Robbo has said that he's been pretty impressed with the quality of the new artificial pitch at the rugby club at the bught. Given the issues we've had with call offs etc and the increased community use and potential income that could be generated from a 4G pitch. In theory would you be in favour? Thoughts?

While it would have commercial advantages and possibly avoid postponement, I believe that profesdional football should be played on grass so it's a no from me.

Hopefully, we reach the cup final and manage to free up a little cash for Tommy to do some remedial work in the Summer.

My wife's family are Stenhousemuir supporters, and have often said to me how the club has benefited from their artificial pitch.  I understand it's 3G, not 4G, whatever that means.  (Does it mean that it's slower?  )

I have just found this 6-page report on the FIFA website - https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/pitchequip/cs_stenhousemuir_37445.pdf

It includes costs, but note that it must be 10 or more years old.   Stenny is a community-owned club, and they received a £250,000 grant from the local authority, on condition that the pitch was made available for use by the community.

Edited March 17, 20197 yr by snorbens_caleyman
corrected info about grant

Only if it were a hybrid pitch from someone like SIS or DESSO where fibres are combined with real grass to make it more durable. I fear however that this would be way beyond our budget now or in the future. 

I would not be in favour of 3G or 4G plastic pitch as there are too many unanswered questions with them especially as it relates to player injuries, impact on existing joint injuries, and also now to cancer clusters because of the rubber used as part of the overall carpet in these pitches. 

There’s really no such thing as 4G or even 5G (as they claim to have at QoS). You might argue that some 3G pitches are more advanced than others but even then you’d be using computer OS update numbers like 3.1 etc ?

My local club consulted with a provider of artificial pitches and that is what we were told - although they could have been using it to get a sale ?

9 minutes ago, TheMantis said:

There’s really no such thing as 4G or even 5G (as they claim to have at QoS). You might argue that some 3G pitches are more advanced than others but even then you’d be using computer OS update numbers like 3.1 etc ?

My local club consulted with a provider of artificial pitches and that is what we were told - although they could have been using it to get a sale ?

Will 4G not give us quicker download speeds ?

Its no from me even if the club had the money to spend.

A 4G pitch compared with what?

With a grass billiard table grown 12 months of the year with the help of ray bulbs and perfect drainage. Grass wins every time.

Compared however with our pitch which now has dodgy drainage and become bare and tufted by January and has the ball bobbling all over the place?? How many injuries has this contributed to?

Don’t see how we can finance the installation without a gift of an interest free loan

28 minutes ago, Tree said:

Don’t see how we can finance the installation without a gift of an interest free loan

Or a grant from the local authority.  If a condition was that the pitch had to be made available to the community.... well, haven't we all been saying that the club should have more involvement in the community?

Might help persuade some of that community to come and watch ICT matches!

Rather not have Rooney with skinned knees while celebrating in front of the Dingwall Bunch...

Robbo is the most knowledgable person I have ever spoken to about the use of artificial pitches.  I recall him telling me he was involved in or was very close to, some study that was done on their use in Scandinavia or something.  If he reckons there's a product out there that could work for us, then I think people should listen.

We're not the ones who have to play on it, and I don't see any argument that it leads to an inferior quality of game.  I know there was the big thing from the PFA recently, but listening to players talking about it...both when I was in a position to talk to them directly and what's been said in the press...then the older players see the merit of it, but are at a stage of their career where it would be tough to adapt.  Younger players will tell you that they have had more exposure to it and wouldn't have any major objection.

In fact, from memory, the thing that I recall Robbo talking about was that it's the transition from grass to artificial that causes the greatest problem for players by way of injury...and those are injuries related to additional/different stresses as opposed to the argument made for "catching a stud" or "going over on  an ankle" etc...for which there is no evidence to support any more likelihood.  Players who have grown up using it or who play on it regularly don't suffer the same problems.

We're all very good at moaning that "money always comes first", be it the financial benefits of a plastic pitch for a club, TV money for Semi-Finals or whatever...however, the truth is that just to sustain the level we are at and the costs that come with it....then ticket prices would have to at least treble (at current attendance levels) if you took all these other 'bothersome considerations' out of the equation.

Where's the money coming from?  We seemed to manage to find about £1.5 Million to spend on as yet unexplained items in the year ending May 2018...enough to install at least 3 artificial pitches...so ?‍♂️

No.

Everyone should play on the same type of surface, plastic pitches are the ultimate form of home advantage to those that have it.

So, all grass, or plastic or whatever the flavour of the day may be, as long as it's a level playing field.

 

Worth mentioning that all football in Iceland is played on artificial surfaces, and also the Faroe Islands, and then, carrying on south for about 300  miles, guess what’s the next country you come to ?

They don’t even attempt to play in the winter, either.

As someone with a long term back injury/weakness who has played on these pitches it's an absolute NO, for some reason the injury flares up every time you play on these surfaces. To be fair, it doesn't play that much differently from grass and the ball travels true and fast if wet but it's no surprise that certain Scottish  International players are given an exemption when it comes to playing on these artificial surfaces they absolutely exacerbate existing injuries/weak points which does not happen with grass.

Now we've got ICTFC players hiding behind nicknames on here.

Wynthank ,

I suffer from lower back pain at at 81 years of age I which I think is caused by a great reduction in physical exercise or activity  as you age.  Instead of moving the body around at work in all kinds of different positions you watch a lot of T V etc.. To alleviate I stretch the muscles in the backside and upper legs and that does make a notable difference. Like lying on a bed and wrapping your arms around your upper thighs higher than the knees and pulling back gently.

As  for players, it might just be that the tension in their back resulting from playing on a surface to which their brain and body has not yet acclimatised,  is why the tension builds and then a small strain in that area just does damage which is then hard to heal because further exercise on such surfaces just feeds the damage and,  of course, further tension.

19 hours ago, Scarlet Pimple said:

Wynthank ,

I suffer from lower back pain at at 81 years of age I which I think is caused by a great reduction in physical exercise or activity  as you age.  Instead of moving the body around at work in all kinds of different positions you watch a lot of T V etc.. To alleviate I stretch the muscles in the backside and upper legs and that does make a notable difference. Like lying on a bed and wrapping your arms around your upper thighs higher than the knees and pulling back gently.

As  for players, it might just be that the tension in their back resulting from playing on a surface to which their brain and body has not yet acclimatised,  is why the tension builds and then a small strain in that area just does damage which is then hard to heal because further exercise on such surfaces just feeds the damage and,  of course, further tension.

Scarlet,

You second para is spot on, your hamstrings, gluts and lower back all tighten putting strain on discs and surrounding tissue, I've had physios having to use their elbows to loosen off some of the muscles I think it has everything to do with the base used under these pitches which is not as forgiving as grass. I think the exercise you do will definitely help, a more radical variation of the same exercise is, find a table that is a comfortable height, lay one leg at 90 degrees on the table, keeping the other leg straight, then lean forward slowly, you will feel the stretch in your hammys, gluts and lower back, then repeat with the other leg. These are big muscles and need a strong stretch regularly to lengthen them.

Now that's what I call a reply and I never thought of the exercise using a table. I'll definitely be trying it  soon. Thanks Wyn.

19 hours ago, Scarlet Pimple said:

Now that's what I call a reply and I never thought of the exercise using a table. I'll definitely be trying it  soon. Thanks Wyn.

Once you feel the pull take a deep breath, pause and sink further into the stretch, take it easy little by little after a couple of weeks you will be amazed at how far forward you can go. The higher the table you are able to put your leg on at 90 degrees the stronger the pull obviously. let me know how you get on.

I only started playing regular football at around 50. And mostly on Astro pitches it costs us around £38 for a hour , I now find it harder when we play a game on grass with or without a proper warmup . My thoughts are it is not ideal to go to 4 or 5g pitch but the revenue it could bring into the club would make a very bid difference as   I Am sure it would be hired out nearly Every day of the week when not needed for matches . Just m thoughts and I’ve been a season ticket holder since we played at Telford street as well . 

On 3/20/2019 at 8:30 PM, caleyblue29 said:

I only started playing regular football at around 50. And mostly on Astro pitches it costs us around £38 for a hour , I now find it harder when we play a game on grass with or without a proper warmup . My thoughts are it is not ideal to go to 4 or 5g pitch but the revenue it could bring into the club would make a very bid difference as   I Am sure it would be hired out nearly Every day of the week when not needed for matches . Just m thoughts and I’ve been a season ticket holder since we played at Telford street as well . 

Surely 5 a sides at that price? 

I salute you though. I stopped 11 a sides at age 38 and 5 a sides about age 42. The most I could run nowadays would be about 3 laps of @RedCard

Robbo did say at the AGM that the pitch at the rugby club was spot on and great to train on. No risk to injury prone players either like Doran so that is a plus. He did also say that he would take a good quality grass pitch any day as I think most players and fans would. The problem the club has is our pitch is dreadful due to the under soil heating but a 4g pitchbis very expensive. I'd go grass over plastic

Edited March 22, 20197 yr by Doofer

4G pitch is expensive but the cost of maintenance is surely lower than grass, and you might have opportunities to gain income by allowing other local clubs to use it. BUT we are at enough of a disadvantage with recruiting players because of our location,  I think having an artificial pitch might put some players off signing for us. 

LIght Welter--thoughtful post and probably very close to the truth old chap.

The "Old Chap" thing is from my past of long ago. Don''t take it literally it just means "auld buddy". But actually you do look in really good shape . I started taking a can of beer every odd night recently and now there is the makings of a decent beer belly. which made me think of IHE and I stopped the practice immediately 'cos I want to be able to still climb on the bike. The moral of this story is simple ……………."don't get old...."

Would only consider Astor turf if Tommy was to retire

I know it's off topic but any idea where the 'Womens team finally' post disappeared to