[Archived] Half Time Pitch Treatment

[Tris]

The (idiot) ITV commentators got all upset tonight, when at half time the ground staff at Benfica's Stadium of Light chose to only repair and re-water the end of the ground which Liverpool would be defending in the second half.

Those commentators obviously weren't at Old Trafford for the League Cup semi final against little Rovers, when Manchester United appeared to use similar tactics when treating the playing surface at half time. Or perhaps because little Rovers shouldn't even be in a semi final, it was fine for MU to doctor the pitch in thier own favour for the crucial last quarter of the tie.

Sentiment aside, I really don't like this latest installment in the "win at all costs" mentality which is threatening the integrity of our game. The Chelsea v Barcelona match tomorrow should be a classic football encounter, but is already marred by what happened last time and the unfortunate retirement of referee Anders Frisk which followed. That was caused by a war of words intended to create a psychological advantage - again just wrong in the context of fair play. This year Barcelona have instigated the war of words, using Chelsea's playing surface as the trigger.

At least Chelsea's crap pitch looks like it will be the same for both sides tomo (although I wouldn't put it beyond them to helicopter in a new penalty area at half time and drop it at one end) - but the accusation by Barca that their own passing style will be disadvantaged just adds fuel to this particular fire.

The phrase "level playing field" is a cliche for sure, but there is something very distasteful about clubs in top level football treating the playing surface as a potential tactical advantage. Especially if this extends to demarking different zones when they come to prepare the surface for the second half of a game.

Players can still be punished on the pitch for ungentlemanly conduct. Maybe FIFA / UEFA / the FA should be looking more closely at the way clubs behave.

[thenodrog]

Players can still be punished on the pitch for ungentlemanly conduct.  Maybe FIFA / UEFA / the FA should be looking more closely at the way clubs behave.

385693[/snapback]

It might be a good idea to compare Maureens whinges about Ewood Park after the game last year to his current comments regarding Barca's objections. Are the press/media asleep or what?

.....time to email a few organisations in the press / media pointing this out maybe?

[Florida Rover]

Yeah,don't forget about our ,ahem, 'microclimate'.

[Cocker]

Thats nothing, I watched the Arsenal match and was apauld by the treatment that I (yes me) received from their pundits.

Ally Mcoist and Andy Towsend were making me feel sick with their drivel. They rabbit on about nothing. They watched a totally different game than the one I did. Just because Arsenal played and beat Real Madrid dosent mean they were outstanding like they claimed by rating all the Arsenal players 8 or 9 out of 10 when really only Henry deserved any praise. The standing next to the pitch look how great we are they have got going on really grates me too along with their smug faces. The kiss bottom (think I can only get away with saying that) attitude they have to EVERYONE gets on my nerves.

I got so annoyed at one point I had to mute the sound on the two clowns.

Anyway, Wednesday morning rant over

[thenodrog]

What about the irony in the claims that Arsenal are the first British team to ever win at the Bernabau? British ffs!? Real actually fielded 2 more Brits!

That poncy Champions League gets more farcical each year.

[American]

I'm all for making a favorable pitch for your team. It happens over here in baseball all the time. If a club has faster players without a lot of power, they will cut the lawn short and move the fences back, making the field more helpful to them against slower, home run hitting teams. It's all a part of home field advantage. If you have a slower football team, don't cut the grass as short.

[philipl]

Sorry to rain on your pitch but the cheapskates Maltese TV take the games but not the half time package from Sky. So we get treated to a static camera view of the pitch at half time- all 15 minutes of it.

What happens at OT is that they sprinkle the pitch by sections at HT whilst the bump flatteners and divot replacers do their stuff in the bit where its not raining. So they were watering their end when you were getting your pie Tris.

Very impressed with how they get the water to appear without pipes- must be painful landing on one of those subterranean nozzels.

[ABBEY]

What about the irony in the claims that Arsenal are the first British team to ever win at the Bernabau?  British ffs!?  Real actually fielded 2 more Brits! 

That poncy Champions League gets more farcical each year.

385745[/snapback]

i was ranting same thing at my telly last night "english " team my arse!!!

hope real tonk em in the next leg at least theres more englishmen in theres.

[Ronin]

Prefer to have the Soccer Special with Rob whatisname on instead. Sometimes more entertaining than watching a crap game on the box, inifinitely more entertaining than watching a game on ITV though!!

[brfcshabba]

Prefer to have the Soccer Special with Rob whatisname on instead. Sometimes more entertaining than watching a crap game on the box, inifinitely more entertaining than watching a game on ITV though!!

385830[/snapback]

Rob McCaffrey

Not as good as Jeff Stelling though.

[Ronin]

Rob McCaffrey

Not as good as Jeff Stelling though.

385839[/snapback]

That's the one.

Jeff is an absolute leg-end!!!! Nobody comes close.

Edited February 22, 2006 by Ronin

[M-K]

What happens at OT is that they sprinkle the pitch by sections at HT whilst the bump flatteners and divot replacers do their stuff in the bit where its not raining.

385783[/snapback]

I suppose having your defenders play among loads of divots would be an equal disadvantage for the home team, too.

Whatever a club does to maximise their chances at half-time is all part of the game - home advantage and all that. It's no different from the home fans booing and waving during penalties, or the away team getting the dressing room with rusty nails poking out of the benches.

[philipl]

OK they switch on the sprinklers at one end a quarter of the pitch at a time whilst the divot boys work at the other end. Then after seven minutes, they swap ends. That's what I meant by sections.

A bit like football really.

Perhaps the Mancs have an advantage if the water is fresh and divots were flattened seven minutes ago (or the other way round). Depends how paranoid you are.

[philipl]

All sprinkling and draining new Rovers pitch.

Edited May 31, 2008 by philipl

[Exiled_Rover]

Good, it was looking a little worse for wear at the end of last season.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Looked in superb condition to me against Derby?

[brian_gallagher85]

Yeah it did look well, but you could see in certain games toward the end of the season (i.e. against Utd) that it was starting to get a little bare in patches. Also this new system sounds like it'll help the pitch cope with the torrents of rain it gets during the season

[philipl]

Interestingly back in the mid '90s I happened to get chatting to a sports grounds seeds and turf salesman in a pub in the South Downs. He reckoned that Rovers' Steve Patrick was one of the best groundsmen in any sport in the UK so its good to see Steve's still giving the Ewood pitch his TLC.

Ewood used to get voted regularly the best pitch in the Premier League.

[thenodrog]

Interestingly back in the mid '90s I happened to get chatting to a sports grounds seeds and turf salesman in a pub in the South Downs. He reckoned that Rovers' Steve Patrick was one of the best groundsmen in any sport in the UK so its good to see Steve's still giving the Ewood pitch his TLC.

Ewood used to get voted regularly the best pitch in the Premier League.

Got voted in just once I think. Since then Highbury set the standard and I imagine from TV that the Emirates is continuing in that vein. I must say Anfield is usually excellent too.

[philipl]

My recollection is that Jack invested in underground heating and the Ewood Park drainage even before he did anything about the stadium re-build. The first pitch didn't quite work so he did it again (£1m each time) and Ewood got the best pitch award in second season up. Lost it to Arsenal in 94/5 when there were games before Christmas played in unusually wet conditions and recovered it in 95/6. I am certain there was a WLW.

Since then the technology of pitch preparation has moved on dramatically to the extent that Rovers cannot win again- not because of skimping but the respective climates mean that a perfectly prepared pitch in the south east will almost always beat an identical pitch in the north west.