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Oh it was still bitterly cold when I played, but it was better than the winter when it was even more bitterly coldOriginally Posted by GL1Blue
Read it last week, really enjoyed it.
To add mine, it was a stag do to Gdańsk in Poland, the 30 lads wanted a kick around. Our Polish organizer’s took us to an area with apartment blocks and a square of grass in the middle. As we played we kept on picking up empty shotgun carcasses from the patch of grass.
Agreed, we’ll worth a read.
It was something of a one off because I can’t remember the pitch being too bad otherwise, but my local park when I lived in Pentrebane that I’ve heard called Waterhall or Ashcroft Park was in terrible shape one Sunday afternoon after a weekend of rain. The pitch nearest the woods was always a bit of a problem because the ball would occasionally have to be fished out of the nearby stream and pond, but on this day it was more like a lake and, of course, the ball was going into it more often. The pitch was a mud heap, but the worst thing was that it wasn’t just mud, the flooding of the stream and pond meant the effect of the nearby sewage pump was far greater than it was in normal circumstances - there was what I’ll call a pungent aroma present throughout and the response when I got home with my dirty kit confirmed that the stink had not confined itself to the park.
I used to play local league football on a red ash pitch in Germany. You couldn't tackle like you would on a grass pitch as anyone going to ground would end up with ash embedded in any abrasions and the ground was hard as nails. Sliding tackles would have inflicted damage on the tackler himself.
Too fat, too slow GK but always had quick reflex
Bedlinog on the side of a mountain- glad we didn’t have to supply the balls and always seemed to be snowing
Glider Fields - Llandaff.. Mudbath
Hawthorn Fields by the river in Rhydfelin- Nice pitch, but all had our wallets stolen
Trelai Fields— when the wind blew you couldn’t get the goal kicks out of the box 😂
Any water based Astro 😳
Phillipstown- Had to remove the rocks and glass from the pitch before k.o
Graig-Y-Rhacca - as a kid playing rugby remember finding discarded syringes on the side
Cwm Welfare- pitch was fine, but they were short of players and brought in a load of psychopathic egg chasers. Ended up in a huge punch up 🤦*♂️
Had 5 seasons playing in England from as far south as Leicester and as far north as Chesterfield and absolutely nothing to compare with the South Wales pitches and levels of violence!
Suited me. 👍Nearly all Parks Pitches were very poor, a great leveller if you were shit, pissed or both
Only played cricket there. Thought the facilities were pretty decent. Shows what I’d got used to 😂Played both football and Cricket on that groundbetter in the summer
Special mention to Morgan Jones Park. A swamp for 2/3 of the season with a raging torrent swirling past one end and one side of the pitch which the balls constantly ended in and random piles of dog shit dotted around.Facilities in Caerphilly were so bad that we ended up playing home games on a superb pitch in Trehafod near Porth.
And of course- there was ‘The San Siro’ in Butetown 👍
the san siro was fine
Yes I do play - some players do try to extend the rules but if the referee says you’re not walking you get a warning, there’s a 2nd warning and then it’s a blue card and a spell on the touchline
Yeah, that’s the one. Remember playing Cubs football there as a 9 year old in goals as I was the only one who could touch the crossbar.
Goal area was a lake 😂
Played for Llandaff North in the Sunday league for about 3 seasons toward the end of my 11 a side days.. Decent side, won a load of trophies there and got to the top division- which was an experience 👍 and Hailey Park was our home ground for a bit . From my memory that was one of the better ones
Thank you TexasBlue, much appreciated, always nice to hear someone enjoyed reading it
Llanfoist, Abergavenny. Talk about uneven. At that time, if you stood in the goalmouth at the top of the pitch, you could only just see the bar of the goal at the other end !!
There were a few in the Rhymney Valley Sunday League. Nelson's old pitch seemed to be 50 feet higher from top to bottom. Fochriw was awful but still the most picturesque part of the village.
Seven Sisters was the worst Welsh League pitch. Less pronounced slope than Nelson but much more open to the elements. Mynydd Newydd Playing fields in Swansea are an experience.
What I could never understand were the pitches that went from quagmires in winter to bare concrete in April without seeming to pass through lush.
It was, maybe something to do with the river being so close, the pitches at pontcanna, closest to the river held up better than the others, which wasn't difficult, and blackweir wasn't too bad either. Which Sunday league was that? Lazarou or M and W?
The Marl in Grangetown back in the day. The pitch was on a former rubbish dump with glass rising to the surface. It wouldn't be allowed to be used these days. Trowbridge was bad also because it flooded. The bottom side of the pitch was regularly pooled meaning you would get a soaking when the ball puddled. Ely Racecourse was also bad - not because of the pitch - but because of the opposition where football thuggery reached a new dimension. Always I feigned injury when we were due to play an Ely side as I'm a born coward.
The marl was an old Ash tip, so the earth was coal black.if you had rough skin on your knees then it was murder to scrub it off!
Trehafod. Was that by the old Taff Vale Colliery?
The banks at Llanishen High were shocking. They stank aswell and we were all sure there was a sewage leak from the houses on Everest Avenue that backed onto it.
Ah yes Al, that pitch in Nelson. Was like playing in a San Francisco street 😂 Can remember playing up front there as a kid in the RV league and they had I think Barry Jeffries playing for them completely dictating play, and I chased everything across their back 4 as they passed around me whilst my fellow striker ( Pete Lawrence) stood hands on hips laughing at my efforts as we were already 6 or so down .
I was fuming .. I’ve convinced myself I got a consolation goal , but that’s probably my mind playing tricks.
Laz Dan
Yeah. Not far from the Colliery Museum there- Rhondda Heritage Park.
If the ball went over the fence mind, that was it.
Made me a bit unpopular with my Ben Turner style clearances 😂
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