The Pitch

[wing commander]

  The pitch is in a right old state and is certainly not conducive to playing good football on that's for sure. Every year in the summer we spend a lot of money stripping and maintenance, probably more than most in this division yet this year it has certainly not held up in any form.

  People blame the rugby but they play rugby on it every year and in truth it was in poor condition before they started playing on it. So then it's the wet weather but again whilst its been a wet winter its nothing we haven't seen before and with global warming is likely to be the norm. 

  Other people blame the covers we put on to try and in most cases fail to keep a game on, if that's the case then maybe its just better to accept the inevitable and leave them off..

I dont know what the answer is.

  Either way I hope the club are putting some effort in with consultants now to try and get a bit of a resolution so next season we get a lot more stability out of it. We want to be a footballing team rather than a hoof it team but you cant play to much football on it as it is at the moment.

  Is there anybody on here with experience in that trade who have any ideas how we sort it?

[mpc123]

Try not to cut my own grass, never mind knowing how to solve that.

[Ho]

  The pitch is in a right old state and is certainly not conducive to playing good football on that's for sure. Every year in the summer we spend a lot of money stripping and maintenance, probably more than most in this division yet this year it has certainly not held up in any form.

  People blame the rugby but they play rugby on it every year and in truth it was in poor condition before they started playing on it. So then it's the wet weather but again whilst its been a wet winter its nothing we haven't seen before and with global warming is likely to be the norm. 

  Other people blame the covers we put on to try and in most cases fail to keep a game on, if that's the case then maybe its just better to accept the inevitable and leave them off..

I dont know what the answer is.

  Either way I hope the club are putting some effort in with consultants now to try and get a bit of a resolution so next season we get a lot more stability out of it. We want to be a footballing team rather than a hoof it team but you cant play to much football on it as it is at the moment.

  Is there anybody on here with experience in that trade who have any ideas how we sort it?

Think it was the Southampton cup game that did the damage. If the frost isn't fully thawed and you play on it, you're at risk of snapping the grass off it's root which kills it

[roversdude]

Would be massive investment for the artificial sunlight I guess

[Rupee92ONLY]

I’d just never put any frost covers down on it. Sometimes it can be days under the covers to try get games on, that can’t be good surely? Accept that bad weather can call some games off and that’s that.

[colincramb]

Consider undersoil heating installation if we really want the games on?

[Rupee92ONLY]

We lose like 2 home games a season, in a bad year. Invest f**k all in it. Whack more summer events on too. The club relayed the pitch when they had 2 massive gigs other summer and come first game of season the pitch was immaculate.

[roversdude]

I’m surprised there aren’t more music events tbh

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I heard somewhere recently, Wrexham are paying £2m for the annual upkeep of the pitch to get it to Premier League standard.

Clubs who are promoted to the Prem have to comply with pitch standards hence the investment in lighting rigs and the costs of running them etc. 

It wasn't too long since Luton were in the Prem when their pitch looked like a carpet. It doesn't look like that now so is the likely reason prioritising expenditure??

I think the club will have access to all the expertise they need. 

[Spud]

I thought it looked as though it played a bit better last night, albeit there are some bare patches. The Luton game it looked hard & bobbly, worst I can remember seeing it tbh, or was it the Blackpool game.....

[roversdude]

I agree didn’t look great last night but seemed to play better

[steve@dcfd]

The problem is when the weather conditions get worse starting in January we share the pitch with the Dons. They then use it up our season ends and beyond. Grant said at the beginning of March we had 6 games on it and the Dons had 4 no time to improve really

[wing commander]

The problem is when the weather conditions get worse starting in January we share the pitch with the Dons. They then use it up our season ends and beyond. Grant said at the beginning of March we had 6 games on it and the Dons had 4 no time to improve really

Thing is that's no different to previous years and it's a lot worse than it's ever been. It's always been a hard pitch granted

[DearneValleyRover]

I think it’s the Desso system and amount of sand used, there are far better hybrid pitch systems than that type

[Donnywolf]

I agree didn’t look great last night but seemed to play better

Think a couple of divots got uprooted in front of dugouts - in fact im sure the ball knocked one out.

Also noticed a back pass from that area jumped noticeably halfway back to T L-T but luckily it didnt stop him collecting it easily

[DMnumber4]

Belle Vue always looked in amazing nick and the Dons (or Dragons) played on that too.

[GazLaz]

Belle Vue always looked in amazing nick and the Dons (or Dragons) played on that too.

Enclosed stadiums always struggle more than open ones like OBV.

[RoversInSpain]

Nothing wrong with the pitch, some of the passing combinations in the worst of the weather for the first 15/20 mins last night were excellent.

[tingleyrover]

The culprit is the extreme rainfall all winter long. Most council pitches closed for 2 months solid protecting theirs and non league games off galore. EFL teams don’t have that luxury. In an ideal world, pitch would have been closed for a month but you can’t do that. Dons season started just as rain was at its worst and it’s never recovered but it’s just scheduling clashing with the weather. Most teams at our level in a similar position to some extent.

[Padge_DRFC]

TLT could have built a sandcastle in the first half.

[mrfrost82]

I’m surprised there aren’t more music events tbh

That Killers gig came out of nowhere. Always thought it was a bit strange they played here. Kudos to whoever booked them, it was fantastic.

[GazLaz]

Nothing wrong with the pitch, some of the passing combinations in the worst of the weather for the first 15/20 mins last night were excellent.

If players keep getting told the pitch is an issue it will become even more of an issue. It’s poor admittedly but not the worst in the league. 

[Nudga]

Doesn't help putting sprinklers on before ko when we already had a week of rain. One of the sprinklers were on for ages on the worst part of the pitch.

[sf9944]

The club needs to get to the bottom of it for sure.  My money is on the frost covers being the main factor.  It was immediately after their prolonged use in early January that the issues became evident. 

If that is the case there would be better off not using them on the basis that they do more harm than good.  Not worth knackering the pitch to get a single game on especially as all too often they don't even work!

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I think rhe pitch was alot less bobbly due to the wet conditions but anyway, I would guess the pitch will be alot better come the next home game.

If the club had made less effort to get the Southampton game on, I think there would have been a hell of alot of criticism plus the potential for refunds of tickets etc., so on balance, faced with the same set of circumstances I doubt they would have come to a different decision. Yes, the pitch has been poor for a few games of the 23 plus, but we've seen it alot worse.

[GazLaz]

The pitch has always been horrible. Remember Wellens saying it used to cripple him playing on it.