Living in the smoke and being at work last night had no choice but to listen to the Arsenal game on TalkSport, now as they usually do they flick to the other games across the country for score updates and something was said that wound me up.
They went to the Hull game and most of his 1 minute snippet was moaning about the dreadful pitch that both teams had to play on and he said this.
"The pitch is in dreadful state because of all the rugby games that are constantly played on it"

Forgive me if i'm wrong but our season only started three weeks ago, you've had one home game v Bradford, not sure on your preseason but again the arrogance and complete ignorance from the football lot YET AGAIN.

How is a ground that has had ONE competitive game the fault of rugby for ruining the pitch?

*I don't actually know how good or bad the state of your pitch actually is but it's bugger all to do with rugby.

3 games since September and it hasnt looked that bad iirc, will have a look on saturday

Its bare in places, right under the goal posts so we might have to avid scoring under the posts and drop outs as obviusly its us causing the wear and waring up in the centre circle and up and down the outside of the touchlines

The media do the same with Wigan, the thing is football churn up the pitch more than rugby, look at The Stoop, constant rugby yet always looks like a decent patch to play on, always strikes me as some sort of agenda against us.

well its not holdsworth churning it up with his kicking practice........

I believe Steve Bruce was winging about it last week .

City have played 3 home games in the past week. Hull FC havnt played at home in that time. I think City followers will find it very hard to blame rugby for the current state of the pitch.

<titmarsh> Grass grows in the summer and not the winter </titmarsh>

Why is this hard to understand? Since Xmas 3 games of Rugby and City have been on the pitch 8 times

Notised at begging of season both corners SW and NE where they put practise goals up in bad way.
Otherwise pitch was in good condition but playing 3 games in a week in this weather no favours.

The pitch is terrible at the moment and has been since the snow really.

It's almost completely bare and it's really really bobbly.

Not really anyone's fault apart from the weather, it's just one of those things.

if rugby did as much damage to the pitch as football pundits claim,do they think sir alex ferguson would allow the magic weekend to go ahead at old trafford,of course not.it`s the sliding tackles and stupid goal celebrations plus the weather that cause the damage.

Sorry for being pathetic but Magic Weekend is at the Etihad. Agree with what your saying though if rugby is that bad why do they let us play there + Old Trafford & Wembley, doesn't make sense.

Magic at OT? You mean the GF, i know what you're saying though a full round of games in 2 days at Wastelands.

thanks guys,i stand corrected over my mistake with the stadiums.

Maybe those football idiot's should come and have a look in july/august time, and see what they say then, because i can guarantee that the KC pitch will be in fantastic condition by then,(It always is) which proves it's the football games ripping the pitch up in winter. As someone said, grass does not grow in the winter.

No worries, your point still stands though if rugby is so bad for the pitches, why do these people allow us to use them?

Think it's a shambles all together.. Football pundit's always accuse rugby for the downfall with pitches.. But what more can we do apart from point them in the right direction.

always makes me laugh this argument. Maybe they should come and see the pitch in june/july midway through our season when its green and lush.

Football are their own worst enemies anyway as they choose to have the grass cut to within an inch of its life, play six games in ten days then moan when its fooked and then blame the Rugby.

My lawn looks worse now than it did last October, and I'd swear blind I haven't seen any RL players even practicing goal kicks on it.

Grass does actually continue to grow through the winter months. It's a lack of light which inhibits growth, and cold icy weather slows it down even more.

The South Stand needs removing in the winter if the pitch it to improve.

I was lucky enough to speak to John Cooper a couple of years ago about this and asked which sport did the most damage to the pitch.

He said its the football for 3 main reasons.

1. Football is played on it thorughout the winter when its wet, cold and very little light and what there is is very weak. So when it gets churned up particularly December to January there is no chance for the grass to recover.
2. The Football team always asked for a short cut on the grass
3. The stands do not allow what light is available in winter to get through to the pitch

He also went on to say that when you take the 2 points above combined it makes it very tricky to keep the pitch in any sort of good order as there is no chance of growth until mid spring when the sunlight and warmth improves to help the growth.

So yet another inaccurate comment from a know nothing reporter.

a few seasons ago man utd were beaten by west ham in the fa cup, alex ferguson was very critical of the rugby league grand final being played on the pitch the week before, he was left red faced when the old trafford groundsman reported that the rugby had no affect on the pitch, if anything its football, it was even in one of the RL papers

poor journalism, reporting of bias football based programmes such as sky sports news and whinging football managers, notebly after their team as either lost or drawn is often used!

Arsenal played on a perfect pitch last night - could they play on it - no.

The thing is thou, Bruce was whinging about the state of the KC pitch and his team are winning on it. You just can't please some people.

I went with the nephew last night and to be honest thought the pitch looked quite good. the only bare patch was where the goalkeeper practiced with the temp goal about 10 metres in from touchline.

Isn 't Sir Alex's face always red.

They ain't bin able to play on it for few years now