[2011 Matchday] Whitecaps at Real Salt Lake | 2011 July 16]

all this bitching about the cancelled game wow do you know it's an outdoor stadium? do you know many outdoor games are cancelled due to weather? Toronto FC -Vancouver Nutrilite latest example and that wasn't on a temporary pitch. just part of the business and was pretty freakish the rainfall at the most inopportune time with new sod. it sucked for everyone but what can you do Mother Nature is the boss.

 

I can't say I've ever met a polygamist nudist Mormon, though I suspect they would have some interesting stories.

You do realize Rio Tinto is an outdoor stadium as well, right? And AFAIK we've never canceled a game due to weather (lighting delays once or twice, but never a cancellation). That's because the pitch has the necessary drainage system and groundskeeping team to keep it playable.

I'm not complaining because the weather sucked, I'm complaining because the Vancouver FO cut corners when installing their temporary pitch (i.e. not putting in any sort of drainage mechanism, apparently) to the detriment of both teams and both sets of fans.

 

JR

How would you propose this would have been handled better on Saturday? The pitch was unplayable and they cancelled the game. Is there a way they could have cancelled the game that you are suggesting? Or are you saying the pitch should have had the added expense of drainage equipment built in? or something else?

What is mickey mouse about cancelling a game when the pitch is not playable?

 

In regards to the usual stereotype on rain here. The PNW and further down the West Coast has dry summers compared to other parts of the continent. Obviously quite the opposite from winter and hence the ridiculous stereotype. Vancouver's driest and hottest month is July.

Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland's average July rainfall is less, and in most cases a lot less, than Toronto, NYC, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Chicago, DC, Columbus, Kansas City, Philly, Boston. The only MLS clubs that see less rainfall than PNW is the California clubs and Salt Lake.

The rain the other night(12mm) was a freak thing. In the past thirty years the average number of days in July where there would be more than 10mm of rain is 1.

Is the plastic pitch here crap? Yes. Is placing real grass over it with no way of drainage stupid? Perhaps, but if you factor in the above climate conditions here then it wasn't the worst business decision. Hosting a friendly match and postponing the Sat game because of said match and possible ruined ramshackle pitch is however up for debate I think.

 

I am not sure why the hate between fans here, clearly the management didn't forsee the problems, and we all lost out.

Whats worse - not only was the game postponed - but the weiner dog races scheduled at the race track post game were also moved to Sunday. I was forced to watch a shitty throwball game on TV instead!

 

Hey, I'm just bugging them on the attendance numbers (even though Vancouver is better. I do also think it sucks that there supporters traveled and didn't get to see a game. I do however think there are more horrible things in life...such as not having the money to do those kind of things... or getting killed.

My negativity towards their supporters was after reading their supporters section (full of insults toward us) or reading comments on facebook where their supporters were saying shit like "nothing good ever comes out of Canada)". Well ******** those people.

Anyway to add to the stupidity around this meaningless game, why on earth didn't they sell out the stadium? I see those stupid tarps are still over the top rows of seats....and there's even empty seats where there are no tarps. To me that's a lack of effort in marketing on the Caps part.

 

I love how a RSL fan is bitching about a game not being played and the expense of travel for the club as if the money came directly from his pocket.

Here's some food for thought, our club travelled all the way to Toronto, were up 1-0 through what ht or 65 minutes had the game called on account of rain, travelled home and then had to come back to Toronto and start play from 0-0, and then were robbed of a CL berth because of the ridiculous re-play rules.

 

Your right to complain about being wronged, should, in no way, infringe upon our right to complain about being wronged. After seeing what happened to YA YA last night, I'm glad our game was called. I wonder how long it will be before an EPL team travels to Vancouver again? As Alexi Lalas said last night, the fair compensation is for Vancouver to move its home game with RSL to Rio Tinto.

 

Given the team they trotted out last night, I couldn't careless if an EPL went to Vancouver again. I feel asleep 13 minutes in after realizing Dzeko and Hart were the only ones on the field trying.

Fair compensation...lol. Ya ok buddy, keep dreaming with Alexi Lalas. Will the stadium be filled with Vancouver supporters and all concessions/tickets going to Vancouver?

 

In their defense, during the first half it looked like the Citteh participants were simply wanting to avoid injury on that pitch. You can't really blame them.

As to compensation, I think the two FOs could get together and work out a piece of the pie for Vancouver if they moved the game here.

 

That's it in a nutshell.

 

Even Sir Alex recently said that the US needs to develop a model that works for us, rather than try to be like everyone else. By extension, and with your forgiveness, I will include us and Cananda. He even suggested dividing the country up into 4 leagues. With franchises having investied in soccer specific stadiums that they control, I think that the franchise concept is here to stay.

 

Are you being stupid on purpose?

This is not a "professional groundskeeper" issue...lol

We had a terrible amount of rain on a temporary grass surface. yeah, it sucked your game was the one that got stuck with this issue; but no groundskeeper was going to resolve this.

This is the peril of putting in a grass layer over top of plastic and turf. Won't ever happen again as if we do this next year we have a roof if it rains.

Stop whining.... Vancouver is a Great city if you get out and enjoy it, and you could have made the most of it instead of sulking.

 

OUCH!!!!!!!! ur a prickly sob- we should call u the PORCUPINE SHEIK