Council Football Pitches

I used to mark a pitch out and to be fair, starting from scratch was a nightmare. If the pitch hadn’t been marked for a few weeks this time of year, the lines were washed away. I’d sometimes go and mark it even if we didn’t have a game, just to keep the lines visible.

Most pitches have the lines burned in but our pitch and presumably the one in the pictures didn’t allow us to do that.

We pitch shared and if I marked the pitch, it would take me all day. If the other team marked it, they’d come with a can of spray paint and blast through in an hour, not measuring anything. I would guess this is what’s happened here.
 


Some of the rugby pitches I played on were appalling. We would walk the pitch before the game to winkle out sharp stones, glass, identify holes that could break your ankle 🤦🏻‍♀️
 
Shocking the state of council pitches in the UK, and its not as though they are free, the price to hire them isn't cheap and the price goes up year on year. With less people playing local football these days, you would like to think in future, the pitches left are in tip top condition, that's if the council haven't sold them off for unaffordable housing development
 
luvulongtime said:
Tunstall Hill took some beating back in the day for un levels, the one nearest the changing rooms was that bowed that a winger on one side looking across to the opposite winger could only see the torso of his team mate, and i'm not joking here
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I played for Broadway school against Argyle House up Tunstall Hill. It's very exposed up there and the day we played on a terrible slopy pitch it was blowing a hooley! At one point it started hail stoning, git massive things bouncing of you bare legs. Not pleasant at all.

I actually made my Sunday morning debut up there too. The pitch was a lot better but unfortunately I slept in, only turned up 5 minutes before kick off and got dropped! Someone got injured after about half an hour so on I trotted. I scored a header from corners in each half and never slept in for the next 10 years 🙂
 
Neighbourhoodmonkey said:
Think they’re shite mostly everywhere, I coach youth football down here in Devon and our season has had to be extended due to the state of the pitches. Long grass, waterlogged, divots all over the place, dog shit, syringes. Shocking lack of investment in grass roots.
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TBF mate it hasn’t stopped raining down here since about October.
Doesn’t excuse the druggies and the dog owners mind.
Where are you based?
 
herra soul mob said:
needs a burnt out Ford Cortina in centre circle for the ' Marley Potts ' look
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And a desire line foot path across the centre of the pitch used by locals during a game
PTID said:
Shocking the state of council pitches in the UK, and its not as though they are free, the price to hire them isn't cheap and the price goes up year on year. With less people playing local football these days, you would like to think in future, the pitches left are in tip top condition, that's if the council haven't sold them off for unaffordable housing development
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Symptomatic of the state of the country under Tories
 
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Keith S30S said:
I played for Broadway school against Argyle House up Tunstall Hill. It's very exposed up there and the day we played on a terrible slopy pitch it was blowing a hooley! At one point it started hail stoning, git massive things bouncing of you bare legs. Not pleasant at all.

I actually made my Sunday morning debut up there too. The pitch was a lot better but unfortunately I slept in, only turned up 5 minutes before kick off and got dropped! Someone got injured after about half an hour so on I trotted. I scored a header from corners in each half and never slept in for the next 10 years 🙂
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Who the hell remembers their Sunday Morning debut :eek:
 
Keith S30S said:
I played for Broadway school against Argyle House up Tunstall Hill. It's very exposed up there and the day we played on a terrible slopy pitch it was blowing a hooley! At one point it started hail stoning, git massive things bouncing of you bare legs. Not pleasant at all.

I actually made my Sunday morning debut up there too. The pitch was a lot better but unfortunately I slept in, only turned up 5 minutes before kick off and got dropped! Someone got injured after about half an hour so on I trotted. I scored a header from corners in each half and never slept in for the next 10 years 🙂
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When I played there a horse wandered onto the pitch
 
Neighbourhoodmonkey said:
Think they’re shite mostly everywhere, I coach youth football down here in Devon and our season has had to be extended due to the state of the pitches. Long grass, waterlogged, divots all over the place, dog shit, syringes. Shocking lack of investment in grass roots.
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Why the champions league should have zero (or 90% reduced) prize money and it all goes to grassroots.

All the money in football and kids have to get changed in portacabins or car seats, and the pitches are a disgrace. Look at rugby grassroots as a comparison. Lovely clubhouses with bars, pitches professionally maintained etc
 
Recall a pitch in york called low Moor, no idea if council owned like, but cows grazed on it, and before each game they used to go on it with spades to scrape off sloppy cow shit but that only took off some of it, purely smearing it all over, was a total bastard when you were doing sliding tackles....unbelievable to think it was even allowed back in the day yet no one ever really questioned it, you just went out and played regardless
 
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Cridge said:
I used to mark a pitch out and to be fair, starting from scratch was a nightmare. If the pitch hadn’t been marked for a few weeks this time of year, the lines were washed away. I’d sometimes go and mark it even if we didn’t have a game, just to keep the lines visible.

Most pitches have the lines burned in but our pitch and presumably the one in the pictures didn’t allow us to do that.

We pitch shared and if I marked the pitch, it would take me all day. If the other team marked it, they’d come with a can of spray paint and blast through in an hour, not measuring anything. I would guess this is what’s happened here.
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Marking a pitch from scratch isn't a 'nightmare'.
A marker, measuring tape and a long stringline and easy done
 
I remember at least 3 occasions where our games got cancelled as a kid due to a burnt out car on the pitch at downhill
 
That pitch is like a bowling green compared to Tomma park , Marley Potts ,Fulwell quarry to name a few .Those pitches were basically just mud fields and deadly in winter when they froze due to the deep boot imprints .
 

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