Torquay United Fans Forum

Even with the best groundsman in the world the amount of water we have been deluged would deem any pitch unplayable. It's been horrendous !! The summer was one of the wettest on record and the winter has been worse

Just a thought: many years ago the club ran a regular reserve team in the South Western League, so the Plainmoor pitch was in constant use week after week. And yet less harm was done to the pitch then, than we've seen in modern times with just the first team and occasional friendlies. Given that our reserve team, when we have one, plays only a few matches each season, surely there must be a way of getting the pitch back to its best and maintaining it in reasonable condition for a reasonable cost?

[quote="Gulliball"]How long would it last for though? It will still need full time ground staff and a lot of money to keep the pitch looking good. The artificial pitch removes all these costs too as the upkeep is minimal for 15 years ahead. It's not a route I would like to see us go down, but you can understand the financial advantages for Clubs like us and I can see it being the future of football as technology improves.

Even with the cost of postponements, a new pitch would be a huge expenditure for us at a time we cannot afford it, so I imagine we will make do as we are for the future.[/quote]

Agreed, had I realised Plymouths pitch had a total cost of £500k the nature of my posts on this subject would have been different, at that cost clearly not an option.

As a general meant point, the problems I see with renting out any artificial pitch is the club would need to have a member of staff on hand at all times to ensure correct footwear was being worn at all times, as screw in studs and blades can tear astro turf, and the pitch was overall being used in the correct manner, and lighting, having the floodlights on would make renting it expensive unless portable lighting could be used. When you consider that TCC, PCC and South Dartmoor rent theirs out and have netting so more than one group can use it at one time, so I imagine keeping the cost of renting it out down for the user. Also as we all know 3 and 4g astro turf does need regular combing/raking and it can freeze so their would be maintenance costs with it.

For all that said, what the club can not do during the summer is nothing, I know we are not the only club affected, but our pitch is up their with the worst around now, its embarrasing to think W.B.B junior football club got most of their games on last weekend as did other local clubs who do not have the money for up keep and so called professional ground staff. What I am thinking now is a much cheaper new pitch option maybe.

its not just our pitch, just look at all the other teams that have had games called off, sheff utd pitch looked far worse than ours on tv the other day, reminded me of the seventies. plastic is a no no for me and hope it stays banned.

Looks as if the best option for us at the present time is a quick patch and repair job when the season's over, to install good drainage on the worst parts of the pitch. This would cost relatively little and would increase the chances of a game in bad weather. We rarely get snow and ice in Torquay. Rain is the big problem.

Plus the fact that many people stay at home if there's a hint of a shower or if the temperature drops below 10 degrees, but that's a separate issue!

An artificial pitch, if and when it's allowed by the League, appears to be a good idea to increase income for the club, but would it really bring in that much? If we were a large conurbation such as Plymouth or Bristol it would make sense, but we are still just an average seaside town, so I have doubts that the club would be able to get sufficient use from a plastic pitch to justify the cost. Yes it's possible, but the expenses and the projected revenues need to be worked out very carefuly and founded in realism..

How long would it last for though? It will still need full time ground staff and a lot of money to keep the pitch looking good. The artificial pitch removes all these costs too as the upkeep is minimal for 15 years ahead. It's not a route I would like to see us go down, but you can understand the financial advantages for Clubs like us and I can see it being the future of football as technology improves.

Even with the cost of postponements, a new pitch would be a huge expenditure for us at a time we cannot afford it, so I imagine we will make do as we are for the future.

Ah thank you Gulliball, I and others were clearly unware that Plymouths pitch had in total cost £500k, indeed it would have been helpful if that info had been posted earlier, as a number of us had been posting about Plymouths pitch for the last 2 months.

Yes that does change everything, our club does not have £500k for a 3g pitch either, yes I am aware of the imcome potential of a 3g pitch, however how much does it cost the club each season to postpone anywhere between 1-5 + matchs a season, it would take a hell of lot longer but a better ptich would in time pay for itself aswell.

And with the state of our pitch, which may well now be the worst in the football league, and the forward weather forecast for yet more and more rain, we can not be at all surprised if yet more games are lost to the weather.

I think it makes quite a big difference as far as we are concerned. Plymouth's pitch cost £500k, and they paid £150k of that and then left the remaining £350k owed to Inscapes as an unsecured creditor, so they got 0.7p in the pound. Meaning of the £350 000, the company received £2 450. There is quite a big difference between £500 000 and £152 450.

We do not have a spare half a million lying around for a better pitch. The only way we will make a sizeable investment in the pitch is if it is going to pay for itself in rental income, ie a 3G pitch. Then it becomes a source of income rather than a cost. As much as I’m sure everyone would prefer a grass pitch, a £500k bill to copy Plymouth that will not generate us any extra money is not going to happen.

The fact Plymouth did not pay for their pitch is niether here nor as far as we are concerned, I said in my reply back on page 1, why don't we look at the same type of pitch Plymouth had installed. as there is no substitute for grass. Their pitch is sand based which aids drainage, and I believe it has a proper drainage system built in underneath.

Now the point as far as money, and who is going to pay for it and what with is a simple one. Our chairman was on T.V talking about how the club like to spend £600k on a 3g plastic pitch but cant because it is against the rules right now, so for £350k, 50 % cheaper we could have pitch thats not against the rules now and give us pretty much the same guarantee of getting a game on as a plastic pitch would.

Because as pointed out on Nickgulls thread on the league 2 forum, if the roads and pathways into and around the ground are iced over or snowed covered, plastic pitch or not the game could still be called off, and I surpose if the other team cant travel because of the weather the plastic pitch wont help you much either.

The only difference is with a 3g pitch there is extra income that can earnt from it.

[quote="Gulliball"]If we could follow Plymouth's example and not pay the £350k (or 0.7% of it) owed to Inscapes for their work on the pitch then it would be a great deal for us. If we intend to pay for it, we may have to go for something cheaper.[/quote]

Spot on. They made the decison on their pitch knowing they were heading for administration so got it for pretty much nothing. Sickening behaviour on their part but they get away with it - much like Swindon.

If we could follow Plymouth's example and not pay the £350k (or 0.7% of it) owed to Inscapes for their work on the pitch then it would be a great deal for us. If we intend to pay for it, we may have to go for something cheaper.

Not that long ago either, we had a decent pitch, though in retrospect I suspect it was probably high maintenance, and over the years the Plainmoor surface was always prone to waterlogging.

But if the League will not allow an artificial pitch, perhaps we should follow Plymouth Argyle's example and have a completely new pitch with proper drainage installed and an appropriate type of grass..

What happened to our pitch anyway? I seem to remember a few years ago a lot of money was spent on drainage and relaying it with some special type of hard wearing grass, we had some wonderkind groundsman in and it was the best thing ever!?!

As for getting a modern 'plastic' pitch, why not! For small clubs like us the hassles and expense involved in postponing matches is just too much.
I'm assuming for example the Exeter game reeded extra Policing and stewarding paying for twice?

Would there be any possibility of getting some government funding if we can use a new pitch in partnership with Westlands, in the same way as the classrooms under Bristow's Bench?

There are artificial pitches at a lot of the other schools in the area (Paignton College, Audley Park and Torquay Grammar all have them), so it seems to be something schools are keen on these days.

[quote="Richinns"]I can see the benefits for training and reserve games etc but how would it help bring the community to the club Lloyd?[/quote]
By being a facility that is availble all year around for local clubs to train on. You would have adults and kids rolling up to Plainmoor to train and play football (or other sports). Great opportunity for the club to market itself,provide serivces. B&L would also get more business etc.