Concrete and the Clay

[Coastal Boy]

How bad are the surfaces at BOP and Purser. Blacktown is as hard as concrete. Anyone at Purser on Saturday saw the centre square as the biggest mud pit in football memory. I understand the cricket pitch region was watered every day last week. As it turned out it was a mistake. No worries. But the match day had to be moved to a different venue. It's not football. I reckon all losing teams on the weekend from that venue would have an asterix next to that loss. IMO We need a non-cricket venue to play football finals in Sydney

[Benny&thejets]

I was at Gipps Road on Saturday and that ground pulled up very well after the rain and that 4 games were played on it.

[Trusty]

Aside from Goanna Park (Gipps Rd) what other grounds are dedicated footy ovals in Sydney? Macquarie Fields is one other that I can recall, any others??

[Roscoe]

Kelso is dedicated to AFL (occassionaly to model airplanes as well!)

[Pekay]

Bensons 2 is football only, and has a nice flat surface. Agree 100% with Coastal Boy, needs to be a non-cricket venue, but the choices (Besides Gipps) are limited, Henson surface is far from ideal.

[Junior]

How bad are the surfaces at BOP and Purser. Blacktown is as hard as concrete. Anyone at Purser on Saturday saw the centre square as the biggest mud pit in football memory. I understand the cricket pitch region was watered every day last week. As it turned out it was a mistake. No worries. But the match day had to be moved to a different venue. It's not football. I reckon all losing teams on the weekend from that venue would have an asterix next to that loss. IMO We need a non-cricket venue to play football finals in Sydney

That's ironic. Every time it rains in sydney we see a glut of venue changes and everyone comes on here declaring that "football is a winter sport, surely we should be able to play on grounds during the wet!" I would argue that saturday's game was exactly as football should be. Anyone from Victoria would tell you that's how it's played week in week out. Firstly the rest of the ground was in excellent nick for the entire day. The middle of BPR was perfect on friday afternoon, the groundskeepers did a superb job last week. It was just soft enough that your boots would grip, but firm enough that it would not give way. The 8 hours of rain on friday night was what overcooked it and regardless of whether the grounds staff had put a teaspoon or a deluge of water on it through the week, the overnight rain would have given the same result.

Toughen up and deal with a bit of mud.

Oh, and I remember Henson Park being pretty muddy one september afternoon in 2006. That's a non-cricket venue...

[beameup]

A mate sent me this last night. Central West prelim on the weekend. Real winter footy. Whole field was the same and there was a cricket pitch in the middle

http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/news/local/sport/football-australian-rules/gallant-tigers-bow-out/1932873.aspx

[tara]

That's ironic. Every time it rains in sydney we see a glut of venue changes and everyone comes on here declaring that "football is a winter sport, surely we should be able to play on grounds during the wet!" I would argue that saturday's game was exactly as football should be. Anyone from Victoria would tell you that's how it's played week in week out. Firstly the rest of the ground was in excellent nick for the entire day. The middle of BPR was perfect on friday afternoon, the groundskeepers did a superb job last week. It was just soft enough that your boots would grip, but firm enough that it would not give way. The 8 hours of rain on friday night was what overcooked it and regardless of whether the grounds staff had put a teaspoon or a deluge of water on it through the week, the overnight rain would have given the same result.

Toughen up and deal with a bit of mud.

Oh, and I remember Henson Park being pretty muddy one september afternoon in 2006. That's a non-cricket venue...

I remember playing at against Mentone Grammer as a kid lining up for goal sinking into the ground with the mud above my ankles - BP sounds pretty good in comparision

People should really toughen the @@@@ up.

But if you want to talk AFL only Docklands would have to rate as one of the worst if not worst surfaces going around - thank god we dont have to put up with that.

[Norris Lurker]

I tend to agree with Junior. The centre wicket area was a bit muddy, but I've seen worse. And the rest of the ground was in good shape. Compared to some rock-hard dust bowl surfaces we've had games at this year, there's nothing wrong with some mud in the centre square.

[Coastal Boy]

That's ironic. Every time it rains in sydney we see a glut of venue changes and everyone comes on here declaring that "football is a winter sport, surely we should be able to play on grounds during the wet!" I would argue that saturday's game was exactly as football should be. Anyone from Victoria would tell you that's how it's played week in week out. Firstly the rest of the ground was in excellent nick for the entire day. The middle of BPR was perfect on friday afternoon, the groundskeepers did a superb job last week. It was just soft enough that your boots would grip, but firm enough that it would not give way. The 8 hours of rain on friday night was what overcooked it and regardless of whether the grounds staff had put a teaspoon or a deluge of water on it through the week, the overnight rain would have given the same result.

Toughen up and deal with a bit of mud.

Oh, and I remember Henson Park being pretty muddy one september afternoon in 2006. That's a non-cricket venue...

Another way to look at it is that we play these finals far away from other venues that would bring better crowds because the surfaces are so good and the AFL has spent a bomb on the development of these grounds. Anyone that went to finals played at Gore Hill or Wagener Oval back in the 90s will remember much better gate takings and atmosphere. Other than the ECE coaching staff and Penno running the canteen, were there many other neutral supporters there on Saturday? If you asked most people the big atraction of playing at Blacktown and Purser they will say...the surface. Well not so anymore

[Junior]

Another way to look at it is that we play these finals far away from other venues that would bring better crowds because the surfaces are so good and the AFL has spent a bomb on the development of these grounds. Anyone that went to finals played at Gore Hill or Wagener Oval back in the 90s will remember much better gate takings and atmosphere. Other than the ECE coaching staff and Penno running the canteen, were there many other neutral supporters there on Saturday? If you asked most people the big atraction of playing at Blacktown and Purser they will say...the surface. Well not so anymore

So where would you play the finals that is close to "everyone" (read eastern suburbs yuppies), has a great atmosphere and a surface that is comparable to BOP or BPR, which I still believe are the best in Premier Division by a mile (Wollongong would actually be at the top of my list, fantastic surface when I was down there).

[The Purse]

Out of the premier league clubs you have following options, my own comments are below next to them no doubt only my opinion and sure to have people argue it:
North Shore, Gore Hill Oval: no chance they close that with a sprinkle of rain, surface and ground no way in comparison to BP or BOP
Pennant Hills: Ground is going, dont think anyone would argue out of the question.
Balmain, Drummoyne oval: apparently new premier oval of Syd AFL, gets closed too easily by council
St George, Old Park: league doesnt need a law suit
Campbelltown: possibility, but this season even had games closed off
Wollongong, North Dalton Park: if people whinge about travel to BP or BOP more whinging there.
Wests, Henson Park: awful now, league and council in particular have let that ground go after all work previously put into it.
Easts: ground half size
Uni: ground half size and quality over season is questionable.

If it wasnt wet with a big down pour, the ground would of been a treat at BP, the rest of ground outside of centre was.

[Johno74]

Talk about precious. We finally get some quality grounds/facilities for AFL in Sydney and now it's a little bit hard in the middle or a little bit wet........Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh ;-)

Hate to get a graze on the knee or a bit of mud on the jumper.

Come on, ground quality continues to improve for AFL in Sydney. Why wouldn?t you want to watch or play at a quality venue with quality facilities?

Seems there is always something to complain about rather than looking on the bright side at what is available, and in comparison to what was available previously.

Might be time for a "cup of concrete" around the place.

And unless I?m mistaken, the conditions are the same for both teams.

[Coastal Boy]

BP was definitely a treat outside of the centre square. But....that centre square was a disgrace and rendered the ground and the game a joke. Any photos getting about????? I have no problems with games continuing at BP but lets not ignore it when they as substandard....and look at plan B when they are. Maybe they need to look at removing more of the top soil of the pitch and laying footy turf for the winter.

[Junior]

BP was definitely a treat outside of the centre square. But....that centre square was a disgrace and rendered the ground and the game a joke. Any photos getting about????? I have no problems with games continuing at BP but lets not ignore it when they as substandard....and look at plan B when they are. Maybe they need to look at removing more of the top soil of the pitch and laying footy turf for the winter.

Again, would you mind providing us with your expert plan B or are you content with just bringing up problems?