Players that can't trap a bag of sand..... (1 Viewer)

[woody11462]

No it isn't. We returned from exile to the Gillingham game. The pitch had not been maintained to a high Standard and we had lost our groundsman to Leicester. This was because TF said we are building a stadium and Will Never Return to the Ricoh as tenants. The Rugby Club made a temporary repair/relay and will have it relaid in the close season. We are Not the only club to share with a Rugby club.

True but are you saying having a rugby team playing on that pitch makes no difference?

 

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[SkyBlue_Bear83]

I think They did for a while, but then They let go of the groundsman. The income from other junior Teams was very little and remember They were Holding other events on the pitch. It was partly Brown for Gillingham. But, you can hardly blame Wasps or Ann Lucas for the Pitcher being like it was against Gillingham. Let's See what happens next season. How do other groundshares survived?

They have special pitches installed, the Ricoh is getting one next season hopefully. The pitch was always going to crumble to rubbish this season when the Rugby move happened in December as they never had a chance to properly prepare the pitch for it.

The reason why the pitch was poor vs Gillingham is that presumably ACL had stopped maintaining it when the club left which is understandable and they also had the gaming festival on the pitch just before we came back.

 

[Hobo]

Let's face facts, the pitch at the moment is a problem for Wasps. They have done some emergency work on it and plan to relay it at the end of the season.

it is obvious the pitch isn't good for us either...but it is what we have.

Yesterday we played well on it in the first 45 minutes. Doncaster were better on it in the second 45...they scored three goals on it.

the pitch isn't ideal but let's not make out it is the main issue for our club. the current pitch is a carpet compared to what was on offer in the 60's 70's and even 80's.

it is not going to change until the end of the season, so let's be professional and get on with the task in hand. Don't turn this into another introspective debate churning up the same old clods of soil!

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

Absolutely right Mart, when we returned the pitch was the responsibility of ACL, at the time owned by CCC and Higgs, and it wasn't in an acceptable condition. When Wasps took over a big fuss was made of how they were solving the problem of the poor pitch by having it relaid immediately. In my opinion the new pitch is worse than the old one!

In terms of other groundshares with rugby teams I don't know. I couldn't even tell you how many share. I did see part of a Reading game, they share with London Irish, and the pitch looked terrible. I know Oxford share with London Welsh so I googled them and the first thing that came up was 'criticism of shocking Oxford United pitch'. Google also tells me Stockport have a lot of pitch problems. So I'm not too hopefully it will be any better next season.

If they are willing to put the time and money I'm hopeful that it should be suitable for both sports.

The Madjeski had a desso installed in 2004, it needs to be re done now but I assume the clubs can't afford to do so.

I think it will be ok next season assuming the new pitch is done properly and no short cuts. The thing is these type of pitches have a certain shelf life, I'm not sure on how long they last but presumable well maintained they can last for at least 7-8 years, it probably costs close to 1 million to change each time, if they are commited to doing this it could be ok but if money is tight its just going to deteriorate over the years.