Message Board - Magazine Feedback: out of context photos .
2 Mar 2010 by stevejack1
Just another point that really winds me up , is our trade magazines that print photos of pitches and golf courses obviously in the summer months in the winter issues . It would be more beneficial to all groundsman to relay the true state of pitches in winter , and what the groundsman believe they may of done wrong and what they will do to remedy the situations . Also today on talksport Dave Saltman (head of pitchcare) tried to defend Wembley stadium pitch . I know we all want to defend our industry against criticism but come on Dave to say it was down to the groundsman not being able to get on the pitch for rehearsals at 10 o'clock is a bit weak .
My pitches are as good as they are now because of the work done at the end of last season , I know that stadiums are different and that Wembley is even more different . We have the best people in the whole industry trying to rectify Wembley and we still have'nt got it right . It is relaid too often, due to other events and the turf never gets time to bed in . One of the best groundsman in our industry lost his job because of the relaying fiasco , don't make excuses say it as it is .Leave the pitch all year with full lighting rigs and good maintenance and you wont have a problem .
3 Mar 2010 by Dave
Terrific points Steve! You should get a job with the tabloids or Hort week as you have chosen to pick out of an interview only what you want to hear.
I will continue to defend this Industry to the hilt mate.
I suggested to the radio presenters the following facts:
-that we'd endured the worst winter in 30 years,
-the week pre-ceeding the Carling Cup Final was freezing, with snow followed by rain,
-that 35mm of rain fell through Saturday and Sunday morning,
-the Wembley pitch was covered to stop it becoming saturated,
-that Wembley is completely different to your average Premier or football league ground in the build up to these big TV games,
-that the groundstaff would have their hands tied to a large degree by pre-event rehearsals/media, meaning little work would be carried out after first thing match day morning.
So their windows of opportunity to prepare for this match would have been limited to say the least.
In days of old, Wembley was revered as the home of pitches, it had few games and always had a good head of grass on it. These days the corporate needs have taken over and it is a highly over used stadium.
Wembley will never be able to get it right for every game, possibly even if they were able to returf the pitch before each event. Oh and relaying is the only option, why not take some time to look at the real event schedule at Wembley and then tell me 'that leaving the pitch all year with full lighting rigs and good maintenance and you wont have a problem'.
All of that said, I didn't think that the surface played too badly, the conditions were the same for both sides and the only real criticism came from a Villa player on the losing one.
The point is that we've become victims of our own success with the superb surfaces being turned out across our Premier and Football League grounds by our excellent Groundsmen. James Milner should be grateful that at Villa Park he has one of the best pitches in the world to play on, if only every other week.
3 Mar 2010 by Leeboy
'the only real criticism came from a Villa player on the losing one.'
And the permanently crippled scouser!
3 Mar 2010 by Pitchcare Peter
On the subject of photos ...
The latest issue of Pitchcare had its fair share of winter images with only the Stourbridge GC - Craig Beet article showing a summer image, as Steve suggests
Most of our 'people' articles are about the year round work carried out at a facilty, so they are not seasonal.
The issues of light/poor weather during the winter months often means that images are not of a suitable quality for use.
As you know, we like to use large images, quirky headlines and strong quotes to attract the reader to the article.
4 Mar 2010 by ticky21
Dave...i agree with 99.9% of what you are saying apart from....the "old " wembley although regarded as the "hallowed" home of english football, was never really in 100% excellent condition....i remember being sent there to verti-drain it when i was at Kestrel, prior to the last FA Cup final and just after the last Bon Jovi concert, i believe Rob McCullough was groundsman then....and he said that the south side of the pitch always sat wet due to the shadow all day long , not getting any sun on it...
Ticky supports British farmers...!!
4 Mar 2010 by Vic Demain Last edited 4 Mar 2010
Have a look at how Wembley was in 1969, just the best final I ever saw!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4oQTUv37nU
4 Mar 2010 by Dave
Simon,
I didn't say it was good, I just said it usually had a good head of grass on it. Which compared to the mud baths that most other grounds were by the end of the season in those days, made it look a good pitch.
Great video Vic, just shows how people have got short memories and how much Groundsmanship and Greenkeeping has come on in more recent years.
4 Mar 2010 by Nifty Last edited 4 Mar 2010
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I agree with Ticky , the old Wembley is now very much viewed with rose coloured glasses , the fact is it was rarely in really good condition and led to many a dull game there. The next time Talksport try and lay the blame with this industry remind them the REAL problem is that the powers that be decided that we had to have such a multi-purpose facility and the endless relaying and other uses inevitably mean that especially at this time of year it will always be far from ideal. We should seriously look at other options for hosting international matches friendly or otherwise at certain points in the calendar especially when we have such good facilities elsewhere in the country , a lot of people enjoyed the rotation of England matches at St Mary's , Anfield etc when Wembley was being re-built , so why not play some matches at other venues , I dare say the press would have a field day at first claiming we have built a national venue we cannot use but if we could get past the initial objections and get them to see the bigger picture ?? *carries on dreaming*
oh and my out of context picture , you can rely on me...
Its got to be purrrfect
5 Mar 2010 by Parken
Morning All
I was privileged to work at the Old Wembley and when you compare the old pitch with others it was a decent surface for the players. Steve Braddock at the gunners was at the time raising the bar in the industry standards and that was the best pitch in the country and still is. Its important to put it all into context
Old Wembley did enjoy a covering of poa and the drainage issues where down to thatch. When you out those together with a good % percentage grass cover you are going to create an energy sapping slow surface, but in comparison to others at the time it was superior.
Robx , why should the powers that be held responsible, surely they have been advised that all their dreams are possible and the strategy Wembley decided upon would cater for all events, they don’t actually have that many events and if they are relaying the surface they should not matter. That is the whole point of investing £100,000+ in multi use stadia.
Steve the pitch has been illuminated all winter with lighting rigs. I advised all on the message board in September "light way"last year that all pitches with SGL would struggle to grow grass when it gets cold. It got cold guys and the pitches without grassmaster struggled. Ibrox looks well though?
It’ a bad winter, trust me its not been sunny in Copenhagen and my challenge as I write today is I need to cut the pitch as we are training on it tomorrow but due to the air temperature -10 the leaf continually freezes where the lights are not situated.
Enjoy the day
Chris
5 Mar 2010 by Parken
i got loads like these if you wish
Steve when i give presentations i do offer the good and bad pics , it would be pointless otherwise
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