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Pitches and how do you know whether they are playable or not????


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St Agnes are presently using two pitches Enys Parc and a 2nd pitch at Chiverton.

Two home fixtures this week 1st V Wendron at Enys Parc and St Agnes 3rd V Marazion at Chiverton pitch

Both pitches were assessed at 11am and considered fit to be played on.

The referee for the 3rd teams fixture at Chiverton telephoned at 12.30 to ask if game was still on as he didn't want to come to St Agnes and waste his time and our money - ref arrives - both teams present - ref decides pitch not playable - St Agnes pay ref and everyone has to go home - our main pitch at Enys Parc was far worse than the one at Chiverton but ref considered it suitable to play on - game goes ahead - Enys Parc is now wrecked - Chiverton wasn't played on but was in a far better condition with respect to water etc - are there any clear accessible guide line please on the difference so apparently displayed between two referees assessments of pitch suitability?

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In reply to condition of Chiverton pitch, near side 18 yard box was a mud bath and pitch was being marked on arrival, but as it was raining hard at this time not much chance of any visible lines during the match.

Most of pitch was in decent condition but because of 18 yard box and lack of markings pretty easy decision to make!! The rain that fell from that point onwards confirmed correct decision was made, but cant comment on why match was deemed playable at Enys Park?

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The Biscovey pitch was superb as was the Duchy pitch beside it. Only got bad during the second half deluge. I also understood Camelfords pitch was excellent.

I think the problem is with the lower league grounds they are either fields who cannot drain quick enough or council pitches who tend to look like swimming pools

The problem with the more senior clubs is that it would cost a fortune to verti drain or slit trench their piches and they to will not drain. Then you have the pitches where the numpties chuck tons of sand on them which makes them even worse as they become very boggy.

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Guest Postie Pidge

Gorgie, or any of the referees who post on here, why not post the 'tests' you do in making the decision whether or not a game can/should go ahead?

I've seen the car key test to check for a frozen pitch but if there's two or three tips that can be given, maybe this problem will make life easier for all involved.

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And also the only way you can get the Subs off the pitch is by using depth charges?

Slightly straying off the original topic but i have now combined 2 together!!! ;0) :lol:

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Georgie, I don't think Mandy was complaining about the game being called off at Chivvy. In hindsight it was the totally correct decision, cos if the game had gone ahead up there, that pitch would have been ruined as well. At 11am, both pitches would have been fine cos the weather wasn't to bad. Enys Parc should never have been played on. The referee should have taken that into account when he arrived. The ball wasn't rolling through the middle of the pitch. A few people up the club have worked hard over the summer and the beginning of the season to get the pitch looking the best it has for years, and now all that hard work has been undone!

Ok, the game got played and finished, but in hindsight it should never have started in the first place

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A few people up the club have worked hard over the summer and the beginning of the season to get the pitch looking the best it has for years, and now all that hard work has been undone!

Ok, the game got played and finished, but in hindsight it should never have started in the first place

Pretty much the same situation at Peranporth. A lot of hard work was ruined yesterday. Timing was the main problem I think. At half 12 it was all sunshine and roses and by the time the rain came it was too late to call it off. Having said that everyone knew the weather forecast so most people would have seen the sense in calling it off at the last minute. And on top of that we wouldn't have got beat 2-1!!

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Unfortuneatley there is no black and white to the pitch situation. Yesterday was a classic example of this, at 1030 our pitch was inspected and declared fit, no problem with that. The rain started at 1.00 and continued through the game. The pitch was, up until the last 15 minutes, playable, by this time we were winning 9-0 and poor Eddie Corcoran would have been on a hiding to nothing had he called the game off then. As it was he exercised good sense and penalised anything that looked even suspicious. The question here is how do we know when to call off a game. Apart from the obvious signs of it holding water on the surface, as a rule of thumb that has always worked for me, walk on the pitch, if can see your footprint etched in mud it's dodgy. Try then and mark a line, if the marker leaves a track where the wheels have been, and is pulling mud up through the grass and the white line is blurred, then you've probably got good grounds to call it off. In my experience there are very few referees who have the ability to judge a ground, mainly because no one ever teaches them! I am very lucky to have on tap, a class 5 referee who knows his stuff and will look at the pitch at the drop of a hat, he ain't been wrong yet. As regards our pitches, it is going to take a lot of effort to get them back to condition for next weekend, but in our 10 years at Trevassack it is only the second time that the extremes of yesterday have persisted through a whole match. So don't be too despondant Mandy, you aren't alone with problems. Just to cheer you up this weather is forecast until at least Tuesday, so the pitches will get a good wash!

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Thank you for all the suggestions - to clarify I was not aiming my comments at either of the referees on the day but trying to establish how two pitches were judged so differently by two different referees. Both pitches were considered fit when assessed in the morning - the weather started to come in and one referee decided to cancel on a pitch that was in a much better state than the one that the referee decided to play on.

Do referees actually get written guideline as to how to assess a pitch - if so could clubs also have a copy - if they don't perhaps there should be something?

The result on the day was 3 points for St Agnes - but yes Ian I am despondent because so much effort, hard work, money and time has continued to be ploughed (!) in at Enys Parc and we could probably plant potatoes up the middle again today - other fixtures were cancelled yesterday and other clubs manage to look after the welfare of their pitches better than we were allowed to.

The pitch is having a good wash today and the ducks and seagulls have moved in - we cancelled our ladies fixture today (obviously) although one supporters did suggest they fancied seeing St Agnes Ladies mud-wrestling St Breward Ladies this afternoon (sorry Darren - I felt I needed to share that fantasy!) lets pray a day or two of dry weather before the end of the week!

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If you wanted to see 'mud wrestling' then you should have been with me and a thousand or so others at Camborne RFC yesterday, for the Pirates v Northampton match. Never seen anything like it, at the end the majority of players were undistinguishable - head to toe in mud. You had to laugh. Full marks to both sides for a sporting contest played in atrocious conditions. :smiley20:

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I think the easy way to test if a pitch is playable or not is to bounce the ball, if its too hard it will bounce quite high, if its too wet it wont bounce at all.

:mellow:

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Thank you David Bray for the invite to mud-wrestling - I will of course pass it on to Darren - sadly I think it was the thought of 'ladies' mud-wrestling rather than just mud-wrestling that was appealing.

Thanks to Ian Gregory for the phone call and the usual excellent pitch maintenance advice!

Let me remember it started with how to remove the ducks, ploughing the middle, then planting the potatoes, harvesting them and starting all over again! I think half of the pitch is in the kit bag which I am really looking forward to getting stuck into - I concur completely Ronin it is turning the socks around the right way that proves most disgusting!

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IF WE ARE DOING A "JUNIOR" LEAGUE GAME ON A PUBLIC PARK PLAYING FIELD THEN I PRIMARILY CONSIDER THE SAFETY OF THE PLAYERS AS TO WHETHER IT IS WORTH PLAYING. I DO NOT NECESSARILY WORRY ABOUT THE QUALITY OF PLAYABLE FOOTBALL.

IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES I WISH THAT THE HOME TEAM COULD MAKE THE DECISION AND INFORM THE AWAY TEAM AND THE REF WELL BEFORE THEY ALL LEAVE HOME.

IF IT IS A "SENIOR" LEAGUE THEN THE QUALITY OF PLAYABLE FOOTBALL IS CONSIDERED BECAUSE WE HAVE TO CONSIDER THE ENTRANCE FEE PAYING PUBLIC AND THE FACT THAT NOBODY WILL APPRECIATE IT IF YOU ABANDON THE GAME IN THE FIRST HALF HAVING GIVEN IT YOUR BEST SHOT AT STARTING THE GAME.

A BIT VAGUE BUT THAT'S HOW I DO IT.

IT'S A TOUGH DECISION TO MAKE AT THE TIME AND WILL ALWAYS BE UNPOPULAR WHETHER YOU ARE RIGHT OR WRONG BUT IF I'VE TRAVELLED AND GIVEN UP MY WEEKEND FOR A MATCH, I REALLY WANT THE GAME TO GO AHEAD.

SAFETY FIRST EVERY TIME I'M AFRAID.

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Guest johnner

On a council owned pitch who makes the decision to cancel?The council employed groundsman or ref,bearing in mind its our council tax which pays the groundsman for all his hours spent repairing the pitch.Also was told on sat that next weeks game already very doubtful. <_<

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At Kerrier we ask the groundsman what they are like. We know what the pitches will take and more to the point what it will take to repair them cost etc. Looking at them at present it's not looking could for this weekend. i can understand teams getting upset by not being able to play but they must consider the damage it will cause to the pitch.

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