Concrete and the Clay

[ShortHalfHead]

So, all the needles are broken then?

Not all of them, keeping a few for the Div 2 local derby in 2011.
Our blokes will know where they are !

[snow leopard]

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.

Why does everybody only look at Premier Club grounds?
Rosedale Good ground (only neg is the cricket sq)
Mac Uni probably one of the best in Sydney (NO cricket Now i believe) Saw Junior Gf's there last weekend great grass coverage and facilities

[Roscoe]

Kelso hosted the SFA Grand Final in 2007 between Warringah and Sharks

No cricket pitch, good drainage, fantastic lights

[tara]

Why does everybody only look at Premier Club grounds?
Rosedale Good ground (only neg is the cricket sq)
Mac Uni probably one of the best in Sydney (NO cricket Now i believe) Saw Junior Gf's there last weekend great grass coverage and facilities

We learnt a good lesson from BPR early last year when I realised they were watering the pitch and rolling it, it softened it up to reduce the chance impact injuries, evening the surface to reduce the ankle / knee injuries and the need for skin grafts. I dont know how much they water BPR but we would get Rosedale done once to soften it then the groundsmen would roll it when it was dry enough (mind you not enough this year), that way the surface was eve, not not sticky but not too hard.

As for people suggesting the cricket wickets are a negative thats rubbish - Councils are reluctant to spend money in most cases on venues that serve only one purpose. Below is a brief list of what has occured at Rosedale in the last four years and most has been for cricket but we have benefited from enourmously.

Laser levelling of the ground to ensure that the wicket does not hold water and the rain runs off evenly to all points of the ground - it also has eliminated the pitch being raised and reduces the chance of injuries.
New sprinkler system that is almost undetecable.
All the old grass eliminated and wintergrass sowed given a more green and even appearance.
New light towers allowing for night games
New fences and extensive landscaping making it one of the more picturesque grounds in Sydney.
New kid safe play ground.

At present the far side of the ground which gets soft underfoot after heavy rain is undergoing extensive drainage works (we sent out search parties for a guy retrieving a footy the other night one of the channels is well over six ft deep). One could argue this latest project is actually a disadvantage to us as it will mean we lose the side we defend to.

Who knows whats next, hopefully the long awaited second story to the club rooms although I suspect it will be the electronic scoreboad first.

Again none of this would be possible without our ground having dual uses.

[Pekay]

Not all of them, keeping a few for the Div 2 local derby in 2011.
Our blokes will know where they are !

What a salivating prospect that is. We'll bring the poddy calf that frequents the mountains wing at Bensons.

[Coastal Boy]

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.

I played on all of these grounds more times than I care to remember and I never once saw a centre square that looked like that. But if everyone in Sydney footy is happy with the state of that ground than it?s not a problem ? but I did talk to players after the game who weren?t exactly thrilled by it.
Comparing our multi-million dollar newly constructed ovals in question to country football is missing the point. We can play on dustbowls if we want. But I thought all this money was suppose to improve the grounds the Sydney league plays on and the weekend showed otherwise. No one is questioning that normally these 2 surfaces are ideal but it should be alright to point out when they are not ? I thought that?s what this forum was about ?or is it for only bagging Balmain????
Roscoe, when did you last see Picken?? Since the surface was re-done at the beginning of this year????? Considering no one has played or even trained on it, it?s quite obvious your comment is baseless as usual.
Junior, I checked my map as you asked. The clubs that played in the top 2 divisions at BP on the weekend were UTS, Sydney Uni and Wests. I think that would probably put Henson bang smack as the closest neutral ground. If you read my point about the weather I stated that other grounds would not have been moisture affected half as bad as BP as most of the problem was done by the groundsman watering the centre square during the week. So other grounds such as Monarch were probably just fine.
Norris, I mentioned an asterisk next to that loss because sure it is the same for both teams but conditions which deviate so far from the norm can suit some teams and not others. Mud from a cricket pitch aint like other mud from other parts of the ground and when it gets on the ball it can be like glue. When was the last time UTS kicked only 4 goals in a game????
Good luck to all sides this weekend. It?s good to see the Fev back to his brilliant best. A leopard never changes its spots.

[shearer]

how anyone can bag Olds Park is beyond me.You should see the surface at the end of january school holidays, its like royal randwick. Then cricket, little athletics, junior aussie rules, school sports daily,soccer & the senior team starts training on it and it digs it up a BIT.

[Grady1993]

The problem with Blacktown Olympic Park is there are TOO MANY GAMES ON IT!

[Doormat]

CB you are 100% correct. BP is the worst ground in Sydney AFL.

BP cost 8m to construct (well done Oscar an incredible result single handily from your hard work) It is built on a hill, the shed face the wrong way for the crowd, (the sheds are are exactly the same as Picken), the ground has a slop either side bigger the perisher, its not protected from any elements at any part of the ground, (by Christ it must be hot in summer in the field), the centre sq is lucky to hold a bucket of water, (how much rain did fall on Friday night???), they planted the wrong grass & CB all this for 8mill WTF?
Make no mistake if it was watered though the week it was done to bring the ruckman of Wests undone! It has an atmosphere like the pm at a swingers party at PK's pit.

BTW - CB did you happen to see the board member of EC in the U18's game go of his nut? Surely he will be suspended over his outrageous behavior wont he?? But then again not as they are the best run club in Sydney? Pity they dont follow the code of conduct.

I played on all of these grounds more times than I care to remember and I never once saw a centre square that looked like that. But if everyone in Sydney footy is happy with the state of that ground than it?s not a problem ? but I did talk to players after the game who weren?t exactly thrilled by it.
Comparing our multi-million dollar newly constructed ovals in question to country football is missing the point. We can play on dustbowls if we want. But I thought all this money was suppose to improve the grounds the Sydney league plays on and the weekend showed otherwise. No one is questioning that normally these 2 surfaces are ideal but it should be alright to point out when they are not ? I thought that?s what this forum was about ?or is it for only bagging Balmain????
Roscoe, when did you last see Picken?? Since the surface was re-done at the beginning of this year????? Considering no one has played or even trained on it, it?s quite obvious your comment is baseless as usual.
Junior, I checked my map as you asked. The clubs that played in the top 2 divisions at BP on the weekend were UTS, Sydney Uni and Wests. I think that would probably put Henson bang smack as the closest neutral ground. If you read my point about the weather I stated that other grounds would not have been moisture affected half as bad as BP as most of the problem was done by the groundsman watering the centre square during the week. So other grounds such as Monarch were probably just fine.
Norris, I mentioned an asterisk next to that loss because sure it is the same for both teams but conditions which deviate so far from the norm can suit some teams and not others. Mud from a cricket pitch aint like other mud from other parts of the ground and when it gets on the ball it can be like glue. When was the last time UTS kicked only 4 goals in a game????
Good luck to all sides this weekend. It?s good to see the Fev back to his brilliant best. A leopard never changes its spots.

[shearer]

im not @@@@ stirring but have a honest question. why were the finals played at Bruce Purser last week and not Blacktown? seems unfair to Penno to have to play a semi at ECE home ground?

[tara]

im not @@@@ stirring but have a honest question. why were the finals played at Bruce Purser last week and not Blacktown? seems unfair to Penno to have to play a semi at ECE home ground?

Also on that why does the AFL insist on starting the under 18's at the ungodly time of 8.30 in the morning when the facility they have is superb under lights? I can understand them not wanting to break with tradition in the premier grades but they begin at 10.30 anyway, why not play the Div 2 under lights, have div 3 as twilight, Div 4 at 1pm and start the 18's at 10.30?

[OLDMATE]

Also on that why does the AFL insist on starting the under 18's at the ungodly time of 8.30 in the morning when the facility they have is superb under lights? I can understand them not wanting to break with tradition in the premier grades but they begin at 10.30 anyway, why not play the Div 2 under lights, have div 3 as twilight, Div 4 at 1pm and start the 18's at 10.30?

Couldn't agree more!

[Pekay]

Also on that why does the AFL insist on starting the under 18's at the ungodly time of 8.30 in the morning when the facility they have is superb under lights? I can understand them not wanting to break with tradition in the premier grades but they begin at 10.30 anyway, why not play the Div 2 under lights, have div 3 as twilight, Div 4 at 1pm and start the 18's at 10.30?

I wouldn't want to be in Blacktown after dark, and I grew up there.

[floppinab]

Roscoe, when did you last see Picken?? Since the surface was re-done at the beginning of this year????? Considering no one has played or even trained on it, it?s quite obvious your comment is baseless as usual.

Wests seniors have been training on it for about 3 months. Unfortunately it wasn't cleared for games by the powers that be at Moore Park hence no games (juniors or seniors) on it this year. Should be good next year but unfortunately won't drain perfectly and will hold a bit of surface water in wet weather.

[tara]

I wouldn't want to be in Blacktown after dark, and I grew up there.

More proof that your soft - anyway the only dangerous thing near you growing up was a boomerang thrower and the snakes your brother trys stepping on on the way back from the INN.