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Conference votes against allowing 3G pitches

revol68 said:
An expansion of artificial pitches would be save money in the long run, less maintenance.
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You haven't through this through at all. Again, where will the money come for all these 4G pitches at grassroots level?

I go to football every week and put money in the coffers of lower league team. How about you?
 
Here's the pics from the same article. I'm sorry rev but kids love getting muddy :D
http://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2014/jan/26/save-grassroots-football-protest-pictures

grassroots-protest-020.jpg


It's half the fun for them ;)

If you look carefully you can see a young revol68 wiping the mucky stuff off his boots :D
 
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steeplejack said:
I am interested in clubs surviving and kicking off at 3 every Saturday during a season. I really don't care what surface they play on.
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I am interested in that too, and that's why I hand over my cash once or twice a week to support small clubs and for that I'm fully entitled to my opinion on what kind of football I want to see.

I don't think 4G pitches will magically transform the fortunes of clubs either, neither do I think they will instantly lead to a surge in attendance.
 
editor said:
I am interested in that too, and that's why I hand over my cash once or twice a week to support small clubs and for that I'm fully entitled to my opinion on what kind of football I want to see.

I don't think 4G pitches will magically transform the fortunes of clubs either, neither do I think they will instantly lead to a surge in attendance.
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you're entitled to it, sure- just don't think that handing over 20 quid a week and buying a replica top once a season will make much difference to a club's survival in the long run.

You seem unable to grasp that a club, like it or not, has to generate income beyond matchday to survive, in the present climate. It is that necessity which 3 and 4G will help with. I have never presented it as a catch all panacea, but it is, when well run, a vital part in ensuring survival.
 
steeplejack said:
I'll stick with your comments for now- not that I'm "angry", just baffled.

In case you hadn't noticed, the financing and demographics of football have changed out of all recognition since the late 80s. It's precisely *because* of the "distribution of fat wads of cash" and the fact that little if any comes to the lower reaches and non league scene, that things like 3 and 4G have become a near-necessity for small clubs.

The days of 25,000 turning up to watch Walton & Hersham v HMS Victory, or Pollok v St. Roch's, are long gone, and they are not coming back. Small clubs exist on the margins of the communities whose name they carry. Developments such as these are a crucial building block not only in ensuring the financial survival of these clubs- but in actually getting themselves back from the margins to the centre of the place where they play, by providing a multi use stadium that generates revenue beyond matchday.

In Scotland, clubs like Stenhousemuir and Annan Athletic are really showing how it can be done with their artifical surfaces, with Stenny probably being the best run part time club in the country now. A club like Maidstone- coming back from a near death experience caused by boardroom hubris and bad management- should be encouraged in developing these facilities, not have all their hard work thrown back in their face.

I would respect your different viewpoint if it were based on anything more tangible than "I want" and "I hate" and your subjective definition of "character", whatever that's meant to mean - exactly the kind of vacuous consumerist pish which is the engine of the "New football" that you have appeared to despise, elsewhere.

I am interested in clubs surviving and kicking off at 3 every Saturday during a season. I really don't care what surface they play on.
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I go and watch Chester when I can because they're my local team but more so because its so great what they have managed to achieve from the brink of death, same for our arch rivals over the boarder in Wrexham.

They both play on grass. ;)
 
steeplejack said:
you're entitled to it, sure- just don't think that handing over 20 quid a week and buying a replica top once a season will make much difference to a club's survival in the long run.

You seem unable to grasp that a club, like it or not, has to generate income beyond matchday to survive, in the present climate. It is that necessity which 3 and 4G will help with. I have never presented it as a catch all panacea, but it is, when well run, a vital part in ensuring survival.
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I would agree that it can help in certain circumstances and it obviously does in some but it's not always the most vital change made.
 
:D

I have no problem with clubs sticking to grass, at all.

The only problem I have is tired conservatism based on "I want" and "I hate" and the self-beatifying "I pay my money every week" smugness being used as some kind of "argument" against alternative surfaces.

(Hope Chester stay up this season- a canny appointment in Steve Burr, there).
 
If football 'fans' went along to follow their local team instead of "supporting" geographically distant mega clubs through the medium of Sky TV imagine how much healthier grassroots football would be.
 
steeplejack said:
The only problem I have is tired conservatism based on "I want" and "I hate" and the self-beatifying "I pay my money every week" smugness being used as some kind of "argument" against alternative surfaces.
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How is it "smug" to express a heartfelt emotion about the kind of football you want to see?
 
editor said:
If football 'fans' went along to follow their local team instead of "supporting" geographically distant mega clubs through the medium of Sky TV imagine how much healthier grassroots football would be.
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True enough but how do you achieve that?

As someone who's been following lower league teams for years a lot of the time it can be a bit grim in all honesty. The spirit at the Hamlet at the moment is what it should all be about and you can see the crowds growing as a result, but not many teams have anything like that.
 
editor said:
How is it "smug" to express a heartfelt emotion about the kind of football you want to see?
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The smugness is there in "I support grassroots football,every week, if only everyone else was like me". What do you want, a medal?

your "heartfelt emotion" won't pay the leccy bill, I'm afraid.
 
I can see the financial argument.

On the other hand... playing on grass is very different from playing on an artificial surface, and it is an unfair advantage to the home team...
 
The Conference decision seems to me to be another in a very long line of ridiculous decisions in non-league designed to make it hard for clubs to come through and threaten the places of those in higher leagues. I can remember the issues Wimbledon had in being accepted into the Ryman (they weren't and had to apply to the Combined Counties instead).

Non league seems to be full of people protecting their little bit of turf at the expense of the ambitions of clubs who earn their places by right on the field
 
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