Dumbarton Rock

Only half of it has been vertidrained so far.

Surface water shouldn't be a problem if he gets the whole park vertidrained, but that's only one of his numerous problems. I just cleared my green of snow now it's covered in hailstones and just turned to snow. Can't see Greenock so plenty more coming up the water.

For the rest of the season yeh, it'll get chewed up big time. Temps have to go to freezing by 7pm so could start it then abandon it. Stirling boys would love that

It was only one row he put down. It's getting vertidrained just now which is dangerous if it's went soggy with the rain and snow. Defo gives the game a chance but at what cost is the worry.

It's fine he's put some covers down

Water sitting on the surface just now. And I've just received a Sepa flood alert so not looking too promising.

The club bought them 2nd hand many moons ago and they have lay there getting battered by the weather for at least 10 years. The last time I used them was for a scenario very similar to last Tuesday night. I doubled them up and put them down along the stand side as that's the only bit I was worried about. We left them down until the last minute. Unfortunately when we lifted them the frost had got into one of the joins and we had a small patch that was frozen. Ref didn't even give us a chance to work on it, just called it off and disappeared, to say I was pissed off is putting it mildly. Total jobsworth. Back to the covers I wouldn't trust them to do a full pitch but doubling or trebling them over you could defo do part of it.

Wow, didn't see that coming especially as nothing was reported on social media. The only problem would have been the stand side as it gets no sun at this time of year. But it wasn't a heavy frost this morning. If it was still frozen at midday they should have asked for a late afternoon inspection.

The bowling green wasn't even solid this morning and that freezes quicker than a pitch with longer grass. It'll be fine.

Just back home from the Rock BC and it's pretty mild. I'd say you have no problem getting it on.

You won't get a fork in that just now.

M8 getting 11 helpers is brilliant, but I'm curious have any of you guys actually been shown how to fork that pitch so it instantly starts draining. The reason I ask is when I started down there I was forking away and getting nowhere until I got shown how to do it properly and it made some difference, you see it draining away in front of you. Looking at that picture I'd guess 11 guys with forks would have cleared that in half an hour without the need for the pesky sand. I told the groundsman at the very start I would show him stuff or he could call me if he had a problem but he wasn't interested. Cheers.

M8 some of them are a total nightmare especially the younger ones. I remember one day we had worked since 8am on it, there was about 5 of us that day and this old ref came out, walked about and came up to me and said good effort groundsman bit soggy and the ballet dancers will hate getting tights muddy but we've played in a lot worse. Young ones as you say throw the ball up and if it doesn't bounce it's a drama and you couldn't even talk to them to fight your corner. Nightmare.

From my experience it will probably be the match ref that does the inspection. This could be the reason it's that late as he might be coming from Aberdeeen or the likes, too late for local refs as most will be on their way to games. The club always want as late an inspection as possible, simply to get the hospitality punters fed for obvious reasons.

It's not been normal for us to play a whack of fixtures during the festive period for years. In the last decade, we've only had an additional new year game twice (2013 and 18) and there haven't been any scheduled midweek Boxing day fixtures. We did play Livi in 2017 on the 26th but that was a rearranged game having been postponed a few weeks earlier. Last year there were fixtures arranged for Boxing day/2nd January which were both on a Sunday with no game since the previous weekend. I will never forget that Livi game. It was my first game back as groundsman and I spent most of my Xmas Day forking the park to try and get it on.

Guys just to let you know because of a Covid outbreak at the club(Rock BC), we don't have enough members willing to supervise the club on Saturday so unfortunately it is members and regular guests only that will be allowed access. Sorry for the hassle.

Oh dear

Nah watching the curling final lol. If there hasn't been guys down forking it then it has no chance. Unless it's the ref that said to me one day. They get pampered far to much these days let's get out there and get dirty. , my reply was you're not the dafty that has to repair it afterwards

No standing water on the pitch now. Doesn't look as if much work has been done on it since the Rangers game on Saturday. We would have been forking it all week especially today. Quality breeze coming up the river is helping so depending what's to come it has a chance. But will be a tad messy.

Thanks for the kind words. [emoji106][emoji106]

I heard it is an option but nothing has been agreed. Prices for 3g/4g/5g pitches can range from £300,000 to about £900,000. Problem they have down there is it would need to be levelled first which isn't cheap. Plus I know for a fact that it is still subsiding and not just in the far corner.

Apart from what I've already said I can't really say much more as I'm not in there seeing what's happening. I know how hard it is to keep the middle of the park good, but my penalty boxes and goalmouths were always in really good nick. Wtf has happened to them [emoji45]. There must about 10 ton of sand on them.

Ha ha I still like to keep up to date with what's going on. As for the cryptic posts, that's because someone reading the posts on here kept going back to the chairman telling him what I was posting, next thing I'm summoned to the office. It was a bit like a primary school at times. Anyway that's history. The pitch doesn't need new drainage as it's all natural drainage that runs into the river. The problem lies in the top 3 or 4 inches, years of minimum maintenance has led to a build up of dead thatch which when gets wet acts like a big sponge and holds in rather than letting it drain through.( that pitch hasn't been scarified as long as I was involved in it). That's why the vertidrain is so important to it. The year Dumbarton got relegated I had finally convinced them to get it corralled, and it was costing about £2,500, then the playoff disaster and they pulled the plug on it. When I left I was told I was to do the park myself and they would provide help when I needed it which was never going to work. Then the bombshell of ground sharing with BSC Glasgow or a full season of Celtic YD. I told Antonia the park couldn't take that amount of abuse with the state it was in underneath the surface. Covid put paid to that happening. Then the Rangers deal happened. Another reason the park is so bare goes back to the summer when no water was put on it and it was left to burn. That's when you need to thicken it up to try and get it through a season. I got told they were waiting to get the pump fixed so might have been unavoidable. I feel sorry for the guy that's doing it, and now the chairman is away I'm surprised he hasn't walked. He had no chance of keeping that thing playable in those conditions. You never know if Rangers want to use it next season they might pay to get it relayed. Horrible seeing it like that. Good luck for the rest of the season guys.

What is going on over there, a Dumbarton home game then a Rangers game on it 22 hours later at this time of year. Whoever is in charge of the football side of the board is going to kill the club. There is no way that park can survive that amount of abuse at this time of year. Its going to be a long 2nd half to the season [emoji50]

A moan you say, all that was asked was to stop the singing, all grown up stuff like f**k the queen and f**k the pope. At least it wasn't sectarian. They are in a private club enjoying the same privileges as the members. A wee bit of curtesy isn't a lot to ask. I'll also add 90% of the Falkirk support did respect the place and we thank you guys for that. A special mention goes to the 3 or 4 young guys that sat with a few of our seniors and blethered away for good hour or so. Respect guys [emoji106][emoji106]