New pitch..... | Vital Football

New pitch.....

alex_farrells_left_peg

alex_farrells_left_peg

Vital Squad Member
As far as I can remember they were doing a lot of work on the pitch during the closed season.... I am fairly sure I saw some tractors on the playing area removing the old grass meaning they were probably going to laying a new pitch and bedding it in for pre-season. Does anyone living near the ground happen to know what it looks like now (and yes, I realise it will be mainly green). The pitches always looked spectacular the few games of the season however, the lack of drainage back in the day meant it quickly turned from a snooker table finish into something akin to the pitches I played on where we had to scrum down a lot. Any pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Nay bother Jimmy, just found a couple of videos on Twitter - don't use it much. Looking good I have to say.
 
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They have improved the drainage Nobby and to be honest, even though the pitch is still lumpy in places, it was not the quagmire I was back in the 60's to early 80's when I was still going to every home game. Thankfully there are a couple of photo's and a video on Twitter and I have to say, it looked good.....very good in fact.
 
alex_farrells_left_p said:
They have improved the drainage Nobby and to be honest, even though the pitch is still lumpy in places, it was not the quagmire I was back in the 60's to early 80's when I was still going to every home game. Thankfully there are a couple of photo's and a video on Twitter and I have to say, it looked good.....very good in fact.
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I seem to remember a game where a high looping cross came into the goal mouth (during Ron Hillyard's time), Ron missed it and it just dropped in the six yard box and stayed there, didn't bounce, didn't roll, just stuck in the mud. The pitch certainly was awful back then, especially down the Gordon Road side 🙄
They certainly do a great job with it nowadays
 
It looks great, but on more than a few occasions last season commentators (home and away) noted the fact the ball has a tendency to bobble quite a lot. I've always thought that we keep the grass on the long side too.
 
Generally speaking, the advice is to keep grass longer during dry periods and shorter during wet. They also say that cutting grass too short before winter could mean the it could go hungry and likely spend most of the spring recovering from the shock. I would have thought that that is probably aimed at garden lawns and not so much football pitches which not only get fertilised on a fairly regular basis, but also (and I am not sure this applies to us) have special lighting during the darker periods to stimulate growth. I'm no Percy Thrower and have managed to half the size of lawn during the last 20 years. Means more weeding but keeping grass looking good is a full time job, and one I surely don't mind missing out on.
 
alex_farrells_left_p said:
As far as I can remember they were doing a lot of work on the pitch during the closed season.... I am fairly sure I saw some tractors on the playing area removing the old grass meaning they were probably going to laying a new pitch and bedding it in for pre-season. Does anyone living near the ground happen to know what it looks like now (and yes, I realise it will be mainly green). The pitches always looked spectacular the few games of the season however, the lack of drainage back in the day meant it quickly turned from a snooker table finish into something akin to the pitches I played on where we had to scrum down a lot. Any pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Nay bother Jimmy, just found a couple of videos on Twitter - don't use it much. Looking good I have to say.
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Tony Provan is back as groundsman and he posts regular updates on his Twitter page as you say. He had the pitch looking very good when he was here before so hopefully this new season will be the same. The training ground looks excellent as well.
 
Billy_Bleach said:
Tony Provan is back as groundsman and he posts regular updates on his Twitter page as you say. He had the pitch looking very good when he was here before so hopefully this new season will be the same. The training ground looks excellent as well.
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Great stuff and thanks for the heads-up. I can't get to too many matches but do watch all the games on iFollow - well, until we ship a couple of goals, then I turn it off in a huff. Last season it seemed to have stood up to all of the wear and tear quite well however it was bumpy, to say the least. At least now there are none of the v-shaped bare patches in the goalmouth that was synonymous of the pitches towards the end of last century.
 
I don’t think it’s being properly relaid, but rather ‘renovations’. I think it’s just the top layer being re-sewn, but not that I know much about this.
 
Trev_GFC said:
I don’t think it’s being properly relaid, but rather ‘renovations’. I think it’s just the top layer being re-sewn, but not that I know much about this.
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Can't say I have any knowledge of that, the photos I posted were from 2018 when the whole pitch and drainage system were overhauled. Haven't seen anything on social media about the pitch, just a couple of photos if it looking rather lush and very green 😊
 
Nobby_66 said:
Can't say I have any knowledge of that, the photos I posted were from 2018 when the whole pitch and drainage system were overhauled. Haven't seen anything on social media about the pitch, just a couple of photos if it looking rather lush and very green 😊
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The grass blades have all individually repainted in a darker green than is usual for grass... When the paint wears off after playing in it, we'll see that pitch is the same as last season. *taps nose knowing this knowledge...*
 
LSB2 said:
The grass blades have all individually repainted in a darker green than is usual for grass... When the paint wears off after playing in it, we'll see that pitch is the same as last season. *taps nose knowing this knowledge...*
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and who paints the dandelion heads yellow and do they have the correct PPE on when doing so?
 
LSB2 said:
Evans has been told he has to paint the dandelion heads yellow, until he can touch his toes... He doesn't need PPE, he's an island!
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Good point.... no yellow dandelions then as he can hardly even see his toes, let alone touch them. Ok, so green only..... I can live with that.
 
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Just watched the Kyle Dempsey goal via KentOnline and even though it was certainly worth watching, the pitch itself was the thing that grabbed my attention. Even though it has been well looked after before and during the summer break, I was surprised (meaning disappointed) to see that there were already a number of bad cuts on the playing surface. Ok, the grounds-people will have sorted them out after the game was finished however, I had hoped that it would have been more resilient to that sort of damage. It appears that skimming the top layer off and not re-laying the turf is perhaps not best option however, given the current financial situation in the leagues, I can understand it being the "preferred" option.

I am not trying to nit-pick here, just stating an observation.
 
alex_farrells_left_p said:
Just watched the Kyle Dempsey goal via KentOnline and even though it was certainly worth watching, the pitch itself was the thing that grabbed my attention. Even though it has been well looked after before and during the summer break, I was surprised (meaning disappointed) to see that there were already a number of bad cuts on the playing surface. Ok, the grounds-people will have sorted them out after the game was finished however, I had hoped that it would have been more resilient to that sort of damage. It appears that skimming the top layer off and not re-laying the turf is perhaps not best option however, given the current financial situation in the leagues, I can understand it being the "preferred" option.

I am not trying to nit-pick here, just stating an observation.
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The groundsman has had Covid and only returned to work on the pitch last week.
 
I can't touch my toes, they are too far away. I suspect Evans can touch the floor with the palms of his hands. Perhaps we should issue a challenge. I base my theory on the abilities of my late mother in law.
 
jogills said:
I can't touch my toes, they are too far away.
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The failure to touch your toes is the result of bad technique and body shape. The proper technique for this exercise is:

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(ok so she isn't touching her toes but with a little bit of practice and you will be able to extend your hands those few extra inches over onto the toes)
 
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