All weather pitches for youth football

[ChippenhamRed]

My 13 year old’s match tomorrow is off again because the pitch is waterlogged. He was due to play twice last weekend and both were lost to rain. He is also due to play on Sunday and that’s in the balance.

I’m sure plenty of others here will be in the same situation.

It’s got me thinking. British football is awash with money thanks to the Premier League - but far too much youth football is lost every winter to bad weather and pitches that can’t cope. When they do happen, invariably a poor quality pitch affects the standard of the game. Games on 3G almost always produce a better match.

Surely there needs to be a more urgent push to greatly increase the number of 3G all-weather pitches across the country?! It just seems obvious - and there is no lack of money.

It’s incredibly frustrating to see kids who love the game missing out on so much football - and the exercise, team building and socialising that goes with it - because of our notoriously bad weather. I dare say climate change is making it worse, too. We complain about kids being on screens all day, but it strikes me that we could be doing an awful lot more to stop that happening.

Edited March 1 by ChippenhamRed

[Barrs Court Red]

Every school seems to have them now. 
 

My assumption is that most grass roots clubs will look to develop facilities like this as a way of raising income (potentially).  This has two obvious flaws in that 1) it leaves them at risk of chancers looking to use the club as a vehicle to make money and 2) it probably needs grass pitches to be sold off to raise the funds. 

[mattjb]

Yep this winter has been a nightmare for kids football. My girls u12 Sunday team have only played 1 game on their home pitch since Xmas . Fixtures are stacking up and Sunday isn’t looking good .She also plays for South Glos on a Saturday and their home games are on 3G luckily. There are more 3G pitches coming gradually ,the company I work for have done a new pavilion and 3G pitch at st Brendan’s and I’ve heard that mangotsfield and Bitton have them planned. 

[Spoons]

The answer is not to have Astro pitches at schools. The one where I live is now at end of life ( 13 years) , been rarely or poorly maintained and completely out of reach of local community. 
Fact the local junior Fc has spent over £80k over last 7 years with the “ charity/school “ that manage the Astro pitch! 
Absolute disgrace. The answer is a community use agreement which must open up these facilities to local groups for the benefit of the kids and inhabitants of local towns.

A not for profit football club spending 75% of its annual budget on Astro fees at a local school is wrong! 
 

The amount of money in football is crazy and I agree more Astro pitches are needed for kids especially, however it’s not just a case of building more pitches. They need to be accessible and maintained correctly.

 

As a chair and current fixture secretary of a local club the weather has caused absolute carnage this season.

[Davefevs]

5 minutes ago, Spoons said:

The answer is a community use agreement which must open up these facilities to local groups for the benefit of the kids and inhabitants of local towns.

I’ve seen similar with Hydrotherapy pools.  I’m not 100% sure of my facts, but I believe some academies (schools in my day) got government funding to put these in on the basis of allowing them to be used by Joe Public out of school hours, and guess what?  Sorry, they aren’t available for you Dave.

[Open End Numb Legs]

41 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

My 13 year old’s match tomorrow is off again because the pitch is waterlogged. He was due to play twice last weekend and both were lost to rain. He is also due to play on Sunday and that’s in the balance.

I’m sure plenty of others here will be in the same situation.

It’s got me thinking. British football is awash with money thanks to the Premier League - but far too much youth football is lost every winter to bad weather and pitches that can’t cope. When they do happen, invariably a poor quality pitch affects the standard of the game. Games on 3G almost always produce a better match.

Surely there needs to be a more urgent push to greatly increase the number of 3G all-weather pitches across the country?! It just seems obvious - and there is no lack of money.

It’s incredibly frustrating to see kids who love the game missing out on so much football - and the exercise, team building and socialising that goes with it - because of our notoriously bad weather. I dare say climate change is making it worse, too. We complain about kids being on screens all day, but it strikes me that we could be doing an awful lot more to stop that happening.

I heard a rumour that there was a 2nd 3G planned for Stanley Park in Chippenham? Is that right?

[ChippenhamRed]

16 minutes ago, Spoons said:

The answer is not to have Astro pitches at schools. The one where I live is now at end of life ( 13 years) , been rarely or poorly maintained and completely out of reach of local community. 
Fact the local junior Fc has spent over £80k over last 7 years with the “ charity/school “ that manage the Astro pitch! 
Absolute disgrace. The answer is a community use agreement which must open up these facilities to local groups for the benefit of the kids and inhabitants of local towns.

A not for profit football club spending 75% of its annual budget on Astro fees at a local school is wrong! 
 

The amount of money in football is crazy and I agree more Astro pitches are needed for kids especially, however it’s not just a case of building more pitches. They need to be accessible and maintained correctly.

 

As a chair and current fixture secretary of a local club the weather has caused absolute carnage this season.

Really good points. We also have a couple of shocking “all weather” pitches in schools near here - old school hockey type surfaces. Absolutely terrible! Although to be fair they are at least made available outside of school hours.

One much better example is Stanley Park here in Chippenham. It’s a fantastic community facility with beautifully maintained grass pitches and top class 3G. Forest Green also train there. During the school holidays, they make the 3G available for “turn up and play” - my son goes down there with his mates, they pay £3 each and stay literally all day. Wonderful! We need more of that sort of thing.

[ChippenhamRed]

8 minutes ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

I heard a rumour that there was a 2nd 3G planned for Stanley Park in Chippenham? Is that right?

Yes I’ve heard that too, I’m fairly certain it’s happening.

[ChippenhamRed]

37 minutes ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Every school seems to have them now. 
 

My assumption is that most grass roots clubs will look to develop facilities like this as a way of raising income (potentially).  This has two obvious flaws in that 1) it leaves them at risk of chancers looking to use the club as a vehicle to make money and 2) it probably needs grass pitches to be sold off to raise the funds. 

That’s my point though - clubs shouldn’t need to raise funds like that. There is so much money in the game already!

[mattjb]

31 minutes ago, Spoons said:

The answer is not to have Astro pitches at schools. The one where I live is now at end of life ( 13 years) , been rarely or poorly maintained and completely out of reach of local community. 
Fact the local junior Fc has spent over £80k over last 7 years with the “ charity/school “ that manage the Astro pitch! 
Absolute disgrace. The answer is a community use agreement which must open up these facilities to local groups for the benefit of the kids and inhabitants of local towns.

A not for profit football club spending 75% of its annual budget on Astro fees at a local school is wrong! 
 

The amount of money in football is crazy and I agree more Astro pitches are needed for kids especially, however it’s not just a case of building more pitches. They need to be accessible and maintained correctly.

 

As a chair and current fixture secretary of a local club the weather has caused absolute carnage this season.

Old Astro pitches are awful surfaces to train or play on. My daughter’s team train at Abbeywood school through the winter , rock hard surface, ball travels too fast and bounces too high. Not good for your knees either twisting and turning on that. The trouble is there’s nowhere near enough decent affordable winter training pitches to go round unfortunately 

[Glyn Rileys Mullet]

The trouble is that one pitch is not enough to cater for all the games.  Most clubs in the Mid Wilts League have 2-3 teams per age group.  So assuming they go from U7s to u16s then you need to schedule in between 20 and 30 games per weekend.  That’s just for one club.  I think the answer is probably to switch to playing through the spring, summer and autumn.  

[Offside]

I actually don’t like it when my son’s team play on Astro pitches. As @mattjb has said, the ball bounces too high and runs too fast. He’s also got injured the last two times he has played on them. Maybe it’s just that it’s low quality pitches. 

Games on grass in my opinion are usually better (I absolutely love muddy pitches), my son thinks so too, although it is a pain when so many matches are called off. 

[Cowshed]

1 hour ago, ChippenhamRed said:

My 13 year old’s match tomorrow is off again because the pitch is waterlogged. He was due to play twice last weekend and both were lost to rain. He is also due to play on Sunday and that’s in the balance.

I’m sure plenty of others here will be in the same situation.

It’s got me thinking. British football is awash with money thanks to the Premier League - but far too much youth football is lost every winter to bad weather and pitches that can’t cope. When they do happen, invariably a poor quality pitch affects the standard of the game. Games on 3G almost always produce a better match.

Surely there needs to be a more urgent push to greatly increase the number of 3G all-weather pitches across the country?! It just seems obvious - and there is no lack of money.

It’s incredibly frustrating to see kids who love the game missing out on so much football - and the exercise, team building and socialising that goes with it - because of our notoriously bad weather. I dare say climate change is making it worse, too. We complain about kids being on screens all day, but it strikes me that we could be doing an awful lot more to stop that happening.

I agree with your point about facilities, but 3G is not almost always a superior surface. The ball moves faster and bounces higher versus grass, and playing repeatedly on 3G puts more strain on limbs, the surface is harder and this increases impact.

Ideally football should be trained and played on varying surfaces. 

[Dredd]

It's not just kids football I reckon, our league finish date has been extended to cope with all the fixtures that now need to be rearranged. Artificial pitches are generally the only way to get a game on at this time of year but the cost for them is nuts. For example a 90 minute game on the 4G at Imperial is £160! Compared to £100 at Frys which are generally some of the better pitches in Bristol when not under water. 

[ChippenhamRed]

32 minutes ago, Dredd said:

It's not just kids football I reckon, our league finish date has been extended to cope with all the fixtures that now need to be rearranged. Artificial pitches are generally the only way to get a game on at this time of year but the cost for them is nuts. For example a 90 minute game on the 4G at Imperial is £160! Compared to £100 at Frys which are generally some of the better pitches in Bristol when not under water. 

£160 is crazy, I had no idea it was that much. That feels like a bit of a piss take!

Agree Fry’s pitches are lovely, my lad played there back in the autumn and they were like bowling greens. I also remember that day because I had a complete brain fart and absentmindedly walked across the middle of another pitch while there was a game in progress!

[petehinton]

It absolutely has weekend + 2x weekday games a week in April/May time on the cards, to catch up on the list games. 

[Davefevs]

Get the double-headers on, or just ask the ref to play one game and count is at both!!!

[Open End Numb Legs]

I have only been on a 3G a couple of times, but my thoughts are that there is probably a very wide spread in terms of quality.

A newly laid 3G is a fantastic asset for young players as discussed, with matches one after another all week long and a decent realism to grass. At the other end of the scale an old astro pitch which was probably laid with hockey in mind might as well be tarmac.

[Lrrr]

29 minutes ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

I have only been on a 3G a couple of times, but my thoughts are that there is probably a very wide spread in terms of quality.

A newly laid 3G is a fantastic asset for young players as discussed, with matches one after another all week long and a decent realism to grass. At the other end of the scale an old astro pitch which was probably laid with hockey in mind might as well be tarmac.

Its an issue in hockey atm, schools/leisure centres wanting to lay 3g pitches maximising football income but meaning hockey wouldn't be able to be played there any more.

[San Fran City]

4 hours ago, ChippenhamRed said:

My 13 year old’s match tomorrow is off again because the pitch is waterlogged. He was due to play twice last weekend and both were lost to rain. He is also due to play on Sunday and that’s in the balance.

I’m sure plenty of others here will be in the same situation.

It’s got me thinking. British football is awash with money thanks to the Premier League - but far too much youth football is lost every winter to bad weather and pitches that can’t cope. When they do happen, invariably a poor quality pitch affects the standard of the game. Games on 3G almost always produce a better match.

Surely there needs to be a more urgent push to greatly increase the number of 3G all-weather pitches across the country?! It just seems obvious - and there is no lack of money.

It’s incredibly frustrating to see kids who love the game missing out on so much football - and the exercise, team building and socialising that goes with it - because of our notoriously bad weather. I dare say climate change is making it worse, too. We complain about kids being on screens all day, but it strikes me that we could be doing an awful lot more to stop that happening.

I definitely hear ya, and my lad plays for an under 7s side. We went to Brislington a few weeks back and it was wet but playable. Before the game I was surprised that his coaches suggested they shouldn’t play on the pitch - there was another game straight after and they felt the pitch would ultimately cut up too much and be ruined. But, the main argument made was why play on a pitch that would become too heavy and then limit the ability of the lads to play the game they’ve been coached - that coupled with the fact they’ll play 50-odd games this season so why push it? Tbf, when a game on grass has been called off due to weather, the coaches seem to act quick to book a local 5 a side pitch to play on. But I totally get your sentiments. 

[San Fran City]

4 hours ago, Spoons said:

The answer is not to have Astro pitches at schools. The one where I live is now at end of life ( 13 years) , been rarely or poorly maintained and completely out of reach of local community. 
Fact the local junior Fc has spent over £80k over last 7 years with the “ charity/school “ that manage the Astro pitch! 
Absolute disgrace. The answer is a community use agreement which must open up these facilities to local groups for the benefit of the kids and inhabitants of local towns.

A not for profit football club spending 75% of its annual budget on Astro fees at a local school is wrong! 
 

The amount of money in football is crazy and I agree more Astro pitches are needed for kids especially, however it’s not just a case of building more pitches. They need to be accessible and maintained correctly.

 

As a chair and current fixture secretary of a local club the weather has caused absolute carnage this season.

All secondary new schools (Academies)  I’ve ever worked in have new, well-maintained 3G pitches, which are hired out to the public as much as possible most evenings and weekends for much needed extra income - is this ‘charity’ school you refer to a private operation?

I would counter your argument of taking facilities away from schools by stating we should adopt the US approach in this scenario - make schools the safety net for all kids when it comes to investment in young people’s sporting development and potential. So many kids I have  worked with who have that potential are let down by uninterested parents or, worse still, parents who can’t afford the modest subs that local clubs charge them (coupled with the add ons of kit, new boots etc). 

[Cowshed]

11 hours ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

I have only been on a 3G a couple of times, but my thoughts are that there is probably a very wide spread in terms of quality.

A newly laid 3G is a fantastic asset for young players as discussed, with matches one after another all week long and a decent realism to grass. At the other end of the scale an old astro pitch which was probably laid with hockey in mind might as well be tarmac.

There is a wide spread of quality but shouldn't be so wide for official games. Synthetic pitches should be accredited by the FA. A high quality 3G and 4G and the two frequently are the same will be accredited by the FA (normally) if the owners want the pitches used for official football, and this includes a cost the FA.

3G specific to football to hockey to rugby is different. Hockey G = fast. Football slower. Rugby = Softer. That is bases and height of the grass being different = 3G behaving differently. 

There isn't a proper industry standard of what the differences are so everything gets called 3G, or 4G. G should stand for generational developments, and doesn't. There are new pitches in Bristol calling themselves 3G which are not of the high standard of Keynshams Towns relentlessly used pitch.   

There are 5G pitches and expect to see these .. Inside Man Citys dome. 

[Show Me The Money!]

Mangotsfield United are replacing there main pitch with an Astro pitch