Plastic Pitches and Small, Incomplete Stadia - How Much of a Leveller?

Superrangers

Well-Known Member
Been crazy busy the last few days. Only just getting round to watching the game v East Fife. Yes, we won easily in the end but far too often it seemed the ball was bobbling about and obviously they knew how to play on the plastic and in such an open environment.

How much a leveller are these pitches and open stadia, with the wind, lack of normalcy for our players, etc.
 
Majorly.
Not too different from if it were a mudheap or a fifty mph wind.
It isn’t the surface on its own.
It’s more, we’ll as much as, the irregular and unpredictable bounces and movement, and that no two pitches are the same.
 
The pitch and the weather, aye. The incomplete stadiums isnt an excuse but they do my nut in too. I actually think livi have got the best new build stadium out of all the wee clubs in Scotland cos its got four fecking sides to it
Is it the only one? St Johnstone aside.
 
Kilmarnocks plastic pitch got them and Clarke to a decent position last season, the points they took at Ibrox were due to Rangers failings than their 'abilities'

They are a massive leveller
 
Kilmarnocks plastic pitch got them and Clarke to a decent position last season, the points they took at Ibrox were due to Rangers failings than their 'abilities'

They are a massive leveller
Kilmarnock were crap for years before that on the same pitch - Steve Clarke might be a bit of a dick but hes a decent manager. We'd have a harder time trying to beat the tims under him than Lennon
Very much so I think.
 
Going to a Smaller stadia & facing a humiliation/giant killing is what the cup is all about. Obviously these days with TV, the romance is gone but I’d imagine that in the grand old days of yore that the Famous Glasgow Rangers coming to town was absolutely huge.

Going back to when I was a youngster in the early 80’s we’d have to contend with an uneven surface but I think we were still adapt at playing On them as we’d be training anywhere we could.

Today’s plastic pitches are better than they used to be but even back in the day we withdrew from the Tennent’s Sixes due to injury concerns and that to me is the major concern. Full Time professionals should not need to risk their career by playing on these surfaces & I think the players union should be doing more to protect their fee paying members & get these pitches scrapped.
 
Does anyone know how SPl compares to similar leagues with the plastic pitches? I know the scandanavians have summer leagues but what about Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Czechia, Poland? Are they allowed in the football league down south?
 
Very much a leveller and with that wind the overall conditions were a joke!
This, with the addition of a very poor/weak referee who was letting the hammer throwers kick the $!%# out of our players made the overall spectacle horrific to watch but, hey ho job done!
 
When you have a surface where your rivals have players who can't ,won't ,or even have an exclusion in their contacts to play on these surfaces,you have a massive advantage over them.I know that Patrick Thistle spent a lot of money laying a brand new pitch for the season they ended up relegated ,money that could have got a couple of decent players ,meanwhile Killie,Accies,Livingston get away with their abortions .No wonder the world laughs at us
 
The pitch and the weather, aye. The incomplete stadiums isnt an excuse but they do my nut in too. I actually think livi have got the best new build stadium out of all the wee clubs in Scotland cos its got four fecking sides to it

Agreed.

I can accept it in the lower leagues, but it shouldn’t be allowed in the top flight. It should be a prerequisite of admittance that your stadium has four sides.

I’m looking at you Hamilton!
 
Does anyone know how SPl compares to similar leagues with the plastic pitches? I know the scandanavians have summer leagues but what about Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Czechia, Poland? Are they allowed in the football league down south?
Not sure about now, but Luton and Preston did have them.
 
Some of these stadiums are a disgrace. Why don't all the Fife teams come together and form 'Kingdom of Fife FC' and be a force in Scottish football.
 
They are a leveller as the teams who have these pitches will train on them so they are used to the surface and how it plays along with the bounce of the ball etc. I dont have a problem with teams in the lower leagues having them but it should be madatory in the top flight that it's a grass pitch. Sadly with UEFA and FIFA approving of the surfaces it would never be implemented.

I get why clubs like Hamilton and Livingston use them small clubs where all their teams use the facility they also make money from the amateur game as well with the hire of the pitches but no excuse for Kilmarnock did they not only do it to save their players travelling to Glasgow for training every day to use the pitches at Garsube complex?
 
Does anyone know how SPl compares to similar leagues with the plastic pitches? I know the scandanavians have summer leagues but what about Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Czechia, Poland? Are they allowed in the football league down south?

No, they tried to get them in to the EPL last season, but they lost the vote. I know my English team Carlisle voted for it, as they need to replace their grass pitch quite often.
 
Agreed.

I can accept it in the lower leagues, but it shouldn’t be allowed in the top flight. It should be a prerequisite of admittance that your stadium has four sides.

I’m looking at you Hamilton!

Was it Falkirk years ago who were denied entry into the top league due to their stadium not being up to scratch / capacity?

Grass surfaces should be part of the minimum criteria as well.

Not only are the pitches shite, but they look terrible on TV and you rarely see a good free flowing game on astro grass.
 
The gale force gusting wind didn't exactly help at the weekend either, must have been difficult to make a long range pass when it got blown off course!
 
They are certainly a leveller and I don't mind so much coming up against them in cup competitions from the lower leagues.

However under no circumstances should they be allowed in the top flight.

It's completely unprofessional
 
Does anyone know how SPl compares to similar leagues with the plastic pitches? I know the scandanavians have summer leagues but what about Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Czechia, Poland? Are they allowed in the football league down south?

In the Dutch League, they are not banned but clubs playing on Grass/Hybrid pitches get a share of additional money whilst the Plastic pitch brigade do not.

In Belgium, one team (Sint-Truiden VV) play on artificial turf, seems like the rest of the league has snubbed it.

In Denmark, only Nordsjaelland use one.

In Norway, Tromso (fair enough given its in the arctic circle) and a few other northern Norwegian teams use them.

In Switzerland, Young Boys and Neuchetal Xanax use them, but talks are beginning about their ban.

In Sweden, IF Elfsborg, GIF Sundsvall and IFK Norrkoping use them but are required to use the most modern version of pitches. If a new, better compound is created, they have to rip their pitch up and install it.

Artificial turf is banned in the English, German and Spanish league systems, they are also banned in the top flight of Portugal, France, Greece, Turkey, Serbia, Romania and Poland.
 
The reason being the 100 mph gales that blow in from the Moray Firth.
also the crappest
In the Dutch League, they are not banned but clubs playing on Grass/Hybrid pitches get a share of additional money whilst the Plastic pitch brigade do not.

In Belgium, one team (Sint-Truiden VV) play on artificial turf, seems like the rest of the league has snubbed it.

In Denmark, only Nordsjaelland use one.

In Norway, Tromso (fair enough given its in the arctic circle) and a few other northern Norwegian teams use them.

In Switzerland, Young Boys and Neuchetal Xanax use them, but talks are beginning about their ban.

In Sweden, IF Elfsborg, GIF Sundsvall and IFK Norrkoping use them but are required to use the most modern version of pitches. If a new, better compound is created, they have to rip their pitch up and install it.

Artificial turf is banned in the English, German and Spanish league systems, they are also banned in the top flight of Portugal, France, Greece, Turkey, Serbia, Romania and Poland.
Pretty comprehensive answer!
 
The pitch and the weather, aye. The incomplete stadiums isnt an excuse but they do my nut in too. I actually think livi have got the best new build stadium out of all the wee clubs in Scotland cos its got four fecking sides to it

..and they had a grass pitch until 2 years ago.
 
In the Dutch League, they are not banned but clubs playing on Grass/Hybrid pitches get a share of additional money whilst the Plastic pitch brigade do not.

In Belgium, one team (Sint-Truiden VV) play on artificial turf, seems like the rest of the league has snubbed it.

In Denmark, only Nordsjaelland use one.

In Norway, Tromso (fair enough given its in the arctic circle) and a few other northern Norwegian teams use them.

In Switzerland, Young Boys and Neuchetal Xanax use them, but talks are beginning about their ban.

In Sweden, IF Elfsborg, GIF Sundsvall and IFK Norrkoping use them but are required to use the most modern version of pitches. If a new, better compound is created, they have to rip their pitch up and install it.

Artificial turf is banned in the English, German and Spanish league systems, they are also banned in the top flight of Portugal, France, Greece, Turkey, Serbia, Romania and Poland.
...and the dinasours who run the game in this country still have their heads up their collective arse.
 
given that so many clubs have artificial pitches so they can hire them out for extra cash, it amounts to the same as playing on a public pitch which, when you think about it, is a joke for any professional sport
 
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