yes clearly, in trying to engage in a debate with somebody who won't give a nanometer, even when his own players slagged the surface off.

you may be happy for players to risk ending up looking like nick fozzard, but i think we have a duty of care to people that take the field. the games dangerous enough without carpet burns.

Point being their is a rather big different between a burn / graze in -4/-7 weather than there is too a bloody life scaring injury! Have said before if they continue to be a question then maybe an issue but some trying to write off after one game were conditions / effects mirrored those elsewhere on different surfaces!

Even if it is like 'caret burns or 1980's astro turfs' they still don't give life scaring injures for pity's sake.

Your relevance to posts is barmy I must admit. Unless you are saying that post was making stuff up?

As a fan of neither Wakefield or Widnes I have to say the pitch looks like it needs some real work before being suitable for full contact rugby league. Another PR disaster for the RFL who once again wholeheartedly ignore the players as the ipitch "has to be a success"..........at the cost of players H+S.

Just hope all the other clubs put in a complaint under a duty of care for the H+S of their playing staff. Rugby league is a tough enough game as it is without the powers the be taking no action to ensure preventable injuries are minimised.

Surely this would all depend on 'other clubs' experience of the pitch first.

Wakefield experienced it, yet decided not to complain.

Presactly.

Note that the Widnes players Twitter complaints have disappeared and our own club's report to the match commissioner has come to naught; it's not hard to imagine that the RFL have stepped in to suppress any negative i-pitch publicity, given the love triangle between themselves, Widnes and Stobart.

Little wonder the players felt the need to form their own union.

julie gaskell can kiss my behind. let her play on the pitch.

Wakefield made a complaint to the match commissioner at half time, the match commissioner decided not to forward the complaint to the RFL and therefore nothing came of it

Did they make an official one? Maybe they withdrew it, Agar would have had an issue if not surely?

Correct me if iam wrong but if this pitch holds water like i have heard and the water freezes .How is it an all weather pitch

All I have heard with regards water on the pitch is that (like other surfaces) giving it a good watering before a game will make it better maybe lesson impact a bit etc. The pitch obviously couldn't be watered fully last week as that, then would have led to a freeze.

So if you water it to lesson impact and it wasnt because of the temp it was left hard ? Have i got that wright.

Unless we get them at their place in the cup I wouldn't work about it.

We will see what other clubs feel about it in the fullness of time.

If there are any problems then Widnes will need a few more players

Quote ="kellys eye"Correct me if iam wrong but if this pitch holds water like i have heard and the water freezes .How is it an all weather pitch'" here's the foundations, as it says its then topped with sand so if when its wet it must hold moisture that would freeze below the the plastic grass. this may of contribute to the nasty scrapes www.trustinwidnes.com/forum/inde ... 916.0.html can't wait for the Bulls to go grazing on it

Quote ="kellys eye"Correct me if iam wrong but if this pitch holds water like i have heard and the water freezes .How is it an all weather pitch'" here's the foundations, as it says its then topped with sand so if when its wet it must hold moisture that would freeze below the the plastic grass. this may of contribute to the nasty scrapes www.trustinwidnes.com/forum/inde ... 916.0.html can't wait for the Bulls to go grazing on it

Would you throw added water out at -7?
As I say it's an aide not a necessity, same as with grass pitches.

i think the above should read "wakefield experienced it, and decided not to complain as no-one would listen to them anyway"

for the record, there are players at other clubs, including the ones who played on saturday night who are, shall we say "apprehensive" about the new surface. there have been many questions to our players.

this could be a big advantage to widnes now, as the players could become "scared" (or scar-ed) of the new surface

quite a good write up regarding the pitch in George Riley's blog on the BBC website www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/georgeriley/ ... _egos.html

quite a good write up regarding the pitch in George Riley's blog on the BBC website www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/georgeriley/ ... _egos.html

Quote ="pocket 4's"quite a good write up regarding the pitch in George Riley's blog on the BBC website www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/georgeriley/ ... _egos.html'" Any pictures of George Riley's Knees??

Quote ="pocket 4's"quite a good write up regarding the pitch in George Riley's blog on the BBC website www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/georgeriley/ ... _egos.html'" Any pictures of George Riley's Knees??

That blog contains a bit more information about the extent of the damage:



So Mathers injuries have become infected, impacting on his training for the following week and putting his match fitness into doubt.



And the whole team have had this weeks' training disrupted, because of the injuries they sustained.

For Widnes' sake, I hope it was just the cold weather; if this happens to every team that plays on the i-pitch, it could prove to be a very costly error of judgement by O'Connor and the RFL.

Still at least O'Connor was dissuaded from having an orange pitch, although the current colour may have a reddish hue by the end of the season.

Good article that by George Riley covers issues and gets various responses. Though arranging swimming the day after a night game is always at risk of a bit if clarett I'd say!

Its the norm for squads to have a swimming session the day after games, its all part of the recovery process, I'd imagine every team has the pool booked for the day after game day.

In the days of winter rugby and no Sky TV, this game would probably have been called off. If the ground temperature is -6°, you're going to get hurt, no matter what surface you play on.

If players keep getting cut up when the temperatures are above freezing, I'd say you have a serious issue with the pitch. Until then, it's an open verdict. The game's hard enough without subjecting players to the risk of serious injury in unsuitable playing conditions, just to line the pockets of the TV paymasters and satisfy the desires of the spectators.

correct

players safety isn't paramount