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Barrow were pretty annoyed their game was called off and to prove the point did a live training session for the fans in the stadium on the same pitch that the ref had deemed unplayable!
Last Saturday the game at Barrow was called off due to a waterlogged pitch and the forecast up there, for the next 6 days is rain, rain and more rain.
We could end up going 2 weeks with no footie
Entirely possible TooT!
I've not seen a single home game here at Liskeard since mid November, every one rained off, sometimes by Thursday.... they're home tomorrow and it's currently hailing with thunder.
I've not seen a single home game here at Liskeard since mid November, every one rained off, sometimes by Thursday.... they're home tomorrow and it's currently hailing with thunder.
Oh for the Vendée!!
They don't know they're born nowadays, when I were lad........
In all seriousness, you can't keep postponing games, and end up playing 10 matches in April, surely that would be just as bad for players health?
The covers are currently on and it's mild, sunny and windy. Perfect drying weather. The covers at each penalty area have been folded over so they're exposed though.
Rain is coming down in buckets at 21-00 in North Colchester. Huge puddles on Mill Road Playing Fields. Much depends on the Jobserve pitch covers. However, the covers can take up to 120 minutes to fully remove and fold. Let’s hope that wasn’t done this afternoon when it was sunny!!!!
Like many others on this site I have been going to the JCS since 2008.
I can never remember the need for three postponements in a season before.
Colchester used to have the met office official status as the driest place in England with an average of 12 inches of rainfall per year.
The most disturbing aspect must surely be the state of the pitch. The photographs are truly horrific and we must be the laughing stock within League Two.
Another Tuesday night game, smaller crowd although one would hope that the conditions would be better.
I suppose it gives Arthur Read another week to gain full fitness
Although if the forecast is to be believed Holker Street could be at risk next Saturday.
I'm sure we all remember Ronnie Radford scoring against Newcastle at Edgar Street on a ploughed field.
Like many others on this site I have been going to the JCS since 2008.
I can never remember the need for three postponements in a season before.
Colchester used to have the met office official status as the driest place in England with an average of 12 inches of rainfall per year.
The most disturbing aspect must surely be the state of the pitch. The photographs are truly horrific and we must be the laughing stock within League Two.
Another Tuesday night game, smaller crowd although one would hope that the conditions would be better.
I suppose it gives Arthur Read another week to gain full fitness
Although if the forecast is to be believed Holker Street could be at risk next Saturday.
I'm sure we all remember Ronnie Radford scoring against Newcastle at Edgar Street on a ploughed field.
Up the U's water polo team.
If our eye has been off the ball since Dave left then we have only ourselves to blame for not attending to the Cuckoo Farm pitch Durham. As such we've naively overlooked the importance and if our bottom of the league adversaries do ok today we have gifted them a psychological lift.
It's more evidence of us not deploying grown up thinking these last few seasons. As has been said before - our culture needs a seismic shift. We should not be lurching to safety come May struggling with rain and inadequate facilities should we. It bothers me a lot.
If our eye has been off the ball since Dave left then we have only ourselves to blame for not attending to the Cuckoo Farm pitch Durham. As such we've naively overlooked the importance and if our bottom of the league adversaries do ok today we have gifted them a psychological lift.
It's more evidence of us not deploying grown up thinking these last few seasons. As has been said before - our culture needs a seismic shift. We should not be lurching to safety come May struggling with rain and inadequate facilities should we. It bothers me a lot.
Pinot, as always wise words.
It is very disturbing indeed. No one wants to see postponements particularly in our predicament.
There is no doubt the pitch has been getting worse then DB was allowed to go.
Goodness even Bradford and Salford have better pitches at present and traditionally they have been abysmal.
Whilst we rightly bemoan the state of our pitch, we mustn't overlook that for East Anglia this has been both the mildest and wettest February since records began in 1836, with most of the region receiving more than 200% of the average rainfall for February. I suspect that would have tested even the god-like skills of Dave Blacknall.
Plenty of local non-league also off, including Stanway Rovers.
Essex is currently one big bog.
The comparison with non-league is apt.
A professional football ground constructed in the last 20 years should be able to cope with any amount of water the day before a match. Jumped up non-league teams can be excused, but any modern league team that wants to go anywhere has no excuse. Sport pitch construction is a massive science where nothing should be left to chance.
A combination of good pitch construction and good groundsmanship should be able to deal with whatever Essex can throw at it.
You cannot do much about a monsoon 30 mins before kick-off, but appropriate granular sub-base material under the turf, geotextiles and a network of sub-base drainage pipes should more than cope with the worst rainfall in the days prior to a match.
That’s one of the reasons why decent pitches are being watered all the time, because the drainage is so good that water doesn’t hang around once the turf is moist. Hence it dries out quickly and needs constant watering. I believe the very best pitches have a clever system where they drain well, but also keep water in the rootzone. I think it is called a suspended water table surface.
The type of sub-soil is irrelevant in modern elite pitch construction.
Rainwater harvesting has been around much longer that the community stadium and is employed in all decent modern grounds. The storm water run-off from the stand roofs, car park and pitch drainage can be stored in massive underground tanks to provide water for irrigation without using potable water.
I'm guessing that our pitch wasn’t constructed to these standards, despite the fact we were a Championship club when the stadium was designed. Now its harder to add decent drainage, but not impossible at all.
Just as important to the construction of the pitch is its maintenance. If you don’t have enough expert groundstaff with sufficient budget then the grass will obviously suffer. It’s not rocket science, healthier grass will withstand much more punishment.
Covers are actually worse than doing nothing, unless they cover the whole pitch and you have enough equipment and enough trained ground staff to get them on and off whenever necessary, without damaging the pitch.
From the pictures of the pitch I would wager that the really bad areas are where water has run off of covers into a concentrated area. Then you add in people trying to haul heavy covers on and off and the results are predictable.
We put a man on the moon in 1969, it is well within our capability in 2024 to have a good pitch in Colchester, that will withstand heavy rain. There is no comparison between what a professional football club should be doing and what a non-league club can achieve.
In our defense, the average annual rainfall in Colchester is actually about 24 inches per year. In Stockport it is about 54 inches per year, so it would be understandable if our pitch was designed to cope with less rainfall, but it is none the less, not fit for purpose.
We seemingly have limitless amount of cash to waste on a persistently failing ‘Championship standard’ academy (as if it wasn’t already apparent, the starting line-up at Salford had one academy player), yet something so fundamental as the pitch, is allowed to become an embarrassment.
If we have a whip-round, perhaps we could run to one of these? It’s insane
The fact is the amount of surface water on the roads - I drove through lots of surface water recently - and saturated bog like conditions of parks and greens is appalling due to the heavy rainfall so far this year. That with the fact that Colchester is one of the driest parts of England (aside from the Fenland areas) kind of says it all about the drainage in Essex.
I will say one thing about all the rain and the pitch, at least it’s given Noah Chilvers a break from being the target of the social media haters.
Online abuse is one thing, but the abuse he gets from a minority at matches it off the scale. I’ve managed to take in a few away games on visits to Blighty, and there’s a little group of not so young morons that hurl abuse at him like he’s some mass murderer. Just as a few used to pick on Dougie. It is so pathetic, it’s off the scale.
I think it was Shrewsbury, where he was subbed and had to walk in front of the U’s supporters. I was embarrassed to be standing near to the childish tvvats.
Online abuse is one thing, but the abuse he gets from a minority at matches it off the scale. I’ve managed to take in a few away games on visits to Blighty, and there’s a little group of not so young morons that hurl abuse at him like he’s some mass murderer. Just as a few used to pick on Dougie. It is so pathetic, it’s off the scale.
I think it was Shrewsbury, where he was subbed and had to walk in front of the U’s supporters. I was embarrassed to be standing near to the childish tvvats.
[Post edited 3 Mar 12:59]
In fairness Noah received a tremendous reception from the faithful at Salford.
DC knows how to get the best out of the players.
He has transformed Cameron McGeehan by moving him to a more advanced role, similarly Hopper and Chilvers.
I have not heard anti Chilvers feeling at away matches for some time now.
And when there was some it wasn't just the vocal youngsters who were responsible.
DC has united the team and the support he and the side receive is exceptional.
Around pages 26-28 will show you what I was banging on about in an earlier post. You can have a pitch that will put up with almost any amount of rain if it's constructed and maintained properly. You will however, have to keep watering it in the summer (that's where the free water from rainwater harvesting comes in).
It can be built on concrete, never mind London Clay, and it will still drain.
Table 1, Page 27, Pitch Type 7 “Very high drainage rates achievable. With proper maintenance a very high standard of playing surface can result”.
Around pages 26-28 will show you what I was banging on about in an earlier post. You can have a pitch that will put up with almost any amount of rain if it's constructed and maintained properly. You will however, have to keep watering it in the summer (that's where the free water from rainwater harvesting comes in).
It can be built on concrete, never mind London Clay, and it will still drain.
Table 1, Page 27, Pitch Type 7 “Very high drainage rates achievable. With proper maintenance a very high standard of playing surface can result”.
To me that salary doesn't seem like one that will attract a top level candidate (or even a base level one!) Also you have to look after eight pitches! Some clubs have probably got eight people looking after one pitch!
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