Pitch condition

[Denbury Red]

I was surprised to see that Bristol Bears played at Ashton Gate last night!

I wonder how the condition of the pitch will be affected?

Surely not good planning??

[City oz]

2 minutes ago, Denbury Red said:

I was surprised to see that Bristol Bears played at Ashton Gate last night!

I wonder how the condition of the pitch will be affected?

Surely not good planning??

It has been highlighted a few times of late on OTIB in regard to the condition of the pitch. I'm sure the grounds team undertake an excellent job and get the pitch in the best condition for all being it either Football or Rugby. It will be interesting though not how it looks but more importantly how the players stability is and how they play the ball in the first 15 minutes of play,

[Red Army 75]

It’s the lines on the pitch that irritate me, except them to be prominent today. Just looks wrong 

[italian dave]

A lot of rain in between too. 

The pitch does seem to have struggled this season. It will be interesting how many players keep falling/sliding over today. 

[WECANDO]

I've put a comment about this on another heading. Football needs a flat, even pitch, rugby not so much. So the obvious thing to do is play the football before the rugby. So footy Friday night and rugby Saturday or footy Saturday and rugby Sunday. How difficult is that or is there a monetary reason for it.

[gary s]

I raised this matter two years ago but was shouted down by the experts on here, easy fix football Saturday rugby Sunday not difficult is it ?

[Betty Swallocks]

9 minutes ago, WECANDO said:

I've put a comment about this on another heading. Football needs a flat, even pitch, rugby not so much. So the obvious thing to do is play the football before the rugby. So footy Friday night and rugby Saturday or footy Saturday and rugby Sunday. How difficult is that or is there a monetary reason for it.

Think in this case it was more a logistical reason. The club couldn’t have planned for this amount of rainfall. It makes more sense in normal circumstances for City to play today when you think our top goal scorer would have only flew back from the Caribbean midweek. 
There will be other factors as well. 

[red panda]

Get those sprinklers ready in case we're losing at half time

[95red]

Yeh club at fault for not predicting  3 days of heavy  rain at the start  of the season .

[Northern Red]

It's being replaced in the summer.

[A Horse With No Name]

16 minutes ago, gary s said:

I raised this matter two years ago but was shouted down by the experts on here, easy fix football Saturday rugby Sunday not difficult is it ?

Or alternate weekends, dont have both playing within days of each other. It happens for different reasons with City / Rovers why not City / Bears ?

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

1 hour ago, Red Army 75 said:

It’s the lines on the pitch that irritate me, except them to be prominent today. Just looks wrong 

I know aesthetically it doesn't look nice but it doesn't confuse the players so no real problem. Back in the day I wasn't confused when playing 5 a side on a multi purpose court and just ignored the basketball, netball and hockey lines. 

[spudski]

2 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I know aesthetically it doesn't look nice but it doesn't confuse the players so no real problem. Back in the day I wasn't confused when playing 5 a side on a multi purpose court and just ignored the basketball, netball and hockey lines. 

It can...only happened a couple weeks back. 

 

[Northern Red]

1 minute ago, CrackingCheeseGromit said:

Or alternate weekends, dont have both playing within days of each other. It happens for different reasons with City / Rovers why not City / Bears ?

Because sometimes it's unavoidable, trying to coordinate the schedules of two different sports (which doesn't just impact City and Bears) isn't easily done.

Eg last night's rugby was a cup tie that had to be completed this weekend and Bristol had a home draw.

It's only become an issue this season because the pitch is nearing the end of its life.

[View from the Dolman]

7 minutes ago, CrackingCheeseGromit said:

Or alternate weekends, dont have both playing within days of each other. It happens for different reasons with City / Rovers why not City / Bears ?

Is it really going to be that simple when combined with a European cup rugby match?

"Hello - is that the EPCR? Just wondered if you can make sure the round of 16 doesn't clash with a Bristol City home match weekend. I know we don't know if Bristol Bears will be in the competition at that stage, whether they'll be home or away..."

[Coxy27]

The pitch is fine

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

34 minutes ago, spudski said:

It can...only happened a couple weeks back. 

 

Don't breed 'em too bright in Shrewsbury. 

[GrahamC]

47 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

It's being replaced in the summer.

Wonder if that’s part of the reason only one concert (Arctic Monkeys) has been announced for this summer?

Usually been at least two.

[Lew-T]

2 hours ago, Denbury Red said:

Surely not good planning??

Can’t help with the weather in fairness. Also the Bears have played the night before us in the past.

[Desso]

2 hours ago, Red Army 75 said:

It’s the lines on the pitch that irritate me, except them to be prominent today. Just looks wrong 

Couldn't agree more. 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Coxy27 said:

The pitch is fine

It is fine…just not as tip-top as it has been in the past.  But as @Northern Red states it’s at the end if it’s life and is being totally replaced this summer.

[winsaw]

My mate has just messaged me pitch inspection at 1pm , maybe the rugby did more damage than expected

[Silvio Dante]

3 minutes ago, winsaw said:

My mate has just messaged me pitch inspection at 1pm , maybe the rugby did more damage than expected

Yeah there’s a separate thread started on here. No confirmation from the club so if someone is doing an April Fool it’s a pretty shit one.

[redkev]

1 hour ago, Silvio Dante said:

Yeah there’s a separate thread started on here. No confirmation from the club so if someone is doing an April Fool it’s a pretty shit one.

Agree not a good April fool that could actually stop people going who were maybe 50 / 50

[Numero Uno]

3 hours ago, Northern Red said:

Because sometimes it's unavoidable, trying to coordinate the schedules of two different sports (which doesn't just impact City and Bears) isn't easily done.

Eg last night's rugby was a cup tie that had to be completed this weekend and Bristol had a home draw.

It's only become an issue this season because the pitch is nearing the end of its life.

Agreed. Not only end of life but had a lot of additional games on it recently. Ever since the Women’s internationals were played on it in torrential rain the pitch has been poor. Makes pro’s look like pub players the morning after 11 pints when they spend half the game slipping all over the place.

[sh1t_ref_again]

I worry how poor the pitch will be today, it does look to be coming to end of life as has not been at its normal good playing surface recentley.

Unfortunately it has to be recognised we have just had the heaviest rainfall for March since 1981, although the international break will have helped.

I am not against rugby being played as massive help to clubs running costs, so we have to just accept the lines and sometimes the pitch may not be at its best.

[Coxy27]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

It is fine…just not as tip-top as it has been in the past.  But as @Northern Red states it’s at the end if it’s life and is being totally replaced this summer.

Teams often complain about pitches when they lose, especially unexpectedly, and away from home. Some Man City people mentioned it after player us I believe.

But... Does that mean it's actually an advantage for us?

I guess it depends somewhat on style of play.

[Crackers Corner]

Just arrived Looks ok to me, seems in better state than last home game.

[Crackers Corner]

Edited April 1, 2023 by Crackers Corner

[The Bard]

6 minutes ago, Crackers Corner said:

Fair play to the groundstaff.  It looked a bit of a state at the end of the rugby last night (or was that just the state of the Bristol team)

[Claverham_Red]

Big fan of the pitch normally, but Dolman side of the pitch is really poor today (compared to normal high standards). Bet groundsmen can't wait for the season's end. Fingers crossed for no new injuries today.  

Edited April 1, 2023 by Claverham_Red

[petehinton]

It’s an absolute mess. Will be cut up beyond belief after 60 minutes. **** sake

[italian dave]

If Reading lose I think they’ll have a right  moan about the state of it. And with some justification. 

[Super]

6 minutes ago, italian dave said:

If Reading lose I think they’ll have a right  moan about the state of it. And with some justification. 

It's not that bad.

[italian dave]

1 minute ago, Super said:

It's not that bad.

Doesn’t mean they won’t have a moan! 

And they have fallen over several times. (As have City players a couple of times, but I think we’re anticipating it more now). 

[Davefevs]

There are plenty of teams in our division with worse surfaces, many where there is no substance beneath the top layer, and player lose their footing all the time.

[Bris Red]

Surface is a disgrace, ******* rugby.

[ExiledAjax]

And yet we knocked out a pass accuracy of 81%, had our joint highest number of shots this season, our highest number of shots on target this season, and didn't sustain any injuries.

[bexhill reds]

I thought the pitch created the muddle that led to the freekick which got their goal, it seemed to be a combination of players slipping and ball sticking, which led the foul

[GrahamC]

2 hours ago, italian dave said:

If Reading lose I think they’ll have a right  moan about the state of it. And with some justification. 

Luckily Reading decided that they were going to kick the ball in the air all the time.

It would have made no difference to them if we’d played on The Netham.

[Sleepy1968]

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

And yet we knocked out a pass accuracy of 81%, had our joint highest number of shots this season, our highest number of shots on target this season, and didn't sustain any injuries.

This is not the time nor place for facts.

[Red-Robbo]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

There are plenty of teams in our division with worse surfaces, many where there is no substance beneath the top layer, and player lose their footing all the time.

 

Seemed to work to our advantage today. Reading's forwards spent more time on the grass than Cheech & Chong.

Perhaps, just the mark of our better players that they coped with a surface cut up not just by rugby, but by a month with almost twice its average rainfall. 

[Antman]

55 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

 Reading's forwards spent more time on the grass than Cheech & Chong.

 

Old school reference there - like it!

thats just going to 'whooosh' over the young 'uns

(they probably think they're Tik Tok celebs)

[cidered abroad]

6 hours ago, Crackers Corner said:

Just arrived Looks ok to me, seems in better state than last home game.

Considering that a rugby match was played on Friday evening and that we've had heavy rain overnight, I thought the pitch looked and played quite well.

May not be in perfect condition but considerably better in April than pitches twenty and more years ago. 

Many years ago I walked over the pitch after last game of season when City were relegated, the pitch had a couple of square metres at each corner flag with the rest of the pitch a sand and mud heap. So not perfect but not as bad as some are claiming.

[ralphindevon]

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Seemed to work to our advantage today. Reading's forwards spent more time on the grass than Cheech & Chong.

Perhaps, just the mark of our better players that they coped with a surface cut up not just by rugby, but by a month with almost twice its average rainfall. 

I noticed Andy Carroll had to change his boots mid first half. That’s as poor the pitch has been for a few years.

But, on leaving the ground that’s the wettest I’ve seen the park for years, flooded in a few places. We’ve had a load of rain this week right up until 1 ish today.

Can you imagine the the state of the pitch in the 80s and before if the ground had hosted 2 women’s internationals in the same day, a rugby team and us playing every week and a rugby game the day before our match in the wettest week we’ve had for ages? A ploughed field would be flatter

[glynriley]

2 minutes ago, ralphindevon said:

I noticed Andy Carroll had to change his boots mid first half. That’s as poor the pitch has been for a few years.

But, on leaving the ground that’s the wettest I’ve seen the park for years, flooded in a few places. We’ve had a load of rain this week right up until 1 ish today.

Can you imagine the the state of the pitch in the 80s and before if the ground had hosted 2 women’s internationals in the same day, a rugby team and us playing every week and a rugby game the day before our match in the wettest week we’ve had for ages? A ploughed field would be flatter

I said during the game, that pitch took me back 30 years. Coupled with the performance I was surprised I didn’t see Denis Smith in the dugout. 

[Kolsch]

11 hours ago, WECANDO said:

I've put a comment about this on another heading. Football needs a flat, even pitch, rugby not so much. So the obvious thing to do is play the football before the rugby. So footy Friday night and rugby Saturday or footy Saturday and rugby Sunday. How difficult is that or is there a monetary reason for it.

Agreed, the bears should only be able to play after City games. Never the day before.

[The Bard]

3 minutes ago, Kolsch said:

Agreed, the bears should only be able to play after City games. Never the day before.

Thing is, it doesn't quite work like that does it?

[ralphindevon]

43 minutes ago, glynriley said:

I said during the game, that pitch took me back 30 years. Coupled with the performance I was surprised I didn’t see Denis Smith in the dugout. 

We could have done with seeing Andy Cole on the pitch 

[E.G.Red]

54 minutes ago, cidered abroad said:

Considering that a rugby match was played on Friday evening and that we've had heavy rain overnight, I thought the pitch looked and played quite well.

May not be in perfect condition but considerably better in April than pitches twenty and more years ago. 

Many years ago I walked over the pitch after last game of season when City were relegated, the pitch had a couple of square metres at each corner flag with the rest of the pitch a sand and mud heap. So not perfect but not as bad as some are claiming.

I think the issue is we've been used in recent season. to having such a pristine pitch. So the difference in the surface from how it was to now are even more noticeable. 

[Red-Robbo]

3 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

I noticed Andy Carroll had to change his boots mid first half. That’s as poor the pitch has been for a few years.

But, on leaving the ground that’s the wettest I’ve seen the park for years, flooded in a few places. We’ve had a load of rain this week right up until 1 ish today.

Can you imagine the the state of the pitch in the 80s and before if the ground had hosted 2 women’s internationals in the same day, a rugby team and us playing every week and a rugby game the day before our match in the wettest week we’ve had for ages? A ploughed field would be flatter

 

Indeedy. I remember grounds of the 70s - including ours - and during the winter months the Evening Post could've supplemented their Spot the Ball competition with a Spot the Blade of Grass one!   

[petehinton]

7 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

And yet we knocked out a pass accuracy of 81%, had our joint highest number of shots this season, our highest number of shots on target this season, and didn't sustain any injuries.

Moot point, but James went off injured with what he gestured to be a hamstring issue. Concerned to hear an update on that one given how he hobbled off 

[ralphindevon]

7 hours ago, petehinton said:

Moot point, but James went off injured with what he gestured to be a hamstring issue. Concerned to hear an update on that one given how he hobbled off 

I read somewhere it was just cramp, hopefully that’s the case.

Edit, confirmed it was cramp, the sodden pitch wouldn’t have helped

Edited April 2, 2023 by ralphindevon

[Cityboy1954]

On 01/04/2023 at 08:20, Denbury Red said:

I was surprised to see that Bristol Bears played at Ashton Gate last night!

I wonder how the condition of the pitch will be affected?

Surely not good planning??

Terrible decision that bears game shouldave been played sunday if at all especially with the amount of rain we've had .

[Slippin cider]

All the time we have egg chasing nothing will change re condition of pitch ….shame 

[Bourne End Red]

4 minutes ago, Slippin cider said:

All the time we have egg chasing nothing will change re condition of pitch ….shame 

They aren’t going away.

[LondonRobin]

Right let’s put this to bed. I was at the bears game and after the match didn’t look too bad considering the rugby and rain during the game. Looked much worse after the City game suggesting the rain was the key factor here. 
 

Secondly Bristol Bears don’t decide when they play European fixtures and as this was a knock-out round impossible to know for sure if Bears would qualify. 
 

Thirdly we are getting a new surface in the summer

Edited April 2, 2023 by LondonRobin

[ralphindevon]

23 minutes ago, Slippin cider said:

All the time we have egg chasing nothing will change re condition of pitch ….shame 

Plus the Women will be playing more games there if they get promoted.

I certainly think we should be turning down events like the women’s international double header.

Plus hopefully we won’t get many deluge’s like we’ve had this week in a week we’ve had 2 games in 24 hours. A bit of luck with the weather and timings of games and next years new pitch should be fine. 

[One Team]

19 hours ago, Kolsch said:

Agreed, the bears should only be able to play after City games. Never the day before.

Completely agree, ridiculous having a rugby game the night before our game. 

Ideally they should have their own ground and this would never be an issue, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.

Which does raise an interesting point; if we ever do become an established Premier League club, would we continue to have Bristol Bears play at Ashton Gate? 

Edited April 2, 2023 by One Team

[And Its Smith]

12 minutes ago, LondonRobin said:

Right let’s put this to bed. I was at the bears game and after the match didn’t look too bad considering the rugby and rain during the game. Looked much worse after the City game suggesting the rain was the key factor here. 
 

Secondly Bristol Bears don’t decide when they play European fixtures and as this was a knock-out round impossible to know for sure if Bears would qualify. 
 

Thirdly we are getting a new surface in the summer

Don’t come on here with your facts!  People won’t want to read it…

 

3 minutes ago, One Team said:

Completely agree, ridiculous having a rugby game the night before our game. 

Ideally they should have their own ground and this would never be an issue, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.

See!

[Slippin cider]

31 minutes ago, Bourne End Red said:

They aren’t going away.

As I said ….shame …

[Offside]

32 minutes ago, Slippin cider said:

As I said ….shame …

The pitch was in a worse state than I’ve seen at AG in a long time…….but all things considered (the amount of rain recently and rugby the night before) it held up well. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

7 minutes ago, Offside said:

The pitch was in a worse state than I’ve seen at AG in a long time…….but all things considered (the amount of rain recently and rugby the night before) it held up well. 

Nine days without a game on it now and the weather forecast is for warm and sunny so hopefully by the time we play Boro it will be looking better.

[Davefevs]

I know there’s little we can do about the fixtures, but Friday night to Saturday afternoon is very little prep time for the groundstaff. Not even 24 hours.  They do a very good job most of the time this short turnaround happens.  But the amount of rain has impacted them this time around.

 

[Daniro]

Well I admire those of you who are more forgiving, but I really resent the rugger boogers mashing up our pitch the evening before we have a game.   I know it's Lansdown's property but some of us have been watching football on that hallowed stretch of land for many many decades and it's painful to see footballers struggling on a surface cut to shreds by knuckle headed egg chasers.   

[Northern Red]

2 hours ago, One Team said:

Completely agree, ridiculous having a rugby game the night before our game. 

Ideally they should have their own ground and this would never be an issue, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.

Which does raise an interesting point; if we ever do become an established Premier League club, would we continue to have Bristol Bears play at Ashton Gate? 

Brentford and London Irish share.

The rugby hasn't been an issue until this season, which suggests that it's as much about the lifespan of the pitch as anything else.

[Davefevs]

27 minutes ago, Daniro said:

Well I admire those of you who are more forgiving, but I really resent the rugger boogers mashing up our pitch the evening before we have a game.   I know it's Lansdown's property but some of us have been watching football on that hallowed stretch of land for many many decades and it's painful to see footballers struggling on a surface cut to shreds by knuckle headed egg chasers.   

I’m not forgiving, despite my comments above.  As you know I look at the financial aspect in quite a lot of detail, and I’m not convinced we are using the AG Ltd / BC Holdings set up, and the Bristol Sport servicing model to the best advantage.

Therefore I share some of you resentment.

Nige (et all on the football side) have done their bit on reducing football costs, I’d like to see the rest of the “group” follow suit, coupled with raising income too.

[mightyreds89]

4 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Nine days without a game on it now and the weather forecast is for warm and sunny so hopefully by the time we play Boro it will be looking better.

I agree a break will do it good but having looked at the u21’s their next 3 fixtures are at Ashton Gate including this Tuesday! And 2 more before 25th April….. madness, surely they will change that. 

[Offside]

4 hours ago, Offside said:

The pitch was in a worse state than I’ve seen at AG in a long time…….but all things considered (the amount of rain recently and rugby the night before) it held up well. 

Not sure why I quoted Slippin cider in my post, completely unintentional

[RedM]

8 hours ago, mightyreds89 said:

I agree a break will do it good but having looked at the u21’s their next 3 fixtures are at Ashton Gate including this Tuesday! And 2 more before 25th April….. madness, surely they will change that. 

I would hope so, but the under 21's have to play a certain amount of games at their home club a season. Not sure how many or how many they can still play at the HPC to be compliant with the rules.

I was surprised how badly the pitch did cut up on Saturday, and how quickly. It really didn't seem too bad at all straight after the rugby.