Concrete and the Clay

[Bert]

Put some concrete in that latte of yours. Give me BP or Blacktown anyday. They are both nearly as good a surface as Rosedale Park.

[Coastal Boy]

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

Without putting serious thought into it.....was Monarch free on the weekend?????......there are many AFL grounds not in use at present...Junior, you make like there are no other options....remember the SFL competition ran for 100 years without BOP or BP.......How did we ever mange without these 2 grounds?????..I started this thread to talk about solutions....I did not think for one moment anyone would defend that mud bath. BP is 99% of the time just fine.....but not last weekend and the league stuffed up thats all.

[tara]

Without putting serious thought into it.....was Monarch free on the weekend?????......there are many AFL grounds not in use at present...Junior, you make like there are no other options....remember the SFL competition ran for 100 years without BOP or BP.......How did we ever mange without these 2 grounds?????..I started this thread to talk about solutions....I did not think for one moment anyone would defend that mud bath. BP is 99% of the time just fine.....but not last weekend and the league stuffed up thats all.

Im not trying to offend anyone here but playing at grounds like Monarch or Wagener would be a backward step the facilities are ordinary in comparison to either venue and unless Wageners surface has improved immensely in the last two years then that would have been a monumental stuff up.

Anyway maybe you should remember the MCG is a cricket ground and before the days of drop in pitches the same thing would have occured.

If you really want a solution for next year then Mac Uni woud be the place - great venue to watch - plenty of change rooms - new developments on the hill occuring I believe and the pitch is being removed and sold so no more cricket plus this year the surface was the best I have seen it in twenty years of going there almost as good as Rosedale whose surface is the equal of any the grounds mentioned.

[Junior]

You've come here to talk about solutions??!! All you have done is pot BPR and BOP, not once have you suggested a solution, hence my last post. Let me break down your last post for you:

was Monarch free on the weekend? I thought you were all about atmosphere and proximity so we can get a good crowd? Monarch has all the atmosphere and excitement of a dirty sock. Plus, as was mentioned by a previous poster, Monarch was closed due to wet weather this year as well, so in all likelihood it would have been rather damp as well.

There are many AFL grounds not in use at present. Again I ask you, which of these grounds ticks all the boxes you say are required for a good finals match?

remember the SFL competition ran for 100 years without BOP or BP - Quite right. And no doubt, many of the games over those 100 years were played in a complete bog or absolute dustbowl, at least on the weekend the bog was confined to the centre wicket and while BOP is hard, it has terrific grass coverage.

So, like I said before, when you are ready to come with some solutions, I'll happily give you credit. When all you are going to do is bitch and moan, I won't have much patience.

[Coastal Boy]

You've come here to talk about solutions??!! All you have done is pot BPR and BOP, not once have you suggested a solution, hence my last post. Let me break down your last post for you:

was Monarch free on the weekend? I thought you were all about atmosphere and proximity so we can get a good crowd? Monarch has all the atmosphere and excitement of a dirty sock. Plus, as was mentioned by a previous poster, Monarch was closed due to wet weather this year as well, so in all likelihood it would have been rather damp as well.

There are many AFL grounds not in use at present. Again I ask you, which of these grounds ticks all the boxes you say are required for a good finals match?

remember the SFL competition ran for 100 years without BOP or BP - Quite right. And no doubt, many of the games over those 100 years were played in a complete bog or absolute dustbowl, at least on the weekend the bog was confined to the centre wicket and while BOP is hard, it has terrific grass coverage.

So, like I said before, when you are ready to come with some solutions, I'll happily give you credit. When all you are going to do is bitch and moan, I won't have much patience.

Junior, take off your ECE hat for about 3 seconds. Don?t take things personally....the ground is run and owned by the council isn?t it, it?s not ECEs fault. Did you walk out onto the ground and look at that mud heap????
Bruce Purser on the weekend was the worst ground I have ever seen. Ever. Bar None. A disgrace. IMO playing on a ground where you avoid the centre square is not football. Normally it is an excellent surface that?s a fact.
If 3 inner city clubs have to travel half way across Sydney to play in the top 2 grades on a pathetic surface then, yeah, I reckon Monarch would be better. But why not consider Henson. Both surfaces not the best...Henson has an undercover stand, better atmosphere, no cherry picker required to tape the games, close to all teams...so why not there??? Other options: Picken Oval, recently resurfaced, no pitch in the middle. I would throw in Gipps Rd...in fact almost any ground would have been better than that quagmire.
You must remember the mud patch centre at BP was not due to inclement weather. The centre square was apparently watered every day last week and then the Friday rain sent it overboard. Therefore other grounds would not have been affected by that same amount. The problem was made by the Sydney AFL not the weather.
Make no mistake, the only reason the league plays finals at BP is because of the beautiful surface....which was not the case on Saturday. I feel sorry for the curator and the cricketers when they see the mess it?s in.
Can a player who graced BP on Saturday log on and tell us if they enjoyed the surface???????
The solution??? Almost any other AFL ground in Sydney.

[Hawknik]

Mac Uni Oval.

[Norris Lurker]

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.

Why so? It was the same for both teams.

[BeeEmmAre]

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.

Once again Johnno, you're absolutely spot on. Go to some of the country footy websites and newspapers and have a look at some of the photos from those finals on the weekend. It's what footy is all about.
Is Digital Sports streaming the Grand Finals this week? Might log on if you are.

And thankfully, I'm finally back on RWO after my internet server wouldn't allow me access for a month, so I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate all teams that made finals and wish everyone the best of luck in what is still to be played.
The biggest congratulations, however, to my Nor-West Jets on a magnificent performance to make the Preliminary Final in our return to Division Two. A truly great effort from Bully and the boys and it proves the club is on the right track for the future.

[Junior]

Well, you got me Coastal, I give up. Clearly BPR on the weekend was the worst ground in history. No one has ever played in such a disaster zone. You have obviously never been to Olds Park, Ern Holmes, Wagener, Gore Hill, Henson on a bad day which is quite regular, Gwawley, Manly, Trumper, Village Green, Sydney Uni... I could go on. And those grounds are usually sub-standard every week.

And I refer to my earlier comments regarding Eastern Suburbs yuppies, check your map champ, Henson is not close to all teams.

And again, I question your logic on the water. You say it wasn't the weather's fault, but then you say the weather tipped it over the edge? The surface was perfect on friday afternoon. THE WEATHER then affected the eventual outcome. See the key words in that sentence? I made them big for you.

BMR, I believe Digital Sports will be streaming. They streamed the semi last sunday as a test and I think plans are afoot to stream the GF. Sydney AFL website will probably have updates.

[RPM]

Junior i think BEA is talking about the lower division GF's this weekend

[Roscoe]

Coastal Boy - you need to get a reality check poking crap at ECE - Purser is so much better than

Picken which is the greatest Sh**hole ground in Sydney - you are showing your Wests Bias

Kelso/Rosedale apart from BOP and Henson - end of story

[The Purse]

So out of the three pages so far only one person is bagging BP to extent of Coastal Boy?? Must be definately the worst ground in Sydney

[Rafters]

Both teams had to equally endure the same conditions that were presented to them from what I can understand so no room for being disgruntled with the final result. Yes it would be nice to play on pristine grounds but it can't be all the time unfortunately. Both sides should be happy to "play on George St with a brick" to quote someone famous from years gone by. Weather & ground condition is always a great variable - take St Kilda in 2009 GF or the undefeated ECE in 2007(??) GF at Henson - sometimes it changes the outcome but we all play a winter sport & footy has been played all around the country in mud over the years & clubs should be prepared for whatever is presented to them on the day. Exactly the same with umpiring decisions .. there are only one set of rules on the day ... ie the umpire's set.

We do not have the benefits of $$ for drop in pitches like the AFL (and they only had this technology available in recent years). From what I understand there is alot of work behind the scenes in getting a ground up for finals footy on a logistical sense when they are external caterers, signage, umpires, various clubs (not just the Premier division), etc as well as ground availability (eg BOP had juniors there on Saturday & some grounds have cricket pitch preparation already happening). Footy & cricket have shared grounds so many times over the years so we have to expect a bit of mud in the middle after rain & a few grades of footy earlier in the day.

The beauty about finals footy is that apart from the GF the good sides get a 2nd chance in the finals if they drop one early. I expect Wests to bounce back & do very well over the next few weeks.

[ShortHalfHead]

Happy to have finals transferred to Greygums if any washouts in the next two weeks. Ground is looking the best it has for 30 years.

Yesterday the graders came and tore it all up

[Pekay]

Happy to have finals transferred to Greygums if any washouts in the next two weeks. Ground is looking the best it has for 30 years.

Yesterday the graders came and tore it all up

So, all the needles are broken then?