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By in Football on 25th Feb 2010 17:00

The SPL has accepted Motherwell's assurances that their Fir Park pitch will be fit to host Saturday's match against Kilmarnock but will continue its ongoing inquiry into the poor condition of the controversial surface.

Motherwell were handed a £20,000 suspended fine at the same stage of last season following regular problems with their pitch. Despite spending over £300,000 on improvements last summer, the club have seen the work undone by the severity of the recent winter months.

SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster yesterday condemned the Fir Park pitch as "inadequate" and warned that further action may be taken against Motherwell if the situation does not improve over the next few weeks.

"We have inspected the pitch twice over the last week since the Hibernian game there on Saturday," said Doncaster. "We have met with representatives from Motherwell, including their head groundsman and pitch experts that have been brought in by the club.

"Motherwell are undertaking an extensive and expensive series of remedial works this week. The club have given firm assurances that the remedial works will give the pitch far more stability and will be safe for play this weekend. On that basis, we have decided to allow the match against Kilmarnock to go ahead at Fir Park.

"However, we will be sending our pitch experts to review the state of the surface pre-match, during the game and post-match. If the remedial works prove insufficient to create a safe, stable, adequate surface, we will revisit the situation next week."

Doncaster, commenting in his blog on the SPL website (www.scotprem.com), accepts that Scotland's worst winter for over 30 years provides extenuating circumstances for club groundsmen but remains concerned with a current count of ten matches postponed and one abandoned so far this season.

See the rest of the article on the following link:-Sport.Scotsman.com

Read more articles in Football, by Press Release or from February 2010.



There are 2 comments on this article

26 Feb 2010 by Ecky

Really bad luck with timing, weather, and now pressure to use a pitch which needs recovery.

I saw this pitch just after it was opened and it was fantastic. The scores it has had have been very high until recent cold snap and heavy snow.

What hapened?

Underground heating on, frost covers on, heavy banket of snow, result - cooked rootzone and dead grass plant and roots.

Followed by soaked surface, regular play, continual damage, no chance of growth for recovery. Result - no grass and a destroyed surface

Required - accept the situation, plan the necessary action to speedy recovery. Fining the club will achieve nothing. How can they expect to cause anything but further damage if they play this weekend given the low temperatures, heavy rainfall.

I really feel sympathy for pitch managers given the recent weather. Remind me of all the pros of playing turf sports in the winter? Cold, wet miserable players and spectators, huge expenditure mantaining turf and floodlighting events, injuries to players, lower spectator numbers, postponed events and all the costs etc that go with it.

Ecky

1 Mar 2010 by Paul Jackson

Being in the north east of england, and seeing the severity of the winter we have had here you have to feel sorry for the guys up north. The only solution I can see is a mid season break.

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