintenance) would allow the purists who love to watch football in the depths of winter without any feeling in their hands and feet to continue this joyous experience.

[Scouse Hibee]

Not for me, I didn't like them the first time in the 80's when Luton and QPR had them. Unless every club has them they give the home team an advantage.

[derekHFC]

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Not for me, I didn't like them the first time in the 80's when Luton and QPR had them.

The quality has changed somewhat since then.

[Scouse Hibee]

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The quality has changed somewhat since then.

I know, my point still stands though.

[JimBHibees]

I think it is undoubtedly the way ahead for a number of reasons one of which is it encourages teams to pass the ball on the deck, secondly the standard of them are IMO better than grass and also the revenue aspect of the surface being used for numerous community events without affecting the pitch.

[Ozyhibby]

I think it's crazy that we don't have an artificial pitch. The new surface at Spartans is better than any pitch in the SPL.

[truehibernian]

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I think it is undoubtedly the way ahead for a number of reasons one of which is it encourages teams to pass the ball on the deck, secondly the standard of them are IMO better than grass and also the revenue aspect of the surface being used for numerous community events without affecting the pitch.

There is an obvious skills set advantage with training on 3/4G as you point out Jim. All the academies train on it daily and it most certainly encourages a passing game, tempo and better all round technique. I'd be all for it as the standard would improve across the board - the downside is that it would need to be universal across the division in my opinion. We've already seen how very poor grass surfaces change games and the outcomes/standard of games here in Scotland. Level playing fields (pardon the pun) would need to be the way forward.

Going from a 4G pitch to say the likes of Pittodrie's current surface - would be like night and day.

[Ricky Bobby]

It's time football at levels in Scotland was played on artificial parks. It leads to a better standard of football and improves the skills of players as they dont feel the need to punt it at the earliest opportunity due to fear of a dodgy bounce before they control it. Not to mention the our weather conditions.

[JimBHibees]

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There is an obvious skills set advantage with training on 3/4G as you point out Jim. All the academies train on it daily and it most certainly encourages a passing game, tempo and better all round technique. I'd be all for it as the standard would improve across the board - the downside is that it would need to be universal across the division in my opinion. We've already seen how very poor grass surfaces change games and the outcomes/standard of games here in Scotland. Level playing fields (pardon the pun) would need to be the way forward.

Going from a 4G pitch to say the likes of Pittodrie's current surface - would be like night and day.

Completely agree I think all teams should have them. Certainly makes complete sense for smaller clubs like Alloa and Montrose to have them and also allow the local community to use them significantly also.

[MB62]

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Not for me, I didn't like them the first time in the 80's when Luton and QPR had them. Unless every club has them they give the home team an advantage.

I was 100% of the same opinion back in those days. However, things have improved so much since then that I have now changed my mind. Playing at home is meant to give you and advantage so I don't really agree with that opinion, you might as well say one team cuts their grass a lot shorter than we would play on at ER so that's not fair.
When I was in Oz in November, my niece had artificial grass as her front 'lawn' and honestly, you could hardly feel the difference from the real stuff, I was mega impressed.
I certainly think now, with the vast improvement in artificial surfaces from that of the 80's, we are not far off seeing this introduced and I wouldn't be against Hibs getting it now. As others have said, it has to be an improvement on the mud that we play on at Easter Road in recent times, and maybe save money in the long run too.

[blackpoolhibs]

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I was 100% of the same opinion back in those days. However, things have improved so much since then that I have now changed my mind. Playing at home is meant to give you and advantage so I don't really agree with that opinion, you might as well say one team cuts their grass a lot shorter than we would play on at ER so that's not fair.
When I was in Oz in November, my niece had artificial grass as her front 'lawn' and honestly, you could hardly feel the difference from the real stuff, I was mega impressed.
I certainly think now, with the vast improvement in artificial surfaces from that of the 80's, we are not far off seeing this introduced and I wouldn't be against Hibs getting it now. As others have said, it has to be an improvement on the mud that we play on at Easter Road in recent times, and maybe save money in the long run too.

I actually played on the one at Luton, and it really just was a flat carpet that happened to be green. I have not seen the new ones, but they look completely different. Its like saying i went on a train once in the 80s, i wont fly on an plane now?

[Scouse Hibee]

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I actually played on the one at Luton, and it really just was a flat carpet that happened to be green. I have not seen the new ones, but they look completely different. Its like saying i went on a train once in the 80s, i wont fly on an plane now?

Did trains in the eighties fly, or planes ran on rails.

[bingo70]

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I actually played on the one at Luton, and it really just was a flat carpet that happened to be green. I have not seen the new ones, but they look completely different. Its like saying i went on a train once in the 80s, i wont fly on an plane now?

Think John burridge refused to play on that pitch cos it was so bad.

[blackpoolhibs]

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Did trains in the eighties fly, or planes ran on rails.

[Aldo]

Played on loads of poor artificial surfaces back in the 90's and these surfaces wrecked my knees (tight one in particular))

[one day maybe...]

Having played on Alloa's park I can say that it is of a far far better quality than most supposedly grass parks. I would be all for SPL introducing these 4G parks, I am sure it would contribute to an improved standard of football in Scotland.