Madejski - Shortest Pitch in the Prem!

Harold · by **Harold** » 04 Aug 2006 11:01

At 102 yards. Just been bored and looking at pitch sizes. Reading have the shortest pitch and nearly the narrowest in the Prem. I wonder if they'll get hammered away from home quite a bit as some of the pitches are at least 10ft longer!

Reading Abbey · by **Reading Abbey** » 04 Aug 2006 11:29

Or maybe our team will relish the larger pitches and spread the play a bit more. It never did Arsenal any harm having a narrow pitch, and I think, shorter too!

Wycombe Royal · by **Wycombe Royal** » 04 Aug 2006 11:43

Looking at it the other way - will it cause visiting clubs to have a more of a problem with our pitch?

Larger pitches shouldn't affect us too much - we know that our players are some of the fittest around so covering the extra ground won't affect them.

T.R.O.L.I. · by **T.R.O.L.I.** » 04 Aug 2006 11:49

Wycombe Royal wrote:Looking at it the other way - will it cause visiting clubs to have a more of a problem with our pitch?

Like we did away at Luton last year - I particularly seem to remember Marcus struggling with his distribution.

The Cube · by **The Cube** » 04 Aug 2006 11:58

Harold wrote:At 102 yards. Just been bored and looking at pitch sizes. Reading have the shortest pitch and nearly the narrowest in the Prem. I wonder if they'll get hammered away from home quite a bit as some of the pitches are at least 10ft longer!

Our pitch is 102 metres long, not 102 yards.

Reading Abbey · by **Reading Abbey** » 04 Aug 2006 12:01

The Cube wrote:
Harold wrote:At 102 yards. Just been bored and looking at pitch sizes. Reading have the shortest pitch and nearly the narrowest in the Prem. I wonder if they'll get hammered away from home quite a bit as some of the pitches are at least 10ft longer!
Our pitch is 102 metres long, not 102 yards.

Tis indeed -------> 102 x 70 metres.

West Stand Man · by **West Stand Man** » 04 Aug 2006 12:02

Ours is narrow because we chose to make it that way. The original Madejski pitch was about 2 - 3 m wider but AP asked for it to be made narrower in the 2000-01 season.

The Cube · by **The Cube** » 04 Aug 2006 12:05

Reading Abbey wrote:
The Cube wrote:
Harold wrote:At 102 yards. Just been bored and looking at pitch sizes. Reading have the shortest pitch and nearly the narrowest in the Prem. I wonder if they'll get hammered away from home quite a bit as some of the pitches are at least 10ft longer!
Our pitch is 102 metres long, not 102 yards.
Tis indeed -------> 102 x 70 metres.

Well, I'm not so sure about how wide it is. They quoted 70 metres when we moved in, and it's changed at least twice since then (once publicly when Pardew narrowed it by a couple of metres, the other quietly when those turning up for the first game one season could have spotted that there was a difference), but at no point has the official width changed.

TFF · by **TFF** » 04 Aug 2006 12:26

http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/pa ... 06,00.html

"Pitch Size: 102 metres x 68 metres"

Warfield Royal · by **Warfield Royal** » 04 Aug 2006 12:39

Law 1 - The Field of Play

Field surface
Matches may be played on natural or artificial surfaces, according to the rules of the competition.

Dimensions
The field of play must be rectangular. The length of the touch line must be greater than the length of the goal line.

minimum maximum
Length: 90 m (100 yds) 120 m (130 yds)
Width: 45 m (50 yds) 90 m (100 yds)

International Matches
minimum maximum
Length: 100 m (110 yds) 110 m (120 yds)
Width: 64 m (70 yds) 75 m (80 yds)

Wycombe Royal · by **Wycombe Royal** » 04 Aug 2006 13:57

I wasn't aware that you can have a pitch 90 metres wide - that seems a bit too big to me.

Do any grounds get close to that?

Rich@Eaststand · by **Rich@Eaststand** » 04 Aug 2006 14:27

T.R.O.L.I. wrote:Like we did away at Luton last year - I particularly seem to remember Marcus struggling with his distribution.

We must of played on quite a few narrow pitches last year then!

RoyalBlue · by **RoyalBlue** » 04 Aug 2006 14:57

Marcus please note the shortness of our pitch and turn down the power on your kicks!

rabidbee · by **rabidbee** » 04 Aug 2006 15:37

alad wrote:
Wycombe Royal wrote:Looking at it the other way - will it cause visiting clubs to have a more of a problem with our pitch?

Larger pitches shouldn't affect us too much - we know that our players are some of the fittest around so covering the extra ground won't affect them.
So why don't we make the pitch at Madejski bigger? If it suits our players?

I would have thought, with the jump in standard, we would be happy with a smaller pitch. Whilst there will be less space for us to attack in, obviously, there will also be much less room for the oposition to play in. I hope that we're not ultra defensive, but nevertheless we will need to keep things nice and tight.

biscuitman · by **biscuitman** » 05 Aug 2006 03:49

Just been bored and looking at pitch sizes.

Harold, get a life

mathematically_safe · by **mathematically_safe** » 05 Aug 2006 09:21

that means you can legally have a square pitch - 90 x 90??

TFF · by **TFF** » 05 Aug 2006 09:29

mathematically_safe but literacy challenged wrote:that means you can legally have a square pitch - 90 x 90??

Warfield Royal wrote:The field of play must be rectangular. The length of the touch line must be greater than the length of the goal line.

HTH

Stranded · by **Stranded** » 05 Aug 2006 09:46

That Friday Feeling wrote:
mathematically_safe but literacy challenged wrote:that means you can legally have a square pitch - 90 x 90??

Warfield Royal wrote:The field of play must be rectangular. The length of the touch line must be greater than the length of the goal line.
HTH

So you could have a pitch measuring 90.01 X 89.99 then. Would look square to the naked eye!!

TFF · by **TFF** » 05 Aug 2006 10:05

Stranded wrote:So you could have a pitch measuring 90.01 X 89.99 then. Would look square to the naked eye!!

Sir, you are a giant in a land of pedants

Warfield Royal · by **Warfield Royal** » 05 Aug 2006 19:14

minimum maximum
Width: 45 m (50 yds) 90 m (100 yds)

I have always thought it amazing that a 100% variation is allowed on the width of a domestic pitch but this is probably only a factor in park football.

When I coached a junior football team we had a small 11-a-side home pitch which may not have been according to the rules but was quite suitable for an U12 team but when we played some opposition we found that the width of their pitch was almost as long as the length our our home pitch. We could have played 2 matches on the same pitch!