sam
TFF member
Posts: 341
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Post by sam on Mar 31, 2009 22:51:05 GMT
I was on the road to Elmore tonight to see the emerging Gulls play in the Devon Bowl and was told the game was off because the pitch was too hard. This was 45mins before the kick off. Is this some kind of joke. Wasn't impressed travelling from South Hams to Newton Abbot to be told that. Don't know any more details so excuse not confirmed. Icy hard pitches yes but dry ones!
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Post by jimmydunnegod on Mar 31, 2009 23:09:56 GMT
Was told by the ref, that it wasnt just hard but there were divots on the pitch that he could place his foot in, known in the trade as "ankle breakers" Its bad enough doing an injury when you have work the next day, but our boys, lose a lot more than that!!
It said on other thread, groundsman rolled the pitch days ago, hasnt rained much over past 2 weeks, cant see what good rollering would do, needed chain harrowing
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Post by buster on Apr 2, 2009 11:45:56 GMT
What a joke Elmore are.
They clearly would have known the pitch was dodgy and should have either been watering it during the week or told Utd in advance.
Sounds like they had buried their heads in the sand or should I say mud, then again they probably couldn`t as it was too hard. ;D
buster
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Post by aussie on Apr 2, 2009 20:30:27 GMT
They don`t have the money to water the pitch the amount it needed and due to the absolutely fantastic weather we`ve been having could do nothing about it, slagging them off is not just pointless but slieghtly childish in my opinion. The desicion to postpone the game should have been made alot earlier and notifing travelling fans earlier could have been a good idea, maybe they are just a very small club trying to do their best!
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Post by buster on Apr 2, 2009 22:10:05 GMT
Aussie To be honest I`m not that bothered by this farce but I`ll bite the bait anyway. I think you may be "sleightly" guilty of contradicting yourself.  Money may or may not have been an issue, but their actions certainly were questionable. They surely must have known their pitch was dodgy and if they knew they couldn`t provide a playable surface steps should have been made to contact the body governing the cup and Utd to seek a solution prior to match day. any club whether junior or senior worth its salt and respectful of all parties concerned would have taken steps. if they didn`t know it was dodgy then that in itself suggests a poorly run club. I don`t know anything about the club set up with regards use of the pitch so apologies to the club if it isn`t as simple as I have imagined. All I can call upon are my experiences of football, cricket & rugby clubs where we have always had close links with the very protective groundstaff. Any hint that the pitch was suffering sent alarm bells to the managers & coaches. buster |
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sam
TFF member
Posts: 341
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Post by sam on Apr 3, 2009 10:37:40 GMT
I think there is a wider issue here. For instance, what about the idea of playing a reserve team in a westcountry league. These are small clubs and not all pitches are perfect. How was this match postponed. Was it because a Torquay player/official drew attention to the ruts and hardness of the pitch and moaned to the ref about it. When did Elmore last play on it, what happened then. Look at the pitches the players played on before they became attached to Torquay. Probably much worse than Elmore. And in your football memory, have you ever heard of a match being postponed because the pitch was too hard/rutted (other than frozen). I certainly can't but I am not saying it has never happened. Forget reserve team football in local leagues if this is going to happen.
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Post by aussie on Apr 3, 2009 17:22:35 GMT
Buster forgive me but I quite often contradict myself due to the fact I sometimes struggle to get across what I mean when using a keyboard to talk, I had heard on the radio that their pitch was way too dry to sort out ankle breaker divots and rutts, they don`t have the resources to sort it out, maybe they should have come to us and the Devon F.A. and asked for help, thats all good in hindsight but you have to remember here that Elmore are a small club with part time or volunteers to do the work. A small club will undoubtably have small experience in alot of matters, they will learn hopefully and grow as a result. Try not too be too harsh!
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Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Apr 3, 2009 18:10:30 GMT
I can understand why our club would not want to risk injuries to our players, by playing on such a poor pitch. I was talking to someone in Tiverton today who said the pitch is always mostly poor to play on and in front the grandstand is said to be the worst part.
Nothing has been done to the pitch since Tuesday night and Elmore's under 18s played a game on it last night, I would expect that our local players here in the Bay, play on far worse pitches and most never get and serious injuries.
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