Junior football - Debate

[clash city rocker]

Every player would rather play on a good grass pitch than a good astro one, BUT, almost every player would rather play on a good astro pitch than a poor grass one, or one that makes passing the ball very difficult.

I'd also wager that almost all of those involved in football would want a game that can be played ( which almost always happens on 4g) rather than a game that won't be on- as we've had far too often this winter.

That's a fair assumption.

Its interesting that Pavluchenko's main gripe about returning to Russia from Spurs was having to play again on an artificial surface. He did say though that the clubs trained on grass during the week as it was too much to train and play on the surface.

[Talbot Bing]

Burnie Man I can't see you winning this argument anytime soon. Grass is always the better option end of.

As to Petershill's venue and facilities it does nothing for the juniors atmosphere. It's dull the seated fans watch the game with a big net in front of them. Get a grip ffs lol

[QPStu]

As an outsider looking in, the biggest problem I can see with the junior game is the shambles the season turns into year after year with postponements. You get clubs going weeks, even months, without playing. Even when games get played, some clubs still go months without home games. How on earth do clubs survive without income for so long? They can't all have social clubs surely? At this time of year you then start to get clubs playing relentlessly 3 times a week to get the season finished. I love going to junior games when time allows but find, unless the weather is bone dry all week, I can't plan which one to go to with any certainty.

 

I'm not saying the senior game is perfect but the junior game is a joke in comparison. At least at senior level clubs have pitches which are playable most weeks and floodlights for midweek games and you have a definitive fixture list. I don't have the answer of how the junior game can achieve these things but until it does it will remain the disorganised chaos it is year after year.

[one nil]

There's not a lot of self promotion or advertising of the leagues / games / socials etc. It may be there if you're looking for it but surely the aim is to get teams noticed and encourage more folk to attend. I don't mean costly advertising. Thinking more of flyers in shop windows or filling stations or suchlike. When's the last time you saw your team promoting itself in the community or "The Juniors" further afield.

[Mr Prez]

Never noticed the net last week when I was there stood at the back with mostly Renfrew supporters I like the place tho the surface is horrendous it's dated and needs replaced don't think it's even 3g

[Burnie_man]

Burnie Man I can't see you winning this argument anytime soon. Grass is always the better option end of.

As to Petershill's venue and facilities it does nothing for the juniors atmosphere. It's dull the seated fans watch the game with a big net in front of them. Get a grip ffs lol

 

I think you'll find that I said above that a good grass pitch and one that drains well is always the preferred option, but a 3G is always the better option over a poor, mudbath, bumpy pitch.   Plus, clubs with more than one team, with multiple youth teams, will benefit immeasurably from a 3G surface.   Anyway, regardless of what we both think, it's the way the game is going.

 

As for Petershill, that has nothing to do with the 3G pitch! if it was grass the "atmosphere" would still be the same, no?

[QPStu]

There's not a lot of self promotion or advertising of the leagues / games / socials etc. It may be there if you're looking for it but surely the aim is to get teams noticed and encourage more folk to attend. I don't mean costly advertising. Thinking more of flyers in shop windows or filling stations or suchlike. When's the last time you saw your team promoting itself in the community or "The Juniors" further afield.

 

I agree with this. East Kilbride Thistle are my local team and the EK News this week carried a report of their last game then mentioned they were playing Royal Albert yesterday. If I'd turned up at the Showpark yesterday I'd have seen nothing because it was an away game but the paper neglected to mention this. Incredible when EK Thistle are one of the teams who moan about the town not supporting them. Telling us where you're playing would help.

[Jacktonite]

I think you'll find that I said above that a good grass pitch and one that drains well is always the preferred option, but a 3G is always the better option over a poor, mudbath, bumpy pitch. Plus, clubs with more than one team, with multiple youth teams, will benefit immeasurably from a 3G surface. Anyway, regardless of what we both think, it's the way the game is going.

As for Petershill, that has nothing to do with the 3G pitch! if it was grass the "atmosphere" would still be the same, no?

Ye I agree the new stadiums are soulless no matter the playing surface, I don't like playing at any of the new grounds but more so because of the astro pitches, great for training on but IMO not for competitive football. Give me a soggy mud pitch over astro any day.

[Talbot Bing]

I think you'll find that I said above that a good grass pitch and one that drains well is always the preferred option, but a 3G is always the better option over a poor, mudbath, bumpy pitch. Plus, clubs with more than one team, with multiple youth teams, will benefit immeasurably from a 3G surface. Anyway, regardless of what we both think, it's the way the game is going.

As for Petershill, that has nothing to do with the 3G pitch! if it was grass the "atmosphere" would still be the same, no?

Disagree on both counts BM. These plastic parks aren't the way forward and you are being close minded that there isn't other alternatives. Grass is the way forward as it's real.

They 3g pitch has Everything to do with the atmosphere and don't put it in quotes ffs lol.

The whole style and set up of playing in the parks is wrong and feels wrong. Have you ever played on it at Petershill? I have and is crap.

Furthermore the staff don't have a say on the working on the venue either. So I'll put it out again there is no soul to that place.

[Talbot Bing]

Ye I agree the new stadiums are soulless no matter the playing surface, I don't like playing at any of the new grounds but more so because of the astro pitches, great for training on but IMO not for competitive football. Give me a soggy mud pitch over astro any day.

Agree fully

[Burnie_man]

Disagree on both counts BM. These plastic parks aren't the way forward and you are being close minded that there isn't other alternatives. Grass is the way forward as it's real.

They 3g pitch has Everything to do with the atmosphere and don't put it in quotes ffs lol.

The whole style and set up of playing in the parks is wrong and feels wrong. Have you ever played on it at Petershill? I have and is crap.

Furthermore the staff don't have a say on the working on the venue either. So I'll put it out again there is no soul to that place.

 

Hang on, they ARE the way forward regardless of what you or I think, FIFA know it. UEFA know it, the SFA know it etc etc, they will continue to evolve and improve.  As Kris Boyd said a few weeks back on the matter, in 10 years time people will wonder what the fuss was all about as almost every player will have been brought up on them.  In fact, Iceland, who have just qualified for the Euros and who's U21's will qualify ahead of Scotland for next years finals, almost exclusively play on 3G. They've done not bad for themselves.

 

I've watched a bit of football in Spain, not a bad climate out there, and more and more lower league clubs are playing on 3G. Andorra's new national stadium has 3G. As you know they can be in almost continual use where a grass pitch cannot be if its to be kept in top condition. That applies to Spain, Scotland and anywhere else.

 

That said, a poorly maintained 3G can just be as bad as a bad grass pitch, I've not seen Petershill's surface recently to comment. If you want to see a fantastic surface to play football on, go and have a look at Kelty Hearts new surface, (or Spartans) and it has no effect on the atmosphere.....!

 

In our case we have SPFL clubs wanting to use it for U20 Development League games next season (we have an U20 game next week on it), Queen of the South have trained on it (they have their own 3G pitch at Palmerston obviously) another league club may use it for training next season. None of that would have happened if it was the grass pitch we had before which couldn't stand upto a lot of use.

[Burnie_man]

Ye I agree the new stadiums are soulless no matter the playing surface, I don't like playing at any of the new grounds but more so because of the astro pitches, great for training on but IMO not for competitive football. Give me a soggy mud pitch over astro any day.

 

Each to their own and I appreciate some players dislike them, but from a spectating point of view there is nothing worse than watching a game where there is no consistency to bounce, the ball doesn't bounce at all, divots all over the place. Dry, hard pitches are just as bad.

 

How many complaints do we get on here when a ref calls a game off because one small part of the pitch is heavy? you don't get that with 3G.

 

Anyway, this thread isn't all about 3G.

[clash city rocker]

Petershill is the worst example for anybody wanting to promote new style junior parks with carpet surfaces. Its sit doon don't stand in the enclosure, don't stand in front of the enclosure, don't smoke, don't bring your dug. The surface is abysmal, the stewards are as crabbit as f**k...its a horrible place to enjoy a game of fitba. Petershill used to have an excellent ground with a tidy wee social club, now they are just tenents with very little say...bet they wished they never gazumped Ashfield to get that monstrosity.

[Burnie_man]

Petershill is the worst example for anybody wanting to promote new style junior parks with carpet surfaces. Its sit doon don't stand in the enclosure, don't stand in front of the enclosure, don't smoke, don't bring your dug. The surface is abysmal, the stewards are as crabbit as f**k...its a horrible place to enjoy a game of fitba. Petershill used to have an excellent ground with a tidy wee social club, now they are just tenents with very little say...bet they wished they never gazumped Ashfield to get that monstrosity.

 

None of that has anything to do with the surface though, more to do with how the ground is set up and who it is run by, by the sound of it. We have 3G and the only seats we provide are the plastic school type lol, and dugs are welcome. Woof!

[Talbot Bing]

None of that has anything to do with the surface though, more to do with how the ground is set up and who it is run by, by the sound of it. We have 3G and the only seats we provide are the plastic school type lol, and dugs are welcome. Woof!

BM and his crusade for 3g pitches. Bless lol

Fifa ha ha ha ha ha ha yes we all know what type of outfit they are. :-D

So you're probably correct because we all bow to their directions lol

[Beng24310]

I still think the name needs to change but im happy that most junior fans will still refer to it as the juniors. Its just from a sponsorship point of view & people who dont know its semi pro taking it seriously.

The summer football thing was another thing I meant to mention in original post. I agree that slight changes to the season could help but nothing too major. I just seems to be a case of crap weather at the end of a week which is just bad luck. How many times this season have we had a decent week weather wise only for it to change dramatically on a Friday.

Why can clubs not spend more of there budgets on the upkeep of their pitch. I also still dont really see the problem with playing on muddy pitches, I dont think there unsafe. Have witnessed 4/5 games this season played in high winds so how does that allow the standard to be any better than playing on a muddy wet pitch.

[Burnie_man]

BM and his crusade for 3g pitches. Bless lol

Fifa ha ha ha ha ha ha yes we all know what type of outfit they are. :-D

So you're probably correct because we all bow to their directions lol

 

Oh c'mon, I took time to write all that out, at least try and disagree with reasonable points lol!

[cowdenbeath]

Petershill is the worst example for anybody wanting to promote new style junior parks with carpet surfaces. Its sit doon don't stand in the enclosure, don't stand in front of the enclosure, don't smoke, don't bring your dug. The surface is abysmal, the stewards are as crabbit as f**k...its a horrible place to enjoy a game of fitba. Petershill used to have an excellent ground with a tidy wee social club, now they are just tenents with very little say...bet they wished they never gazumped Ashfield to get that monstrosity.

It seems reasonable to expect folk to sit down in a seated stand and not to stand in front of it not to block peoples view. No smoking in the ground I would suspect is council policy although i'm sure i'e see folk smoking there. The no dug thing is a bit silly as long as it doesn't shit over the place or bite anyone what's the problem!

 

I would think the state of the surface would be down to over use and not being maintained right.

[Burnie_man]

He also appears to be totally oblivious to the negative press and health concerns

 

I'll become concerned when there is medical evidence to back-up the claims, to date there is absolutely none (as I pointed out to you on a previous thread about it). Then again, I don't think you or I will be asked our opinions even if there was!

[Burnie_man]

To move this thread along.........

 

Anyone else heard about the plan to bring in some form of fitness test for club linesman so they can keep up with play and can better give decisions? I heard it was a request from the Referees?