The surface conditions today in Croke park were very poor.
I think its unacceptable to have 30 lads out playing on a dangerous surface like that today in an All Ireland Semi Final. Surprised that there was just one major injury when Bray hurt his shoulder... although I saw Darren O'Sullivan slip and do the splits at one point. I'd say his adductors will be painful tomorrow! :'(
Apart from being dangerous I thought that it ruined the Game as well.
It certaintly did ruin the football a bit. I think the pitch has to take some of the blame. Compare today to the games last year involving Kerry and Galway and Tyrone and Dublin. Alot more rain fell and players were able to perform to a reasonable standard without slipping and sliding all over the place.
Its unacceptable to have the surface ripped up mid-season for music concerts. Nothing short of a disgrace in my view.
We all know that once you have slipped and fallen on your arse a couple of times on a wet pitch it completely changes how you approach the game. You can't shoot from certain angles as you know your standing foot won't hold, you can't play the ball into space because it will fly 30 yards after a single bounce. I have to say I'm a bit bemused at the number of people lamenting the poor quality of todays fare as if it was simply a case of bad play from both teams. Look at the forwards on both sides today and then look at the scoreline. The conditions i.e. the pitch, was shocking today. On a wet day with the pitch we had before U2 came to town, we would have had no problems. It was like an ice rink today.
Quote from: Jinxy on August 30, 2009, 09:38:19 PM
We all know that once you have slipped and fallen on your arse a couple of times on a wet pitch it completely changes how you approach the game. You can't shoot from certain angles as you know your standing foot won't hold, you can't play the ball into space because it will fly 30 yards after a single bounce. I have to say I'm a bit bemused at the number of people lamenting the poor quality of todays fare as if it was simply a case of bad play from both teams. Look at the forwards on both sides today and then look at the scoreline. The conditions i.e. the pitch, was shocking today. On a wet day with the pitch we had before U2 came to town, we would have had no problems. It was like an ice rink today.
My fear is that it took 2 years to get the pitch right on a wet day and now its back to square one. All for the sake of a jolly up.
But the GAA were to rip up the pitch at the end of the season anyway! :(
Quote from: comethekingdom on August 30, 2009, 09:44:30 PM
But the GAA were to rip up the pitch at the end of the season anyway! :(
still leaves you 8 months to get it right. rather than 4 days like this time. Shocking lack of regard for the players and fans.
Quote from: comethekingdom on August 30, 2009, 09:44:30 PM
But the GAA were to rip up the pitch at the end of the season anyway! :(
that's fine, but at least it would get a while to bed in, i agree with indiana it was a disgraceful decision to rip the pitch up mid season and is indicative of Croke Park managements drive towards profit maximisation.
I was talking to a friend who had to pay €5 to bring a six month old into croker today (whether the kid should have ben there or not is another story).
Some of the slipping and slideing today in both matches was comical. I thought initially after this new pitch was put in that it was down to players wearing the wrong type of boots but big questions have to be asked about the surface now. Even the ball seemed to be zipping and accelerating away from players off the turf.
I'm not sure about the surface - the rain ruined it. I'm not sure that the new surface had much to do with it.
Why was it that only some players were slipping and sliding ? Was it the footwear ??
I am not sure how heavy the rain was today, but a drizzle or light rain and make a pitch slippery without really calling drainage into question.
The U2 concert raised real money and gained positive feeback for the GAA, but it could have been held in 4 weeks time.
Quote from: orangeman on August 30, 2009, 10:15:59 PM
I'm not sure about the surface - the rain ruined it. I'm not sure that the new surface had much to do with it.
Why was it that only some players were slipping and sliding ? Was it the footwear ??
Remember the biblical downpour during the Kerry/Galway game last year?
Jones Road was under water and the pitch was still perfect.
Quote from: Jinxy on August 30, 2009, 10:56:26 PM
Quote from: orangeman on August 30, 2009, 10:15:59 PM
I'm not sure about the surface - the rain ruined it. I'm not sure that the new surface had much to do with it.
Why was it that only some players were slipping and sliding ? Was it the footwear ??
Remember the biblical downpour during the Kerry/Galway game last year?
Jones Road was under water and the pitch was still perfect.
Good point alright. And that's was real rain.
Quote from: CavanCola on August 30, 2009, 09:07:58 PM
The surface conditions today in Croke park were very poor.
I think its unacceptable to have 30 lads out playing on a dangerous surface like that today in an All Ireland Semi Final. Surprised that there was just one major injury when Bray hurt his shoulder... although I saw Darren O'Sullivan slip and do the splits at one point. I'd say his adductors will be painful tomorrow! :'(
Apart from being dangerous I thought that it ruined the Game as well.
I thought that was Donnacha Walsh and he was subbed almost immediately after.
I was presuming he had injured himself but it was not mentioned.
Quote from: timmykelleher on August 31, 2009, 11:33:22 AM
Quote from: CavanCola on August 30, 2009, 09:07:58 PM
The surface conditions today in Croke park were very poor.
I think its unacceptable to have 30 lads out playing on a dangerous surface like that today in an All Ireland Semi Final. Surprised that there was just one major injury when Bray hurt his shoulder... although I saw Darren O'Sullivan slip and do the splits at one point. I'd say his adductors will be painful tomorrow! :'(
Apart from being dangerous I thought that it ruined the Game as well.
I thought that was Donnacha Walsh and he was subbed almost immediately after.
I was presuming he had injured himself but it was not mentioned.
He came very close to gwetting a bad injury alright. But he was lucky.
CROKE PARK BOSS ADMITS THAT THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH THE PITCH :
Croke Park stadium manager Peter McKenna has conceded that the pitch surface in Croke Park was less than ideal for yesterday's All-Ireland semi-final, but he insisted that it will be ready for Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final between Kilkenny and Tipperary.
The weather affected the play of Kerry and Meath throughout yesterday's clash, with both sides struggling to shine in the conditions.
'In the first half certainly there was slipping that you wouldn't be entirely happy with, particularly with the penalty,' remarked McKenna in the Irish Examiner.
'Some of that you come to expect with a squally, wet day. What you get with light rain like we had today, it sits on top of the grass. If the grass is lush like it is there, you will get a greasy interface. It's something for us to look at, no doubt about it.
'I talked to some of the players and any of the Kerry guys that were wearing six stud boots had no issues. Fellas wearing moulded boots or blade boots certainly did have issues. But we'd like to think that the surface wouldn't be boot-dependant, so we've got some work to look at during the week.'
McKenna ruled out scarifying the pitch before Sunday's final, but reckons that spiking the surface could be helpful.
'I was down on the surface there with our pitch people. One suggestion is that the grass cover is too lush, that we could do with thinning it out somewhat. That's not something we're going to do between now and the finals obviously.
'Ideally we'd look at scarifying it if we had more time, but I'm not inclined to do that, I think that could change the characteristics of the pitch. During the week, we did a lot of spiking on the surface. That breaks it up and gives it a little more traction for the studded foot. We'll do a little bit more of that this week.'
McKenna insisted that laying down a new pitch during the middle of the championship had been a success overall.
'No, the positives we've had from the pitch and the work we've done have been very, very strong. This is the first time we've had criticism.' :D
Orangeman... Think you are right . It was walsh instead of O'Sullivan. definitely was a pitch induced injury. I must have been wiping the rain out of my eyes!
Quote from: timmykelleher on August 31, 2009, 11:33:22 AM
Quote from: CavanCola on August 30, 2009, 09:07:58 PM
The surface conditions today in Croke park were very poor.
I think its unacceptable to have 30 lads out playing on a dangerous surface like that today in an All Ireland Semi Final. Surprised that there was just one major injury when Bray hurt his shoulder... although I saw Darren O'Sullivan slip and do the splits at one point. I'd say his adductors will be painful tomorrow! :'(
Apart from being dangerous I thought that it ruined the Game as well.
I thought that was Donnacha Walsh and he was subbed almost immediately after.
I was presuming he had injured himself but it was not mentioned.
Well his foot was in a ball of ice when Cantwell was swooning over him
The message to Corker officialdom is very simple - don't mess about with our playing surface during the peak of the season. Simple as.
Any other use, however great, however profitable, can wait till after the season.
Quote from: In the Onion Bag on August 31, 2009, 09:56:12 PM
The message to Corker officialdom is very simple - don't mess about with our playing surface during the peak of the season. Simple as.
Any other use, however great, however profitable, can wait till after the season.
Money talks. U2 generated more money than a few auld matches. Concerts are the way to go.
What a difference a few weeks makes. The pitch yesterday was in fabulous shape.
There were a few slipping - boots must have been wrong choice.
Was on the pitch myself after the game yesterday and thought it was in good enough shape. Hopefully thats it sorted now.