Was assistant at a newly built Contrib ground on Saturday which has a 4G (or 3G pitch, the one with the rubber stuff).
Anyway, ground was at a school, caged in like you would get at a leisure centre but with the appropriate steps in place to achieve ground grading at that level, seating, hard standing all the way round etc.
There are other teams at this level with this type of pitch here but not the layout of the ground itself. The crowd was 251 with only one fella from the away team chanting. It was the first time I've been to a competitive match and the facilities really made it feel like a friendly. The club will benefit as they will get the majority of games on and not postponed and will be able to hire the pitch out for extra revenue but that "feel" of competitive football just wasn't there. The smell of the grass and mud was missing, no atmosphere and just a general lacking of something. Anyone else experienced this? I found it hard to get up for it but still did my job!
At least I don't need to clean my boots for next week!
Anyway, ground was at a school, caged in like you would get at a leisure centre but with the appropriate steps in place to achieve ground grading at that level, seating, hard standing all the way round etc.
There are other teams at this level with this type of pitch here but not the layout of the ground itself. The crowd was 251 with only one fella from the away team chanting. It was the first time I've been to a competitive match and the facilities really made it feel like a friendly. The club will benefit as they will get the majority of games on and not postponed and will be able to hire the pitch out for extra revenue but that "feel" of competitive football just wasn't there. The smell of the grass and mud was missing, no atmosphere and just a general lacking of something. Anyone else experienced this? I found it hard to get up for it but still did my job!
At least I don't need to clean my boots for next week!