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View Full Version : the field



crcsnail
10-08-2012, 02:27 AM
this is a brits view on a so called profesional playing field.
i watch lots of premiership football games in england and the pitches/fields are perfect . no cutting up etc.
watching the steelers last nite . the field was terrible, cutting up , huge pieces of turf lifting up .it must contribute to injuries and bad plays . ie did it contribute in a small way to cotcherys stumble?
wot are your views ?

steelreserve
10-08-2012, 03:43 AM
As a fan of both, they're completely different sports and it's a difficult comparison to make. Of course the field is going to get torn up more in American football, specifically because of the line of scrimmage where on every play you have ten to fifteen 300-pound men shoving each other and using all the leverage they can. There's nothing like that in soccer, and it's no coincidence that in just about every football game, you see the field get worn away to dirt in a big strip right down the center of the field where the linemen are.

Having said that, Heinz Field is known for being one of the worst playing surfaces in the league, especially when it rains. Basically, they have poor drainage and it turns into a mud pit. It's a similar problem to San Francisco, where the field is below sea level right next to the bay, so when there's any water on the field, it has no place to go and everything turns into a swamp. In Pittsburgh, it's made worse by the fact that they also play college football games on the field on Saturdays, although I don't think there was one this weekend.

In any case, the field is definitely a problem and players fall down all the time in wet conditions. Although most of the time, they compensate for it by switching to shoes with longer spikes. It's when it starts raining in the middle of the game that it becomes a problem. I don't think Cotchery fell down because of the field though - it looked more like he just tripped.

Also, as long as we're exchanging views, John Terry looks exactly like Kevin Spacey and I have no idea why that's not taken advantage of more, and also Rooney needs to start drinking more again.

crcsnail
10-08-2012, 06:12 AM
yeh steelreserve, i agree totally differant games . but the steelers field is horrible .its like they laid the turf yesterday . i find it hard to believe that they cant get a decent field to play on. local parks here are better than that :)
as a manchester city fan . i also wish rooney would drink more lol

X-Terminator
10-08-2012, 12:07 PM
yeh steelreserve, i agree totally differant games . but the steelers field is horrible .its like they laid the turf yesterday . i find it hard to believe that they cant get a decent field to play on. local parks here are better than that :)
as a manchester city fan . i also wish rooney would drink more lol

Part of the problem, other than drainage, is the weather here in Pittsburgh. It's tough to grow pristine grass here and keep it in good condition during the fall and winter. They have tried multiple kinds of grass and even used a real grass/fake grass hybrid called DD GrassMaster, and that didn't work well either. Cincinnati and New England had the same problem, and they eventually switched to artificial grass. The Steelers can do the same, but the organization and players prefer real grass, so that's what they're going to have.

suitanim
10-08-2012, 12:14 PM
Cleveland has the same challenge. HOWEVER, they play very few games other than the Browns games. Like one college game and the occasional High School game. That's why their grass looks so much better. Steelers have a ton of HS games as well as all the Pitt games...

7willBheaven
10-10-2012, 07:39 PM
What the others said...plus Cotchery's slip was that his one foot caught the back of the other. When they showed a slower replay you could see. Not a field issue.

bayz101
10-10-2012, 08:21 PM
The conditions of Sunday's game we're terrible. Even the greatest fields get torn apart in that kind of weather.