The Egg chasers relegation

[Royal Rother]

Stag Meadow is like a carpet and Windsor only pay £800 pm for the groundsmen.

If there was rugby played on it it would be a mud bath. Absurd to suggest rugby hasn't fcuked up the Madejski pitch. Pitches need time to recover.

[Maneki Neko]

In recent years we've relaid the pitch because of a nematode infestation

oxf*rd egg chasing cnuts, dropping their nematodes into the soil as they play

[muirinho]

I will be delighted if Irish get relegated if it means it's not financially viable to stay at the madjeski and go elsewhere.

I will be delighted if Irish get relegated and go elsewhere, so I can enjoy all of the efforts of some nobbers to explain why the pitch is just as bad after a winter of heavy rain when there is only football on it.

Have any of you been watching non-premiership football at other grounds at all? I've seen plenty that look no better than the MadStad.

Whether you follow them or not (I don't), LI bring income into the club, the hotel, and to Reading. And given that we should be relaying the pitch every couple of years anyway, whether they are here or not, they cost us absolutely nothing.

The only justification for getting rid would be if we could let in another club, who could pay us more money. But, the only ones who would pay more money would be another football club. I would hate to groundshare with another football club. AND the worst bits of wear and tear are actually football-related anyway, so you'd be making the ground worse rather than better.

But still, I suppose it gives more of a variety of things to moan about.

Next up - the Megastore would be much nicer if it didn't have all those horrible rugby shirts....

[Maneki Neko]

so I can enjoy all of the efforts of some nobbers to explain why the pitch is just as bad after a winter of heavy rain when there is only football on it.

just as bad?

so what you are saying is that rugby has absolutely no negative effect on the madejski pitch?

[sandman]

30 men, all over 16 stone, trampling all over the pitch has little to do with the massive wear and tear all over the pitch. It's that Lucas Piazon you want to be worried about.

[handbags_harris]

To blame the state of the pitch on just the rugby is a bit absurd. I'm no lover of the LI tenancy as there is no doubt that there are areas of the pitch heavily affected particularly with scrums (see the area in the south east corner about 10-15 yards in from the touch and goal lines), but a key factor of this specific area of the pitch (and the south end of the stadium in general) is also threadbare due to a complete lack of sunlight. But of course, the amount of football that gets played wears the pitch too, goal areas, centre circle, and generally down the middle of the pitch are where you typically see heavy wear and tear of a football pitch and hey, guess what? The Madejski bears all the scars.

Having said that, generally the pitch always wears well until around November/December time when we start to get colder, wetter weather. I can cast my mind back to many a season where the pitch has worn well into the season only to suddenly start cutting up at a specific point, generally after rugby was played in the midst or aftermath of a particularly wet spell. To suggest it holds up well in comparison to other similar venues with a similar budget is just wrong because it doesn't, it invariably cuts up leaving a bobbly surface around November/December until the grass starts growing naturally again in mid March.

I think what I'd like to see to improve the pitch firstly is clear perspex sheeting in the stadium roof at the south end of the ground to allow adequate sunlight to beam down on the pitch and encourage growth. I'd also like to see less development football played there, although I understand the U21 league regs state a certain proportion of matches must be played at the club's home ground (hence why we don't play every match at Wycombe). I'd also like to see either a) the Rugby bugger off, or b) an insistence from the club that rugby is not played at the Madejski on the same weekend as football. I completely acknowledge that b) is unlikely though.

[Maneki Neko]

30 men, all over 16 stone, trampling all over the pitch has little to do with the massive wear and tear all over the pitch. It's that Lucas Piazon you want to be worried about.

its not just their size even, its the fact that they actively dig their studs into the pitch while a whole scrum of 16 stone blokes tries to push them backwards.

[Nameless]

30 men, all over 16 stone, trampling all over the pitch has little to do with the massive wear and tear all over the pitch. It's that Lucas Piazon you want to be worried about.

its not just their size even, its the fact that they actively dig their studs into the pitch while a whole scrum of 16 stone blokes tries to push them backwards.

Care to explain how the wear on the pitch is not the sort of wear you'd get from people 'digging in'. It's not gouges taken out or churning up of the surface. It's a threadbare surface because the grass has died.
And LOL that 16 stone is a respectable weight for a decent front row forward !!

[Nameless]

I would agree that ideally we'd alternate rugby and football weekends to spread the wear but cup draws ruin that, plus I suspect there aren't enough weekends given you can't play rugby midweek

[Maneki Neko]

30 men, all over 16 stone, trampling all over the pitch has little to do with the massive wear and tear all over the pitch. It's that Lucas Piazon you want to be worried about.

its not just their size even, its the fact that they actively dig their studs into the pitch while a whole scrum of 16 stone blokes tries to push them backwards.

Care to explain how the wear on the pitch is not the sort of wear you'd get from people 'digging in'. It's not gouges taken out or churning up of the surface. It's a threadbare surface because the grass has died.


!!

yeah.dead, because people have been scraping vast amounts of weight across it.
im really not sure how saying theyre even heavier is helping your point.

[Kuhl_Runnings]

I thought this said "The egg chases relegation" and that it would be about McDermott getting us relegated

[West Stand Man]

Whether or not there is an issue that makes the pitch more susceptible to damage is a completely different issue. Have the ground staff said there is an issue with the ground the pitch is on? I would be very surprised if that is the underlying cause of the problem.

And one final thing. I doubt you could find any of our managers, including the present one, who wouldn't say that they would prefer LI not to be using the pitch.

Yes, they have (it was discussed on BBCRB a couple of weeks ago). The pitch is experiencing some subsidence and the drainage is not working effectively or efficiently. Some deterioration would have occurred if there had been no one even walking on it. My point was that the rugby is not the real cause of the problem. A decent pitch would be perfectly up to sustaining both sports (and the club clearly believed that paying out for a Desso pitch would achieve that). What is needed is to sort the pitch and go forward from there.

As to everyone being glad to see the back of LI, why? How do they affect most people? Other than the effect they have on the pitch (which is discussed above) they don't affect you or anyone else who doesn't want to watch the rugby.

[Nameless]

its not just their size even, its the fact that they actively dig their studs into the pitch while a whole scrum of 16 stone blokes tries to push them backwards.

Care to explain how the wear on the pitch is not the sort of wear you'd get from people 'digging in'. It's not gouges taken out or churning up of the surface. It's a threadbare surface because the grass has died.


!!

yeah.dead, because people have been scraping vast amounts of weight across it.
im really not sure how saying theyre even heavier is helping your point.

About as much as your obvious lack of any knowledge of how rugby is played is helping yours !!

[Nameless]

As to everyone being glad to see the back of LI, why? How do they affect most people? Other than the effect they have on the pitch (which is discussed above) they don't affect you or anyone else who doesn't want to watch the rugby.

It's because football fans have to maintain an image of hating what they think is an elitest sport, which they don't understand yet still will be watching on Saturday as England smash the hell out of the Welsh....

[Maneki Neko]

Care to explain how the wear on the pitch is not the sort of wear you'd get from people 'digging in'. It's not gouges taken out or churning up of the surface. It's a threadbare surface because the grass has died. By


!!

yeah.dead, because people have been scraping vast amounts of weight across it.
im really not sure how saying theyre even heavier is helping your point.

About as much as your obvious lack of any knowledge of how rugby is played is helping yours !!

honestly couldn't care less how much you "know" about how rugby is played.
you said if there was no rugby, the pitch would be exactly the same, and so think that the rugby has zero effect.
which is clearly nonsense.
Worse even than Ian Royal insisting its not been a really rainy autumn and winter.

and therefore I don't really have to listen to you, or pay you or your views any respect.

[Maneki Neko]

As to everyone being glad to see the back of LI, why? How do they affect most people? Other than the effect they have on the pitch (which is discussed above) they don't affect you or anyone else who doesn't want to watch the rugby.

It's because football fans have to maintain an image of hating what they think is an elitest sport, which they don't understand yet still will be watching on Saturday as England smash the hell out of the Welsh....

definitely wont be watching.dont really h8 the sport.
don't think its elitist at all.its a working class sport everywhere else.

[sandman]

Rugby as a sport is not elitist. The arrogance of it's fans and their insistence that all sports should follow Rugby's supposedly idyllic attitudes however is ultra elitist.

[sandman]

An attitude that has been perfectly demonstrated in this thread by Nameless.

[Nameless]

yeah.dead, because people have been scraping vast amounts of weight across it.
im really not sure how saying theyre even heavier is helping your point.

About as much as your obvious lack of any knowledge of how rugby is played is helping yours !!

honestly couldn't care less how much you "know" about how rugby is played.
you said if there was no rugby, the pitch would be exactly the same, and so think that the rugby has zero effect.
which is clearly nonsense.
Worse even than Ian Royal insisting its not been a really rainy autumn and winter.

and therefore I don't really have to listen to you, or pay you or your views any respect.

Ha ha !! This is really important to you isn't it !!

You think rugby is solely responsible for the state of the pitch and if LI didn't use it the pitch would be like a snooker table.
Which is clearly nonsense.
As has been fairly well shown the pitch has problems. It's not who plays on it that is causing those problems. But any use of it is going to have an effect.
The pitch is designed to cope with the number of fixtures played on it, but it's not working as it should.

Maybe you need to go and sit in a dark room and calm down

[Nameless]

Rugby as a sport is not elitist. The arrogance of it's fans and their insistence that all sports should follow Rugby's supposedly idyllic attitudes however is ultra elitist.

You'll struggle with that one !
Never heard rugby fans insisting that any other sport does anything.
And you've nicely shown how one eyed some football fans are towards other sports.
It seems a real shame that sports fans just close themselves off to the pleasures of other sport for no reason other than prejudice.