The state of council owned pitches

[Trix]

Just wondered what they condition public grass roots pitches are around the country. I went with a mate to watch his boys team the weekend and was disgusted with the state of the pitch. My lad has been playing academy football now for the last few years so haven't had the displeasure of watching a game on a council recreational pitch. I have to say what I witnessed really wound me up.

I think most of us have played on these pitches at some time or another and they're as bad now as I can ever remember as a kid(minus the dogshit). The one I was at yesterday I don't think has seen a roller in decades and you couldn't pass the ball along the deck without it bobbling up a foot or so off the ground, which made it dangerous as when the kids were going in for tackles the ball wasn't where it should have been. While the grass was too long there were still patches where there was very little grass at all. My mate said it was one of the better pitches they've played on this year, so I'd hate to see the state of some of the others. This does nothing for the kids as far as development goes as the only option on these pitches is long ball over the top football for the fastest kids to chase down.

After the game I called a friend of mine who coaches all the district schools age groups as well as the county U16 side, and he said it's a common theme and he's been forced to play on 3G pitches now even for training, and relies on the local colleges to help out, despite the councils being given funding from the FA to maintain them. He said they've had numerous communications on the subject but they consider cutting the grass every 3 weeks or so more than sufficient apparently.

I know council pitches have always in general been fairly poor but this was like a ploughed field they'd chucked a few grass seeds onto to finish it off. Just wondered if this is a general theme right now or whether it's just our area where this is a major issue?

 

[0v3rl0r9]

Every pitch in our area I've ever played Sunday league on was either up/downhill, bobbly as fuck, complete swamp after a light sprinkle or had clay underneath so the grass 'needed to be kept long otherwise someone will hurt themself'

There was also the one at the back of a school that had some sort of pipe/cover sticking out on the left wing. Surprised no one did themselves a mischief on that.

As a keeper I always got the fucking trenches of the somme between my sticks. Like you say, can't chuck some fucking seeds down in the off season?

 

[Trix]

Every pitch in our area I've ever played Sunday league on was either up/downhill, bobbly as fuck, complete swamp after a light sprinkle or had clay underneath so the grass 'needed to be kept long otherwise someone will hurt themself'

There was also the one at the back of a school that had some sort of pipe/cover sticking out on the left wing. Surprised no one did themselves a mischief on that.

As a keeper I always got the fucking trenches of the somme between my sticks. Like you say, can't chuck some fucking seeds down in the off season?

The pitches being slope etc I think you just have to live with. They are where they are, and in general that's not that much of an issue. Them being full of holes and bobbly as fuck is, and it's not exactly difficult or overly costly to get them into better condition imo. It's not like they need rolling every week, just once at the start of the season would be a start.

 

[mr ashley]

The pitches being slope etc I think you just have to live with. They are where they are, and in general that's not that much of an issue. Them being full of holes and bobbly as fuck is, and it's not exactly difficult or overly costly to get them into better condition imo. It's not like they need rolling every week, just once at the start of the season would be a start.

They’re terrible where we are.
They get cut infrequently and often end up with clumps of grass in odd places.
Hardest thing is that we are lucky enough to train on new 4g astro (which is fantastic) but not really a help for the majority of home matches that are played on bobbly surfaces.
But I’m sure from a council perspective their budget has been stripped right back.

 

[Tucker]

Our council washed their hands of the local playing fields and play parks, so the local community took them on. We rely on donations from people like Rotary and other local fundraisers to keep them going, it’s just mowing and line painting for the most part. The sports pitches are easy enough to keep in a tidy state, there’s a pavilion with changing facilities etc, it’s a bit old fashioned, but functional. Play parks are a little more expensive to run though. Insurance costs are the killer.

Truth is the council just couldn’t afford to keep them going due to cut backs to their own funding from central government.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

I'm in Essex and play Sunday football and the pitches are absolutely atrocious. When we got to a cup final a few years back (played at Bishop Stortford fc) the thing I was looking forward to most was a decent pitch and it was just as bad but just minus the dogshit.

 

[TheChosenOne]

When our Sunday league team played nearly 40'years ago we were lucky as our home pitches were hired annually (by me as club secretary) from Lee Valley Sports Authority, during the season we played we had the pitches next to the skating rink on Leabridge Rd, then Coppermill Lane and finally over at Etonian Manor. These pitches were tip top and a pleasure to play on.
I think the worst venue was having to play on Victoria Park pitches. The dog shit was everywhere, I was only thinking the other day how toxic and disgusting it was.
Mini rant over.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Would love to be able to chip in on this one. But down here in Cornwall we're lucky if old George is happy to let us borrow his field for a couple of hours while he milks his heffers.

 

[Insomnia]

we have to fill in the rabbit holes every weekend for my lads football team

 

[Gassin's finest]

Proper football, innit. I remember a Sunday league match against Catterick, the pitch was basically a field covered in cow pats.

 

[theShiznit]

I remember playing next to a field of what looked like Woolly mammoths! Everyone was like "what the fuck are they!?!" (turns out was some sort of long haired cows and not the extinct creature )
Also one game i hated being told i was playing "out wide" only to turn and find out it was one of those pitches where the width of the pitch was about a metre more than the width of the penalty area

Bobbly pitch, downhill and with zero grass that's the unholy trinity though, chasing a through ball that forever stays a few feet ahead of you until running out of play...

 

[UncleBuck]

Pitches are and have always been bad but they do seem to be worse now than when iespecially school and council (which generally both fall under council ownership).
My youngest plays football on school, council and privately owned club pitches and the biggest problem with all three pitches though is dogs and it’s getting worse, so much so that the clubs we play with have banned people taking them.
We know it’s not our parents that don’t clear up but you can’t stop people walking across pitches on a Wednesday night with their dogs and not noticing or bothering to clear up.
It’s not just football but rugby and cricket too, every game involves a shovel and a ten minute walk around making sure some poor little kid doesn’t get a face full of dogs muck.
Grass not maintained to a decent level, if there is any, animal holes the size of bomb craters, smashed up goals, glass and rubbish strewn across them….the list goes on.

 

[Houdini]

As with the pitches here they are grossly overused and the required maintenance and upkeep is non existent.
First team plays twice a week then the reserves another twice and if that weren't bad enough they have kids matches and training on them, they simply don't have the time or opportunity to recover.
Two weeks ago there was a cup match and they sprayed the field green....? It was still a fucking bog!

 

[PCozzie]

Been a few years since I last played and we had a right mixture. Went from a near perfect Glaxo pitch at Ware in the local league to Farmer Giles's lower field in the County 1st Division.

Apart from the lottery of the playing surface the worst pitch I played on was one where some absolute loon decided that within the square playing field, the pitch was to be placed at a 30 degree diagonal angle to the boundary trees. Try playing a ball into the channel when your head's down, the lines have half dissapeared, and your peripheral vision can only see the trees along the edge. Felt like we should have warmed up with some Pythagorus rather than a fag and a stretch.