The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Rovers_Lad]

“Currently the recommended gold standard pitch size is 105m by 68m with a 4m runoff,” he said. “This is bigger than our current pitch size so to comply we would have to make significant alterations to the pitch surrounds, which we are currently investigating. 

 

[donny86]

“Currently the recommended gold standard pitch size is 105m by 68m with a 4m runoff,” he said. “This is bigger than our current pitch size so to comply we would have to make significant alterations to the pitch surrounds, which we are currently investigating. 

 

Aye but the article says 100x 61

[Broken Algorithms]

Dreading playing on a smaller pitch. Games at Starks are brutal enough (admittedly, we're still to lose there in the league this season) as it's such a narrow pitch. 

[Rovers_Lad]

9 minutes ago, donny86 said:

Aye but the article says 100x 61

TBH hadnt read the article in courier but had read the one in a previous FFP.

Sim must be looking at the silver standard one 

[San Starko Rover]

Professional football should be played on grass....

And clubs should be built on solid foundations not sand like yours was [emoji12]

Did you guys not have an artificial pitch for a while in the SPL? Or did I dream that one. Seem to recall Celtic bitching about it.

I actually agree with you I think football should be played on grass but if it saves money (yet to be convinced by this argument) and others are going that way I’m not going to lose sleep over it.

[Scary Bear]

19 hours ago, We Are Pars Fans! said:

Professional football should be played on grass....

I recall Pars had an artificial pitch.

I agree that football should be played on grass. Just looks like we’re going for the artificial kind. 

If the new pitch is happening it’ll be interesting to see if construction runs to programme/cost and expected quality. Has the contract been tendered/awarded? If so, who is the contractor? 

[We Are Pars Fans!]

Yeah we had one and it was rotten, players didn’t want to play on it. It does make sense from a financial perspective though but some of the surfaces in the Scottish game are awful I.e Hamilton, Stenhousemuir and East Fife spring to mind, the ball just bounces in random directions.

[Panda Pies]

And clubs should be built on solid foundations not sand like yours was [emoji12]

Did you guys not have an artificial pitch for a while in the SPL? Or did I dream that one. Seem to recall Celtic bitching about it.

I actually agree with you I think football should be played on grass but if it saves money (yet to be convinced by this argument) and others are going that way I’m not going to lose sleep over it.

Could not just get killies pitch since there ripping it out?

[foreverarover]

So sim is the Fife example of Dave king. Promise the world and buy substandard.

[RRFC2711]

I think were missing one point here, OUR PITCH IS LIKE A TATTIE FIELD....surely it will be an improvement our pitch has been shit for seasons and not been any good since we levelled the slope.

[Ro Sham Bo]

It's 4 years to the day since Grant Murray (and John Baird) had their finest hour.

Rovers v The Rangers

Edited April 6, 2018 by Ro Sham Bo

[Rovers_Lad]

10 hours ago, RRFC2711 said:

I think were missing one point here, OUR PITCH IS LIKE A TATTIE FIELD....surely it will be an improvement our pitch has been shit for seasons and not been any good since we levelled the slope.

Would rather have our tattie field although thats stretching it than a plastic pitch the likes of Hamilton,Forfar etc

When you have  players refusing to play on plastic surfaces( eg Naismith) or managers refusing to play players maybe plastic pitches are not the answer

[CALDERON]

If there's genuine financial gain then I'm not against it.  Postponements still happen but seem to be fewer, I'm sure ours against Forfar was their first on the surface.

If the club get hit by postponements hard enough that we are selling next seasons season tickets already then it makes sense to have a mechanism in place to prevent that. (I'm sceptical about how much the postponement actually affected us though)

The standard of pitches aren't great, although Falkirks is quite good wouldn't be against one like that. And the standard of grass pitches ain't that great either.

[buchan30]

It's 4 years to the day since Grant Murray (and John Baird) had their finest hour.

Has there ever been a more grudging round of applause than ally and bald guy at the end? Makes it more sweet. Their free kick at the end looked closer than that from the raith end. Still great to beat them in a final.

[greggyt1985]

https://youtu.be/3POx1IJuFyEa

This video gives me just as much joy as the cup final win [emoji23][emoji23]

[renton]

1 hour ago, greggyt1985 said:

https://youtu.be/3POx1IJuFyEa

This video gives me just as much joy as the cup final win

I fucking loved that team.

[Ro Sham Bo]

2 hours ago, greggyt1985 said:

https://youtu.be/3POx1IJuFyEa

This video gives me just as much joy as the cup final win

Too true. You could never tire of that commentary.

[Broken Algorithms]

1 hour ago, renton said:

I fucking loved that team.

Backline of McKeown, Bene, Barr and Thomson with Cuthbert in goals. Longridge, Connolly, Hardie and Craigen all goal threats. Plenty of choice in the middle of the park. Shame we don't have a team of that calibre this season. 

[Scottydog]

19 hours ago, RRFC2711 said:

I think were missing one point here, OUR PITCH IS LIKE A TATTIE FIELD....surely it will be an improvement our pitch has been shit for seasons and not been any good since we levelled the slope.

Aye it is like a tattle field but in fairness it's not any worse than any of the public Park pitches which are getting roughly the same level of funding and amount of full time care.

For all of the winter months the surface has been supervised by no full-time experienced groundsman (not a dig a Tony btw) and has quite often been ordered to be under cover for long periods when it really wasn't necessary or even advised to do so by by the ground staff.

Actually I take that back, I walked over the pitches at Ravenscraig Park today and they were in better nick than SP was the last time I helped with the covers.

 

RRFC2711 you are bang on though the pitch at SP is horrendous and has been since about 1998 when the 1st load of black rot set in, but without the funds to repair it (especially the drains which have been crap since the slope was removed) the club are continually fighting a losing battle.

In an ideal world a new pitch will be a new beginning and the start of better times for us, sadly I don't see an artificial surface being the great saviour though, in fact I worry it could be the complete opposite. With 3 high schools in Kirkcaldy (and 4 surfaces in Glenrothes) already with top class surfaces is there enough custom to warrant a 4th (8th) in the area? My fear is that with the near by Balwearie pitch currently not fully booked out every night (this winter), that after the initial novelty period runs out Raith may well be left with a massive bill to pay off. And no way to repay it, at which point the owners may throw up their hands and say "well we tried everything we could".  

As for saving the club money in training I'm not all that convinced with that either.

Groundsmen will still be required to pre-water and brush an artificial  surface after every time it's used.  Also the club will still have to pay for other training facilities (currently used at the MW centre) such as; Gymnasium and swimming pools. Add in the additional problem of increased injuries (they are already increased since training at Glenrothes) and subsequent medical costs and it's clear that the pitch rental will have to be phenominal to offset this. 

Pitch rental £100/hr ?

Possible 4 hrs a night during the week and another potential 6 hrs at the weekend would be £2,600 per week.....less overheads like lighting, heating (water) and wages for staff.

At the top of the line that would generate an impressive £135,200 per year..........if you could rent it out every available hour.  More likely at best it would only be in demand in the dark winter months and as a result the club will net only half or as little as a third of that. Say £60,000 gross minus overheads and tax.  If it makes a net profit of £25,000p/a that's £25,000 more than we're getting but if there is a £250,000 to £500,000 installation bill to clear before profit is made I can't see it generating $1 even more so if by the time it's paid for its self in 2032 we've had to replace the surface during that time.

Safe to say I am not for it as I can't see how it will work financially.

I'm a traditionalist at heart but It's nothing to do with that, for example I'd happily move away from SP to a new stadium.

Bigger changes needed on a bigger scale IMO. The game in this country is sorely broken and needs major surgery not just a tweak here and there. Look not to plastic football but to summer football.

 

[Specky Ginger]

You forgot about the astro pitch in Burntisland Scotty. 

Councillor Neil Crooks said a town the size of Kirkcaldy merited having four astroturf pitches. Whether this means the cooncil will contribute towards the facility at Starks Park remains to be seen. 

Edited April 6, 2018 by Specky Ginger