Friday Freebie: Weather brings out the pitch debate

Are you grass, are you 3G or are you both?

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Nothing is more apt at the moment than the grass versus 3G debate. Not from the point of view which is the better surface for the game to be played on,  but the weather for last few weeks and months has caused huge postponements and will see some sides face four games a week to finish the season by the end of April.

Grass pitches are struggling for all manner of reasons, notably a lack of investment and care given to most of them. Growing up my late father looked after the pitches for the local village side, self-taught at how to look after them before, during and after the season ended.

Needless to say they survived nine months of hard rigour, we’re going back about 30 years at least here when pitches were played in in far worse conditions that they are today, games in that era wouldn’t survive in today’s climate.

I can still remember a lot of what he treated pitches with and what equipment would help air the pitches to maintain maximum usage and reduce the amount needed to repair come the end of the season.

I prefer grass, it’s what the game was built upon. Like many others there is a place for 3G within the game, a use as a community hub for financial benefit is welcome everywhere, training purposes for many.

But when we get to the weather we’ve had just recently the call for these pitches gets louder. Using them just to get a game on every other week sees no benefit for the outlay. Imagine using that money over a number of years to actually improve a grass surface instead.

Now I’m not just talking about the top layer, because the real issues come from the lack of good drainage underneath that just allows the water to sit on top and waterlog the pitch. It seems easy enough to abandon grass whereas proper investment would still give the same opportunity as a 3G surface.

Of course you won’t beat all weather’s, snow and ice will still render a pitch unplayable but proper maintenance of a grass pitch would keep matches on when it comes to what we are experiencing now.

When you consider it costs around £250,000 or more to put a 3G surface down and all it’s components underneath you have to ask why that money can’t also be used by clubs to repair and fund a better grass pitch, it seems all too easy to just go down the 3G route.

Many will disagree I know, as previously said above there is a benefit to them for some purposes, but just disregarding grass because it seems expensive to repair isn’t right for me.

Clubs are quite happy to spend money on playing staff and the like, but in some cases loathe to spend on the things they really need like the pitch and facilities around them.

There are still some really good pitches out there, some really good grounds people to get information out there to others and something that I feel need’s to be explored a lot more, after all if you want to be an EFL club then the 3G goes as soon as the promotion party is over.

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What’s your opinion? Are you a 3G fan or is the grass still the way forward for you? Let me know in the comments below.