2003 Return of Plastic to GS

As bad as lines look, last night's match was just awful-it was a 45-50 yard wide field. You could see the players just did not want to play out wide in the dirt. Olsen played like that the whole night.

I think it's the lesser of two evils, really.

 

What a bullshiite article.

Our grass field got f__ked up because that field did not get enough water. We actually tried to conserve water during the draught by only watering certain parts of the field at certain times. It did not work obviously. You have a pro team playing on a poorly kept up field? My gardeners could have done a better job maintaining that field.

ON ARTIFICIAL FIELDS

I don't know about the other product, but Field Turf is a terrific surface to play on. How long can it last? They say 5 games a day for 15 yrs is the estimate. I don't know if that is true no one has had it that long as yet to testify to that estimate.

Get good drainage on that surface it is not a carpet.

On the cost of this field. The article said a million that also sounds like bullshiite. I priced Field turf a couple of years ago for the president of Amature soccer here in NY. I had 250 thousand to spend and another 40/50 thousand to light up the field.

We did not have enough money to do it, but the estimate I got was just under 500 thousand dollars. That was also the apx cost to do the Metropolitian oval in Queens.

So what is this stuff about a million dollars to install? Someone must have received a kick back on the over charge.

Richie

 

I would have to agree. Last night was darn near dangerous. The major divot that was kicked up on the one side looked like a speed bump.Curious to see how the field looks by Sunday. Good thing we have those removable trays.

 

Some where in Germany there is a domed stadium with a real grass field. The whole field slides out side of the stadium using a machine so it can get sun on nice days and be watered.

 

So much of Zoffinger's love of soccer and he promise to build the sport and bring more international teams to Giants Stadium. There's no way the likes of Read Madrid and Manchester United will allow their players like Zidane, Raul, Beckham and Phil Neville play on a non-grass surface.

 

Yes, the removable trays that never get removed and replaced. The grass surface would be fine if it were maintained, which it is not. The NJSEA is simply killing us. Can you say "A-League"? At this rate, that is all that will survive in two years.

 

Hopefully this will be the push to get our own stadium that we need....face it, the field has been unplayable and I firmly believe that it is not due to neglience or someone 'out to get' soccer...I think that stadium just has too many tenants (and events) to keep a grass field in decent shape....

 

Just remember that the Giants never wanted grass in the first place.

 

The famous one is in Japan (Yokohama I think) where England played Argentina in the World cup. Its actually a baseball ground!

Sponge

 

The problem is that grass actually needs to time to grow and hold together. They never replaced the trays during the year. Of course once you put them in after one week they will get ripped up.

 

Here's a CNNSI article on the stuff. It says that FIFA has approved it for WC play, which could make GS more attractive to exhibitions of clubs want to try it out.

Doesn't solve the NFL lines issue, but maybe Zoffinger's not an idiot after all.

 

The Fire coach I met this week complained about the pitch at Naperville. Seemed to think that you kind of sank into it and got an odd bounce.

What is the facination with Gridiron and plastic pitches?

Sponge

 

Jeff knows one of the Fire coaches too I think

 

Take a look at the Sapporo dome website. It's sweeeeet. Take a look at the Quicktime video they have of the conversion of the field from baseball to soccer. They just move the entire grass field outside in.

http://www.sapporo-dome.co.jp/foreign/main_english.html

 

The headline on the article is VERY misleading. I thought I was going to read that they were bringing back the same astroturf from a few years ago and ping-pong soccer would be back.

I've played on FieldTurf and despite the faults already noted here, it would be a significant improvement over a "real" field that's not properly maintained.

One thing no one here has mentioned yet....why is it that everyone else who has a "real" grass field does not have the same problems as GS? True, that they hold college football games, concerts and the Giants & Jets, but OTHER stadiums take the SAME beating and perhaps more. And yet, the condition of their fields are magnificent.

It's not just a matter of watering the field and cutting the grass. What is it that everyone else does that the GS field maintenance crew doesn't?

 

Can't remember the last time the grass looked good at Giants Stadium.... pretty sure it wasn't this year.

 

the last time the grass look good was the 1994 world cup.........

 

I'll pop for one more season at GS -- grass or plastic, and frankly I hope it's plastic. And I hope it's GAUDY with gridirons and multiple Jets/Giants emblems permanently fixed -- including the endzones.

That should make life interesting for Zoff's international brigades.

I don't know if Metro will be out of GS by 2004, but I will. I won't buy another season package in the Swamp after 2003. The only thing that brings me back next year is not wanting to abandon the team. Maybe I'll get to more road trips in '04, but I don't plan to return to the Swamp for anything.

 

The Auf Arena,where Shalke 04 play.