pitch condition

So im Stafford Rangers and im in pre season, the weather is rain rain and more rain, so i arranged all of my fixtures away to save the pitch, yet come first game of season, and the opposition manager is complaining about the state of the pitch and true to his word, the pitch was in woeful condition? No games were played on the pitch and my reserves didnt play on it either.

Anybody else experienced this?

Its Stafford Rangers!!!! Do you expect the pitch to be like Old Trafford? It wont be anything other than woeful.

And do you think clubs that low have full time groundkeepers and rain covers and things? How many games get called off in the lower divisions because of water logged pitches or pitches not in a good enough condition to play a match?

yes but, the pitch hasnt been played on for what, 3 months surley it shouldnt be in that bad of condition.

If its been constantly raining and not been covered then yes it will be.

fair enough, its just strange as no-one elses pitch, in the area is that bad (telford etc)

fair enough, its just strange as no-one elses pitch, in the area is that bad (telford etc)

Saying Telford is in the same area as Stafford is like saying Liverpool is in the same area as Manchester.

This sounds pretty strange as its pre-season, peak of sumer time and no games have been played on it. Maybe you would expect it in winter after plenty of use + bad weather.

My only thinking is that it was in a bad state the previuos season and nothing has been done to fix it since?

Saying Telford is in the same area as Stafford is like saying Liverpool is in the same area as Manchester.

They are in the same area; they are only 30/53 miles/kilometers apart.

They aren't even in the same county, so how can they be in the same area?

Is Stafford in the same area as Stoke-on-Trent then?

well yes stafford and stoke are both staffordshire

but what i meant was closest team to stafford rangers at a similar level, i could of said stone dominoes but their in a different standard and thus their pitch would be worse, whereas stafford and telfor are similar area and both in bsn so that was my point!

Saying Telford is in the same area as Stafford is like saying Liverpool is in the same area as Manchester.

But do they experience the same kind of weather? I think that was the point being put across?

Liverpool is in the same area as Manchester. Its almost idiotic to say they are not. They are only 30 miles apart.

Ask the board to relay your pitch - other than that you can't do anything about it.

How much does it cost to relay the pitch, anyone know?

How much does it cost to relay the pitch, anyone know?

depends how bad the pitch is

Is the game sophisticated enough to know when the pitch should look bad as to when it shouldn't?

I know that later on in the season some pitches do look rough in the game but I have had situations when my pitch has looked rough (Hereford Utd) and then a week or so later it looks fine.

I assumed the game just randomnly calculated the state of it, i.e. how late in the season it is, has it been very bad weather, etc.

I didn't realise that it would know or calculate whether games had been played on it.

It could be that the ME is just recognising the bad weather and therefore thinking the pitch would be bad not taking into account that you haven't played on it.

I know that later on in the season some pitches do look rough in the game but I have had situations when my pitch has looked rough (Hereford Utd) and then a week or so later it looks fine.

It was most likely raining that match and then as you say a week later it looked fine. That is most likely because the pitch has been tended to by the groundstaff and there hasn't been much bad weather since nor use.

well yes stafford and stoke are both staffordshire

but what i meant was closest team to stafford rangers at a similar level, i could of said stone dominoes but their in a different standard and thus their pitch would be worse, whereas stafford and telfor are similar area and both in bsn so that was my point!

Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme are in the same area. Stafford and Stoke are in the same county.

Liverpool is in the same area as Manchester. Its almost idiotic to say they are not. They are only 30 miles apart.

I'm sure Scousers and Mancs would love you for saying that.

I'm sure Scousers and Mancs would love you for saying that.

Geographically Manchester and Liverpool are in the North-West region, and are covered by Granada and thats about as close as it gets. The two cities are seperated by a good 30 miles and the east lancs road. They have there own geographical zones - 'Merseyside' which involves towns such as Knowsely, Sefton, Wirral, St Helens and Liverpool city. 'Greater Manchester' meanwhile encompasses Bolton, Wigan, Bury, Roachdale, Tameside, Oldham, Salford, Stockport and Trafford.

They are not in the same area.

Geographically Manchester and Liverpool are in the North-West region, and are covered by Granada and thats about as close as it gets. The two cities are seperated by a good 30 miles and the east lancs road. They have there own geographical zones - 'Merseyside' which involves towns such as Knowsely, Sefton, Wirral, St Helens and Liverpool city. 'Greater Manchester' meanwhile encompasses Bolton, Wigan, Bury, Roachdale, Tameside, Oldham, Salford, Stockport and Trafford.

They are not in the same area.

Well said

Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme are in the same area. Stafford and Stoke are in the same county.

Yup I live in stoke so I can vouch that is correct. Stafford is about 20mins away from us so they would have similar weather patterns... just like Rotherham and Sheffield would...

Manchester and Liverpool are in the same area; what you guys are talking about is an artificial separation that is completely man-made. If both those cities were to be leveled by an earthquake and the rubble were to be swept away in a tsunami, it would be impossible to know where one started and the other stopped. In this city. Los Angeles, it is possible to go thirty miles in a straight line and still be in the city of Los Angeles. There would have to be some unusual geographical anomaly for two places within thirty miles of each other to be in different areas.

Manchester and Liverpool are in the same area; what you guys are talking about is an artificial separation that is completely man-made. If both those cities were to be leveled by an earthquake and the rubble were to be swept away in a tsunami, it would be impossible to know where one started and the other stopped. In this city. Los Angeles, it is possible to go thirty miles in a straight line and still be in the city of Los Angeles. There would have to be some unusual geographical anomaly for two places within thirty miles of each other to be in different areas.

If England was leveled by an earthquake and the rubble was swept away by a Tsunami, it would be impossible to know where Manchester ended and London began so thats nonsense. The only way they are in the same area is because somebody has decided to split the UK up into sections for geographical reasons. Manchester and Liverpool both fall in the North-West section. Nothing more.

So are Manchester and London in the same 'area' because they are in England and England is an 'area' in the UK? Who are we to say that because somewhere is only 30 miles away that its in the same area? How far away does something have to be to be considered in a different area? They are far enough away to have a different accent. Thats far enough for me.

Liverpool is only 24 miles away from Rhyl. Is that the same area? Its a completely different country yet closer than Manchester. But its not the same area is it? Is Cardiff and Swansea in the same area despite being 'only' 38 miles away?

Whatever 'area' different people are discussing is surely irrelevant. The point being made was that Liverpool and Manchester are close enough together to be likely to experience similar weather conditions, that's all.

The word you are all looking for is region. Manchester and Liverpool are in the same region. An area is generally smaller, and confined to a city/town and it's surroundings.

See, Pompey knows.

I used to live just north of Liverpool (30 minutes drive or so) and there is an obvious micro-climate there. If you stand on Formby point, it is not unusual to have blue sky above and see rain clouds in a circle all around you, out to sea, over North Wales, over the Lake District and inland to Manchester and the Pennines. Formby has the same amount of rainfall as Heathrow yet is right bang in the middle of some of the wettest places in the UK. Basically a flat plateau surrounded by sea and mountains, which attract cold front systems and leave the lower land rain free.

Likewise, Sydney's weather is incredibly localised. It can be pelting down in the west as the thunderstorms peal off the Blue Mountains, yet be sunny along the coastal fringes. At other times, it is bone dry in the West with a row of showers sticking to the coast. A 20 minute drive can see a massive change in conditions.

Not saying the game has this level of micro-climate sophistication, rather making the point that weather conditions are often far more localised than many of us realise.

Absolutely spot on there wwfan. There are a number of factors affecting the weather in the north-west of England, because of its varying landscape. From the vast, open, flat Lancashire plain - used a flagpoint by irline pilots, and the Cheshire plain to the south of the region. Compare that to the hilly mountainous north-west corner where the Lake District is and the rolling hills and moors of the Pennines which spread down the east of the region - often noted as the 'backbone' of England. This varying geographical landscape produces alot of variable (and at times extreme) weather conditions, a main contributary factor being that most weather comes in from the Atlantic in the west.

Cumbria generally recieves the 'extreme' weather in terms of rainfall and low winter temperatures, whilst areas to the east of Manchester, particuarly over towards thePennines tend to recieve more snowfall in the winter. Summers are generally average across the region, again with more storms towards the east of the region.