Sloping RL pitches - cost to fix?

[del capo]

1 minute ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Presumably nowadays you could ask Michael Gove's department for a grant.  He's the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, isn't he?

 Levelling Down gets the same result doesn't it?

But not he grant aid.....

[Impartial Observer]

Didnt Thrum Hall have a slope across the pitch?

[Ragingbull]

22 minutes ago, David Shepherd said:

I'd be more concerned about self declared "big" clubs playing on under 9s sized pitches.  I'm looking at you Bradford.

Dont forget Castleford. 

Or the fact that world cup games were played on tiny fields. 

[Midlands hobo]

1 hour ago, graveyard johnny said:

if the Irish navvies could dig Britains canals by hand back int day - how about some fans turning up with pics and shovels during the off season? - its only a square of grass, nowt in comparison to what them fellas  did , a tell yer , folk don't want hard graft these days 

Lol most are too lazy to mow their own lawns so paved or AstroTurf them.

[chisholm]

2 hours ago, del capo said:

 The Police Rec ground down in Holmfirth. ?

The RFL unsuccessfully tried to buy it and settle them there. YML clubs now still  have the delight ( and it is a delight ) of visiting them at their century old  fortress on the top of the hill ( once they get past that farmer..).

I am sure we played them at Huddersfield RU club, not sure of year but it was a fantastic setting and playing surface. Thought they intended moving all NCL games to that ground the following season. Don't know what happened though ?

[Bobby123]

1 hour ago, daz39 said:

Nowt wrong with Underbank, it's a great plce to watch rugby league.

Thats what rugby is (and was) all about. They will be refusing to play in sludge, next.

[Big Picture]

7 hours ago, roversspud said:

Why? Why would Fev or Batley want to level the pitch? It's a feature we all love at Fev. The pitch isn't quite as steep as it used to be before the new stands were built and the pitch extended but it's a point of difference for us (and Batley) over all those other bland , flat pitches. It's maybe also a slight advantage for us over the away teams as we may play the slope better, but isn't that what home advantage is supposed to give you?

Both should be required to level their fields or be kicked of the league.  Sloped fields should never be accepted for Senior level sport, that's completely Mickey Mouse.

[yanto]

6 hours ago, Impartial Observer said:

Didnt Thrum Hall have a slope across the pitch?

Down and to also to the bottom corner.

Aweful field to play on

Fax  kicked you down there and it took some getting out off

Took Broughton Red Rose to Barrow Island 30 years ago in a cup game  and honestly from your own try line (bottom of the hill) you could just see.. and I mean just see ..the top of the other goal posts. 

Any Cumbrians confirm.

Horrendous slope.

 

[MidlandsJohn]

8 hours ago, Number 16 said:

Surely the requirement for a level pitch reduces the scope for RL's expansion. 

How would Nepal and Bhutan get involved?

Well, given the way RL authorities and club chairmen usually act...

 

They'd be invited to play in the Indian Super League on condition that all their matches are away and they pay for the travel out their own pocket.

 

Ethnic and cultural ties see both teams seeking to spread the game in north-east India - this is quickly shot down as "expansionist rubbish" by the top brass as it takes funding away from the heartland clubs in Delhi, Rajasthan and Punjab.

 

Australia's NRL threatens to pull development aid from the domestic Nepali Rugby League as fans may get the two competitions confused.

 

Finally, the attempt to create indigenous Nepali and Bhutanese national sides backfires spectacularly when an appeal for "heritage players" reveals the qualifying criteria is "has anyone in your family ever served with a Gurkha and/or done the hippie trail?" (Nepal) or "did you spend part of your gap year holed up in s Buddhist monastery in an attempt to 'find yourself'?" (Bhutan).

[David Shepherd]

7 hours ago, Big Picture said:

Both should be required to level their fields or be kicked of the league.  Sloped fields should never be accepted for Senior level sport, that's completely Mickey Mouse.

Not completely disagreeing. If Fev or Batley were selecting a plot of land to play on now, it would be engineered to be a flat surface. But we are where we are. Professional Rugby has been played at Post Office Road for 101 years, Mount Pleasant for longer and the sky has never fallen in during that time.

It does make me giggle how these two gentle slopes live rent free in the heads of a lot of RL fans.  It's not as though players are expected to run up a sheer cliff face and both sets of players get 40 mins up and 40 mins down, so there's no advantage to either side.

Also worth pointing out that the premier Test Cricket venue in the UK (maybe the world?) has quite a pronounced slope to it. That's a sport with riches we can only dream of.  I've never seen a clamour among cricket fans for Lords to be levelled. In fact it's often celebrated as a feature that gives the ground and matches there character. 

Edited December 30, 2022 by David Shepherd

[gingerjon]

Just now, David Shepherd said:

I've never seen a clamour among cricket fans for Lords to be levelled.

The pitch itself has had its gradients removed.

[David Shepherd]

13 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

The pitch itself has had its gradients removed.

I know the middle has been levelled and games there are a little more anodyne as a result. A seamer that could get one to go up the slope caused all kinds of havoc for batters.

Edited December 30, 2022 by David Shepherd

[The Phantom Horseman]

7 hours ago, Big Picture said:

Both should be required to level their fields or be kicked of the league.  Sloped fields should never be accepted for Senior level sport, that's completely Mickey Mouse.

What is this weird obsession with the cloying blandness of homogeneity?

Maybe we should boot the Cumbrian teams out too because the pitches sometimes get very boggy up there in early season?

And how about getting rid of Catalans and Toulouse, because the average temperature in summer is much hotter there than in Northern England? Not to mention the fact that the SL Grand Final is often played in totally different conditions to those seen throughout the regular season.

Different conditions and scenarios present different challenges and that's one of the beauties of RL, as with other sports. The Derby is run on a wildly undulating track and that extreme test is generally believed to be a major factor in its enduring appeal. Golf courses are celebrated for their individual challenges, and there's no call to level and standardise them all.

Let's celebrate the diversity of our RL grounds, not wring our hands about them.

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

7 hours ago, yanto said:

Down and to also to the bottom corner.

Aweful field to play on

Fax  kicked you down there and it took some getting out off

Took Broughton Red Rose to Barrow Island 30 years ago in a cup game  and honestly from your own try line (bottom of the hill) you could just see.. and I mean just see ..the top of the other goal posts. 

Any Cumbrians confirm.

Horrendous slope.

 

Certainly had a steep slope but I don't recall it being quite that bad. Mind you it was about 35 years ago when I played on it

[Phil W]

Maybe IMG could put a sloping pitch as a grade C alongside a pitch that's too small for a game and clubs rebranding based on the favourite animal of their owner?! 

[roughyed8]

18 hours ago, Yorks Tim said:

Did Oldham level the Vestacare pitch or have I imagined that story?

 

No their new landlords AVRO AFC did it with the money they got from moving from their Lancaster club base that was "Sold" to OAFC then bought back from them by OLDHAM MBC. 

[Oxford]

3 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

What is this weird obsession with the cloying blandness of homogeneity?

Like categories A,B & C?

 

3 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Let's celebrate the diversity of our RL grounds, not wring our hands about them.

Spot on.

When a sport is out of love with itself everything and his wife is a problem rather than a cause for celebration.

 

[roversspud]

4 hours ago, David Shepherd said:

Not completely disagreeing. If Fev or Batley were selecting a plot of land to play on now, it would be engineered to be a flat surface. But we are where we are. Professional Rugby has been played at Post Office Road for 101 years, Mount Pleasant for longer and the sky has never fallen in during that time.

It does make me giggle how these two gentle slopes live rent free in the heads of a lot of RL fans.  It's not as though players are expected to run up a sheer cliff face and both sets of players get 40 mins up and 40 mins down, so there's no advantage to either side.

Also worth pointing out that the premier Test Cricket venue in the UK (maybe the world?) has quite a pronounced slope to it. That's a sport with riches we can only dream of.  I've never seen a clamour among cricket fans for Lords to be levelled. In fact it's often celebrated as a feature that gives the ground and matches there character. 

exactly this! Well said DS!

[roversspud]

11 hours ago, Big Picture said:

Both should be required to level their fields or be kicked of the league.  Sloped fields should never be accepted for Senior level sport, that's completely Mickey Mouse.

Perhaps all professional clubs should own their own grounds or be kicked out of the league in case fixtures have to be cancelled due to other sports having first dibs, or perhaps a wedding do taking preference. It's about as valid a reason as the one suggested above. (BTW both scenarios have occurred at clubs currently in the top flight of British RL!)

[Hopping Mad]

19 hours ago, Davo5 said:

You’ve never seen a sloping pitch unless you’ve visited Underbank.

How about that weird 'back pitch' at Barrow Island?

[Davo5]

24 minutes ago, roversspud said:

Perhaps all professional clubs should own their own grounds or be kicked out of the league in case fixtures have to be cancelled due to other sports having first dibs, or perhaps a wedding do taking preference. It's about as valid a reason as the one suggested above. (BTW both scenarios have occurred at clubs currently in the top flight of British RL!)

It really isn’t.

[Davo5]

12 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

How about that weird 'back pitch' at Barrow Island?

From memory didn’t the Barrow Is pitch just slope from one end to the other,Underbank’s had more slopes than the Alps.

Egremont,Kells pit pitch & Siddal all deserve honourable mentions.

[redjonn]

4 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

What is this weird obsession with the cloying blandness of homogeneity?

Maybe we should boot the Cumbrian teams out too because the pitches sometimes get very boggy up there in early season?

And how about getting rid of Catalans and Toulouse, because the average temperature in summer is much hotter there than in Northern England? Not to mention the fact that the SL Grand Final is often played in totally different conditions to those seen throughout the regular season.

Different conditions and scenarios present different challenges and that's one of the beauties of RL, as with other sports. The Derby is run on a wildly undulating track and that extreme test is generally believed to be a major factor in its enduring appeal. Golf courses are celebrated for their individual challenges, and there's no call to level and standardise them all.

Let's celebrate the diversity of our RL grounds, not wring our hands about them.

personally i have no problems about pitch slopes, never-the-less in response I would suggest that we do have regulations over certain aspects of the game.   So I would assume you accept some blandness of homogeneity is AOK.

[sweaty craiq]

A SL requirement should be a level full size pitch

[roversspud]

8 minutes ago, sweaty craiq said:

A SL requirement should be a level full size pitch

Simple question. Why? (BTW I get the full size bit but why not have a minimum size and a maximum size as in football where it doesn't appear to cause many problems.)

 

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by roversspud