Artificial Pitches

[BaaBaaRedSheep]

After Saturday's match against Livvy, where some of the post match comments on here have been measured and merited and some have been over the top for a season opener, thought I would review last season's home statistics for both Kilmarnock and Livingston. 

Both sides lost 5 times at home which, once defeats to the arse cheeks taken into account was reduced to 2 defeats each.

These statistics would clearly demonstrate that both Kilmarnock and Livingston, who are not top six standard, have a clear advantage over most teams with regard playing on their own awful, artificial pitches.

Are artificial pitches acceptable in the English Premier? Don't think they are. So is it not about time that they were outlawed in our top league?

 

 

 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, BaaBaaRedSheep said:

After Saturday's match against Livvy, where some of the post match comments on here have been measured and merited and some have been over the top for a season opener, thought I would review last season's home statistics for both Kilmarnock and Livingston. 

Both sides lost 5 times at home which, once defeats to the arse cheeks taken into account was reduced to 2 defeats each.

These statistics would clearly demonstrate that both Kilmarnock and Livingston, who are not top six standard, have a clear advantage over most teams with regard playing on their own awful, artificial pitches.

Are artificial pitches acceptable in the English Premier? Don't think they are. So is it not about time that they were outlawed in our top league?

Good point, well made. It's no shock to see Killie's home record last season, which esentially is the reason they stayed up. Their away form was awful.

Anyone that says it's not an advantage to the home side, is on drugs.

100% agree it should be banned in Premier division in Scotland.

[minijc]

4 minutes ago, BaaBaaRedSheep said:

After Saturday's match against Livvy, where some of the post match comments on here have been measured and merited and some have been over the top for a season opener, thought I would review last season's home statistics for both Kilmarnock and Livingston. 

Both sides lost 5 times at home which, once defeats to the arse cheeks taken into account was reduced to 2 defeats each.

These statistics would clearly demonstrate that both Kilmarnock and Livingston, who are not top six standard, have a clear advantage over most teams with regard playing on their own awful, artificial pitches.

Are artificial pitches acceptable in the English Premier? Don't think they are. So is it not about time that they were outlawed in our top league?

 

 

 

We won more games at home than they did, is grass giving us an unfair advantage? 

[Dynamo]

You'd need to compare it to the likes of similar standard of teams like Motherwell who played home games on grass before drawing any conclusions.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, minijc said:

We won more games at home than they did, is grass giving us an unfair advantage? 

We also won more away games ya bampot! It wasn't by much, but that was in part due to the clown who was managing us before Barry stopped the rot.

[minijc]

1 minute ago, Tinyweelad said:

We also won more away games ya bampot! It wasn't by much, but that was in part due to the clown who was managing us before Barry stopped the rot.

No need to get abusive you silly old cunt.

[Ernie McCracken]

Dunno if it's giving an unfair advantage to the home team as even the Livvy players seemed to struggle with the pitch.  But that tells its own story of just how shit their pitch is, if the team that gets to train on it and play on it every second week, looks just as perplexed by it as we did.

Sat has made my mind up on artificial pitches. I'm fully on board with these being banned from the top league.  Perhaps the the league can ring-fence some of the prize money as a "pitch bursary", because Livingstons pitch is a fucking embarrassment.

[fine-n-dandy]

Plastic pitches are utterly SHITE & definitely give SHITE.sides an advantage. That is an undeniable fact. 
Definitely should be banned from top flight leagues. 
Hearts will be installing one next when they realise/remember their soccer sixes win 🤔

[bonzodaddy73]

Anyone arguing for the inclusion and use of these pitches is best ignored, which i don't think there are many to be fair. They make our already joke of a league look even worse imo.

[aberdeen1970]

I think in England you are allowed hybrid which is up to 95%/5% in terms of grass/artificial. 

I think our pitch is similar to the above 

[Sheeptastic]

I don't think there should be artificial pitches in the top flight. I feel like there is more of a risk of injuries on them - the evidence in support of that might be inconclusive, I'm not sure. I'm not as concerned about the impact they have on playing football, we've not really struggled against Kilmarnock on theirs until last season and we've beaten Livingston there before.

If I'm being honest, I don't know how much Livi's or our performance on Saturday was down to the pitch at all. Their game plan was clearly to be physical, confine the space, slow play down, isolate our creative players and try to get a goal at set pieces. They play the same way on grass. It's not pleasing on the eye but it's the approach they've chosen with the limited resources they have. I don't like it, I hope they go down but that is their choice.

We have to find a way to counter it and on Saturday - like a number of times in the past - we didn't manage it.

That said, we didn't lose either and I'd guess enough teams will lose there this season to justify their approach. 

[JakieBastard]

The Livi pitch is particularly bad next to others I've seen. It's absolutely smothered in rubber pellets which obviously slows the roll of the ball completely. 

A few times on Saturday a long ball would be played (there were plenty of them) and normally you'd expect it to skip on and run out of play, the ball sticks on the surface and holds up more.

Could be easily fixed if they watered the pitch before games but they choose not to do that, to stop the better teams from being able to pass it around.

[Helmet]

I’d ban them from the top flight but give both clubs 2 years notice.

It’s tough on them because they make money from these pitches but we should want our top flight league to be playing decent standard of football and these pitches don’t encourage that.

[Reed or deed]

It only really gives them any sort of advantage against shit teams.

 

[Ernie McCracken]

Hacked and Vilnius both have artificial pitches 😳

[aberdeen1970]

Just now, Ernie McCracken said:

Hacked and Vilnius both have artificial pitches 😳

Don't get them started, Ernie. Ffs!! 

[Mr John]

It's a significant variable in a match, yes, and I'd like to see consistency across the whole league (grass pitches only FFS). They're mostly derided it seems.

There's not a lot of up to date info on the subject, but here's an article from 2019:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45903364

 

[englishred]

9 hours ago, aberdeen1970 said:

I think in England you are allowed hybrid which is up to 95%/5% in terms of grass/artificial. 

I think our pitch is similar to the above 

Correct.

 

Down here you are allowed plastic pitches up until National League .  Plastic is banned i believe in all league football.  I have no idea why they allow it in the SPFL at championship/ premier level

[GeorgeStreetReds]

We won't be able to vote them out until only one team in the league has one due to Stu Milne (the muppet).

[aberdeen1970]

12 hours ago, englishred said:

Correct.

 

Down here you are allowed plastic pitches up until National League .  Plastic is banned i believe in all league football.  I have no idea why they allow it in the SPFL at championship/ premier level

They would have been better years ago asking clubs to invest in their pitches rather than building 10000 seater stadiums that most clubs will never fill.

[PondHopper]

Barenbrug rpr with spoon fed nitrogen and iron should be mandatory on every pitch and lawn (garden) in the cool season zone.

[Proud Dandy]

14 hours ago, GeorgeStreetReds said:

We won't be able to vote them out until only one team in the league has one due to Stu Milne (the muppet).

Could have voted them out in the 2021-2022 season when Livingston were the only club with a plastic pitch 

[Jigsaw666]

Plastic pitches have no place being in the top league or even the championship imo. Nor in any European competition for that matter.