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I was just watching this old You Tube video of the 1970 cup match where we lost 4-2 at home to Chelsea. Really surprised by the state of the pitch. Fukcing awful!
Was it always like this??
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State of pitches in the old days. on 07:31 - Dec 27 with 2971 views
No, sometimes it was worse. I remember Phil Parks kicking a ball out and when it landed it didn't even bounce. We were known for having a bad pitch back then. Something about the clay below holding the water in the upper surface. But man it was shocking at times.
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State of pitches in the old days. on 08:01 - Dec 27 with 2948 views
‘A young Ian Gillard’ we had Gillard and Clement as full backs for most of the seventies except for a short period when Ian Watson played at left back during the promotion season of 72-73. If you thought that pitch was bad then look out for old film of the Baseball Ground at Derby. There’s was threadbare by mid-October
I played at Loftus Road in a charity match a couple of years ago. The modern grass they use is really hard wearing but doesn’t feel like grass when you touch it. It almost feels artificial and quite course, but it does seem to cope well with the rigours of wet winters and the lack of light at Loftus Road. As mentioned most pitches in the UK used to be all mud by this time of the year. I remember a game on Match of the day played at the old Baseball Ground where the grounds man had to repaint the penalty spot mid game... a bit farcical but one of those iconic footy moments from the 70s.
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State of pitches in the old days. on 09:31 - Dec 27 with 2831 views
State of pitches in the old days. on 09:23 - Dec 27 by Rs_Holy
I played at Loftus Road in a charity match a couple of years ago. The modern grass they use is really hard wearing but doesn’t feel like grass when you touch it. It almost feels artificial and quite course, but it does seem to cope well with the rigours of wet winters and the lack of light at Loftus Road. As mentioned most pitches in the UK used to be all mud by this time of the year. I remember a game on Match of the day played at the old Baseball Ground where the grounds man had to repaint the penalty spot mid game... a bit farcical but one of those iconic footy moments from the 70s.
They were playing Arsenal I beleieve and Don Howe who was assistant manager there was filmed doing the “walk like an Egyptian” pose as the whole pitch was basically sand which of course was the grass repair of choice in those days
favourite cheese mature Cheddar. FFS there is no such thing as the EPL
State of pitches in the old days. on 08:59 - Dec 27 by JAPRANGERS
Thanks for your interesting replies guys!
These days, pitches look all the time mostly emaculate. How do they do it? I mean it’s still real grass isn’t it?
Big yellow machines took away the old surfaces, laid French drains and multiple layers of different materials then topped with a hybrid mix of grass and artificial guff.
State of pitches in the old days. on 09:31 - Dec 27 by loftboy
They were playing Arsenal I beleieve and Don Howe who was assistant manager there was filmed doing the “walk like an Egyptian” pose as the whole pitch was basically sand which of course was the grass repair of choice in those days
State of pitches in the old days. on 09:23 - Dec 27 by Rs_Holy
I played at Loftus Road in a charity match a couple of years ago. The modern grass they use is really hard wearing but doesn’t feel like grass when you touch it. It almost feels artificial and quite course, but it does seem to cope well with the rigours of wet winters and the lack of light at Loftus Road. As mentioned most pitches in the UK used to be all mud by this time of the year. I remember a game on Match of the day played at the old Baseball Ground where the grounds man had to repaint the penalty spot mid game... a bit farcical but one of those iconic footy moments from the 70s.
Ours wasn’t bad compared to the Baseball Ground. Then again Derby’s pitch was appropriate for the stadium and, come to that, the surrounding neighbourhood.
The state of the pitches in those days really makes the performances of the great flair players of the 70s like Rodney, Stan, Best, Currie etc all the more special I think.
You wouldn't play a game down the park on a pitch like that nowadays!
I was 9 when that was played, my first time in the SA Road stand, I was convinced we were going to win - soooooo disappointed - think that was the game my hatred of Chelsea began!
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State of pitches in the old days. on 17:03 - Dec 27 with 2550 views
I think it was one of the reasons we pioneered Omniturf back in the day - the LR pitch was notoriously bad every winter and many a game was postponed often causing fixture pile-ups in March/April.
The game which stands out for me from that era was the 6-1 FA Cup replay win against West Ham in 1978 (?) - absolute mudbath but still a great Loftus Road night.
[Post edited 27 Dec 2018 17:03]
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State of pitches in the old days. on 17:19 - Dec 27 with 2519 views
State of pitches in the old days. on 17:03 - Dec 27 by loftus77
I think it was one of the reasons we pioneered Omniturf back in the day - the LR pitch was notoriously bad every winter and many a game was postponed often causing fixture pile-ups in March/April.
The game which stands out for me from that era was the 6-1 FA Cup replay win against West Ham in 1978 (?) - absolute mudbath but still a great Loftus Road night.
[Post edited 27 Dec 2018 17:03]
I was sitting 4 seats from Trevor Brooking that night he left early for some reason lol
State of pitches in the old days. on 09:31 - Dec 27 by loftboy
They were playing Arsenal I beleieve and Don Howe who was assistant manager there was filmed doing the “walk like an Egyptian” pose as the whole pitch was basically sand which of course was the grass repair of choice in those days
LOL. Derby's ground was basically sand from about the 3rd Saturday in September
[Post edited 28 Dec 2018 12:10]
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State of pitches in the old days. on 18:52 - Dec 27 with 2439 views
State of pitches in the old days. on 08:59 - Dec 27 by JAPRANGERS
Thanks for your interesting replies guys!
These days, pitches look all the time mostly emaculate. How do they do it? I mean it’s still real grass isn’t it?
It's not about the grass, it's all about the soil. (Same with cricket pitches btw)
Grass hardly needs any soil - dig the stuff up and look how small the roots are; all those muddy pitches were because under the grass it was, well, mud. Solid Thames basin clay for us.
AIUI modern pro football pitches are all on a sub-state of mostly sand with a system to pump water containing a liquid feed (like Baby Bio but out ion a really big bottle) round - the feed means the grass doesn't need any actual soil for nutrition, there's just enough soil in the substrate for the roots to grip onto. I imagine they replace the whole turf on a regular basis, probably in the summer.