Plastic pitches ? ?

[Vera_Cious]

chief executive of the SPFL Neil Lancaster has warned championship clubs Falkirk Queens Alloa and Hamilton they are NOT guaranteed entry to the top flight even if they win promotion and the decision to allow these clubs in will be decided by a vote of the SPFL committee after the artificial pitches have been assessed. The clubs have until March 31st to put in their applications.

[TOSHSON]

Another kop out clause for the Scottish Football authorities ,if your face doesn't fit your not getting in with the elite. Just need to look at the state of the pitches in the SPL over the last few years ie- Ross County , Motherwell and its a no brainer that these pitches are the way forward if there not going to be a change to summer football.

[cat432f]

Good enough for champions league but not Scottish football!!!

[rjc_1988]

Typical - but surely before embarking on the decision to go with artificial we would have checked this out?

A team like Falkirk have arguably more to lose as they are a team who will continually have Premier League ambitions.

Surely it cannot be right for teams with a vested interest in retaining their top flight status to be voting on the issue???

Have they not learned anything over the past few years.

[Auld_Chippy]

Good enough for champions league but not Scottish football!!!

Quite agree with your sentiments. UEFA legislation should determine what constitutes an acceptable standard of playing surface not those with a vested interest in the outcome of any vote. As other posters have said, the BOD surely looked into this before deciding on the change to plastic. If by some miracle we were ever to have a repeat of the 2008 season and get into European competition we could be faced with the situation of the pitch being good enough for those competitions but not for the PremierLeague. I thought the Scottish Senior game was all under one umbrella now, the SPFL, so there should be no distinction between what is acceptable in the PremierLeague and other divisions.

[Hard_Labour]

Queens knew the current rules did not allow artificial pitches when they agreed to install one. Whether the rule is right or wrong, we were well and truly warned so it would be sheer hypocrisy to moan about it in the very unlikely event we find ourselves promoted .

[rjc_1988]

If that is the case then what is the point in going for play offs - the financial upside from a spell in Premier League far outweighs any income from artificial pitch.

Surely we want to retain some ambition?

[Guthrie]

Plastic pitches are allowed as long as they are FIFA 2 star standard this applies to all SPFL leagues. Since all championship pitches are up to this standard it shouldn't be a problem. Spfl rules also state any team wishing to use these pitches have to apply by 31st March. Sounds like clubs are only being reminded of the rules.

[Auld_Chippy]

If that is the case then what is the point in going for play offs - the financial upside from a spell in Premier League far outweighs any income from artificial pitch.

Surely we want to retain some ambition?

Suddenly McIntyre's appointment and negative tactics make some sense. We don't really want promotion. ;D

Also if all Championship surfaces currently meet SPFL standards why is there a need to apply for permission to use it in the PremierLeague. Surely the Club would need to notify the SPFL when they first decided to go for the artificial option. It smacks of being another obstacle to keep certain clubs out of the top division.

[Francis_begbie_HFC]

well what we need to do is put the application in and see what happens ,if the spfl say we cant achieve promotion with a plastic pitch then theres 2 options take the argument to court and fifa or rip the pitch up and back to grass ,coz the alteritive if we keep the pitch after the spfl say there cant be promotion means stagnation .

[Deke]

I'm not a fan of plastic pitches but won't it be up to Celtic to decide?

[aloreburn]

Statement from the Hamilton FC official website


NDP - Artificial Surface
Following some weekend newspaper articles, which have been followed up today, concerning the use of artificial surfaces in the top division in Scotland, and comments attributed to Neil Doncaster, Chief Executive of the SPFL, the club wish to comment as follows:-

It was stated at the SPFL meeting of all clubs on Monday 13th January that all clubs with artificial surfaces (and there are currently four in the Championship) would need to apply by 31st March for permission to play in the Premiership next season. This is entirely normal procedure.

The minimum acceptable standard would be a FIFA 2 star pitch a€“ the Accies pitch already meets this requirement.

The Club therefore see no issues to prevent this and are confident that our application to play in the Premiership will be approved

Accies Secretary Scott Struthers commented, "It is well known that the Laws of the Game, FIFA and UEFA expressly allow these s

[jardi]

It's quite simple; Neil Doncaster and the like can dance a merry jig on the top of Ben Nevis, with or without the aid of a bike, but the harsh reality of Scottish football is this: Celtic will continue to run away with the league because they will have no competitors as they will literally be in a league of their own.

Clubs in Scotland can't afford to follow silly rules set down by officials in ivory towers. It's time they got a grip and accepted that small clubs like Queens, Hearts and Rangers do not have the money any more to play at ripping up plastic pitches for 18 home matches a season.

Plastic pitches are here to stay, and although I personally prefer grass, - even if Queens were the richest club in Scotland, our climate, (and more especially the time of year we play) is not conducive to professional football on grass pitches.

Amen.

[Northfield53]

The Dundee v Hamilton game was off would have been fine if they had a plastic pitch.
Cowdebeath v Falkirk was played on a poor grass pitch ball difficult to control.
Falkirk players said they preferred a plastic pitch nice and flat and good to pass a ball and play football.