Kilmarnock's Plastic Pitch

[Juniper Greens]

Just read this is to be replaced by another plastic pitch as to find alternative training facilities and switch it the grass would £10m?!
Very disappointing news for the league and frankly baffling price. Surely there are pitches down that way? University of West of Scotland must have good ones for instance.

[Hibernian32]

Clubs should be fined each season they use these pitches for Competive matches, and if opposition players are injured due to your **** surface your pay the rehab. Find it hard to believe it cost 10m to switch to grass when the trumpets over the road spent 1m on a hybrid pitch.

I hate Astro at professional level it's as tin pot as it gets

[H18 SFR]

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Just read this is to be replaced by another plastic pitch as to find alternative training facilities and switch it the grass would £10m?!
Very disappointing news for the league and frankly baffling price. Surely there are pitches down that way? University of West of Scotland must have good ones for instance.

The planning permission for the all singing all dancing sports facilities at UWS was denied. One year later planning permission was granted for a new school to be built on the land, the school opened last year, ironically it has a full size, flood lit park which is used during the day by the school and at night be local groups.

[Orchard_Hibs]

Kilmarnock used to train at Glasgow uni, used their plastic pitches and gym.

[horseflesh]

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Clubs should be fined each season they use these pitches for Competive matches, and if opposition players are injured due to your **** surface your pay the rehab. Find it hard to believe it cost 10m to switch to grass when the trumpets over the road spent 1m on a hybrid pitch.

I hate Astro at professional level it's as tin pot as it gets

Pretty sure that will be “back of a fag packet” maths. Guess they are taking into account the cost of building their own training facilities if they can’t train on the new grass at Rugby Park

[Moulin Yarns]

The £10m costs include extra pitch and training facilities. If what I have understood.

[Juniper Greens]

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Clubs should be fined each season they use these pitches for Competive matches, and if opposition players are injured due to your **** surface your pay the rehab. Find it hard to believe it cost 10m to switch to grass when the trumpets over the road spent 1m on a hybrid pitch.

I hate Astro at professional level it's as tin pot as it gets

Great idea.

[SChibs]

Can't say I'm overly against plastic pitches like a lot of people on here. Maybe it's because I'm younger and have grown up playing on them and they seem normal to me. Teams such as Hibs, hearts, rangers and Celtic who all have access to plastic pitches where they train shouldn't use them as an excuse for a poor result though

[Sas_The_Hibby]

I admit to my ignorance about the pros and cons of plastic / grass pitches; but isn't the point that all pitches in the same league should be made of the same type of surface, be that grass, plastic or otherwise?

I know it's not an entirely fair analogy, but it's a bit like having Wimbledon or the US Open playing different rounds on different surfaces, making it much more of a lottery.

[hibsbollah]

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Just read this is to be replaced by another plastic pitch as to find alternative training facilities and switch it the grass would £10m?!
Very disappointing news for the league and frankly baffling price. Surely there are pitches down that way? University of West of Scotland must have good ones for instance.

If anyones been to the new Peffermill 3G, that contract was for the pitch, spectator areas, six training pitches, multi use areas, done by Sportsmasters and came in at £1.5million. So that figure sounds ridiculous.

[Carheenlea]

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Can't say I'm overly against plastic pitches like a lot of people on here. Maybe it's because I'm younger and have grown up playing on them and they seem normal to me. Teams such as Hibs, hearts, rangers and Celtic who all have access to plastic pitches where they train shouldn't use them as an excuse for a poor result though

Ryan Porteous remarked earlier in season about playing on plastic pitches and he said he didn’t mind them for the reason you give above. I’m hurtling towards 50 so fall into the the camp of the older generation who don’t enjoy watching football played on them!

[HoboHarry]

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Can't say I'm overly against plastic pitches like a lot of people on here. Maybe it's because I'm younger and have grown up playing on them and they seem normal to me. Teams such as Hibs, hearts, rangers and Celtic who all have access to plastic pitches where they train shouldn't use them as an excuse for a poor result though

I played on plastic towards the end of my playing days and never had an issue with them. There's always plenty of yelling if a player gets hurt on plastic but those same people seem to go quiet when a player gets hurt on grass and that happens plenty. On that subject - it seems like every week some player in the EPL pulls up with a damaged hamstring - Whats up with that?

[H18S NX]

Still better than cinder pitches.

[worcesterhibby]

It should be against the rules to have anything except a grass pitch in the top flight. End of story.

[allezsauzee]

I think having a grass pitch should be a baseline expectation for getting into the Premier League. it's not being too elitist to expect that all teams play on a similar and safe surface. Although interestingly Killie's away record is the 3rd best in the league this year so it's hard to argue that their pitch has given them an advantage.

[SChibs]

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Ryan Porteous remarked earlier in season about playing on plastic pitches and he said he didn’t mind them for the reason you give above. I’m hurtling towards 50 so fall into the the camp of the older generation who don’t enjoy watching football played on them!

It would be good to see if there are any studies based around injuries and plastic pitches. Surely the likes of killie, Hamilton and livi should be inundated with injuries playing on them every other week?

[southsider]

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It would be good to see if there are any studies based around injuries and plastic pitches. Surely the likes of killie, Hamilton and livi should be inundated with injuries playing on them every other week?

The pitches are made from recycled tyres. Big study is the US at the moment. Say u are a goalie and get a bad knock and are lying face down on the pitch. Do u really want to breath In that sh@t ? If the US study comes back they are a healt hazard then prepare for law suits against some clubs.

[calumhibee1]

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Can't say I'm overly against plastic pitches like a lot of people on here. Maybe it's because I'm younger and have grown up playing on them and they seem normal to me. Teams such as Hibs, hearts, rangers and Celtic who all have access to plastic pitches where they train shouldn't use them as an excuse for a poor result though

Likewise. Obviously it’s not at pro level but I preferred playing on them.

[judas]

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Just read this is to be replaced by another plastic pitch as to find alternative training facilities and switch it the grass would £10m?!
Very disappointing news for the league and frankly baffling price. Surely there are pitches down that way? University of West of Scotland must have good ones for instance.

Astro is the way forward.

All the kids are training on it these days.

I prefer playing on it and I hope it is here to stay.

[judas]

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The pitches are made from recycled tyres. Big study is the US at the moment. Say u are a goalie and get a bad knock and are lying face down on the pitch. Do u really want to breath In that sh@t ? If the US study comes back they are a healt hazard then prepare for law suits against some clubs.

It’s the rubber pellets in the Astro that are made from recycled tires not the Astro itself. The solution is simple (if indeed a cancer link is found at all) and that is to use different rubber.

[H18 SFR]

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I played on plastic towards the end of my playing days and never had an issue with them. There's always plenty of yelling if a player gets hurt on plastic but those same people seem to go quiet when a player gets hurt on grass and that happens plenty. On that subject - it seems like every week some player in the EPL pulls up with a damaged hamstring - Whats up with that?

Also experienced them at Hamilton and Stenny before finishing in 2011, always found them horrendous. In Iceland they seemed better but they were partially frozen.

[wookie70]

I'd rather it was grass pitches but saying that you have a better chance for a game on a good astro than the terrible pitch at St Mirren on Sunday and some of the ploughed field Hearts have made us play on. The surface at ER is the best I have ever seen it this year.

[cocteautwin]

Not having to install and maintain a grass pitch gives these other clubs a financial advantage. Killie have basically said we're not going to spend the money on a grass pitch. So what will they spend their money on instead? Ah yes, their team . . . . .

Financial doping?

[lyonhibs]

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Not having to install and maintain a grass pitch gives these other clubs a financial advantage. Killie have basically said we're not going to spend the money on a grass pitch. So what will they spend their money on instead? Ah yes, their team . . . . .

Financial doping?

how is it financial doping? What's stopping Hibs from making the same up front capital investment in a plastic pitch and then reaping the rewards you mention?

I wouldn't want us to, but Killie aren't fiddling the system. I imagine that the real income benefit is that it can be used
throughout the week by other groups that Killie can charge.

Also, ré injuries, comparing our injury list with Killie's, get a plastic pitch down ASAP! (I know it's not that simple but still...)

[where'stheslope]

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Ryan Porteous remarked earlier in season about playing on plastic pitches and he said he didn’t mind them for the reason you give above. I’m hurtling towards 50 so fall into the the camp of the older generation who don’t enjoy watching football played on them!

So you must still remember when by this time of the year, most pitches were like quagmires with little or no grass on them?
I'm not totally for or against plastic, but I see the reasons for some clubs to have them (lack of maintenance and all weather) it can also be used for training without damage!!!

[Hibernian32]

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Can't say I'm overly against plastic pitches like a lot of people on here. Maybe it's because I'm younger and have grown up playing on them and they seem normal to me. Teams such as Hibs, hearts, rangers and Celtic who all have access to plastic pitches where they train shouldn't use them as an excuse for a poor result though

I'm 22 and been brought up on Astro at football training and games etc and yes it's good for all weather purpose and for the youth systems, it should be used as last option at this level, grass/hybrid then astro in my eyes.

[CropleyisGod]

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how is it financial doping? What's stopping Hibs from making the same up front capital investment in a plastic pitch and then reaping the rewards you mention?

I wouldn't want us to, but Killie aren't fiddling the system. I imagine that the real income benefit is that it can be used
throughout the week by other groups that Killie can charge.

Also, ré injuries, comparing our injury list with Killie's, get a plastic pitch down ASAP! (I know it's not that simple but still...)

Surely the income from renting a pitch is peanuts unless they are hosting The Rolling Stones? Real saving is up keep. One person to look after it rather than 2-3. No fertilizer or treatments, etc.. still think, in the grand scheme of things, a grass pitch can’t be a significant cost compare to prima donna players and trips to Dubai.

[Phil MaGlass]

if you must have a plastic pitch it needs to be looked after, Killies is a disgrace and football should not be played on it, it IS an unfair advantage, most other teams will manage to practice on a plastic pitch somewhere before playing Killie, but again Killies pitch is dire its nowhere near what a proper plastic pitch should be. Teams should refuse to play on it until it has been properly replaced.

[Sylar]

People have some seriously doolally notions about plastic pitches, prime amongst which is that they "cause" injuries that wouldn't otherwise occur on grass pitches.

All of the research pretty much goes against this - and those studies that DO find a relationship between the 2 identify that the newer pitches (with the rubber pellets) reduce this back down to being akin to natural grass.

Economically, these surfaces make sense. The cost of undersoil heating systems are exorbitant by comparison - the capital outlay is about the same, and the maintenance of an artificial surface is near zero. It reduces the chance of losing games to waterlogging or hardened freezing (the upper layer may well still freeze, but it doesn't result in a frozen soil below that makes it more dangerous) and the resultant loss of earnings via lessened attendances at midweek rescheduled games.

Sure, the bounce of the ball etc doesn't make for great football at times but I've equally watched some utter dross on grass pitches irrespective of the "natural dynamics" of the ball.

[inglisavhibs]

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I played on plastic towards the end of my playing days and never had an issue with them. There's always plenty of yelling if a player gets hurt on plastic but those same people seem to go quiet when a player gets hurt on grass and that happens plenty. On that subject - it seems like every week some player in the EPL pulls up with a damaged hamstring - Whats up with that?

Nothing to do with injuries for me, it’s a different game on artificial pitches and one I don’t like watching.