Artificial Surfaces Rob Stewart visits
Gosforth Rugby Union Club, one of the first clubs playing top level rugby on an artificial pitch. As he discovers, the arguments for using the surface appear to outway the negatives
A
part from the unseasonably mild weather, on the surface of things, there appears to nothing unusual about the scenes at Druids Park, home of Gosforth Rugby Football
Club - on the cusp of rural Northumberland - as first, second and third-teamers, plus youth-team players, are put through their paces on a Tuesday night in the middle of November. Superficially at least, what is being seen is the sort of scenario that will have been repeated across the length and breadth of Britain, as amateur rugby players work on their fitness and their set-piece routines, as they put work behind them and press for a place in one of the weekend matches.
Under the glow of floodlights and light drizzle, the shiny playing surface looks immaculate as dozens of rugby players are put through a series of drills. But, it is only on closer inspection that it emerges that there is more to this place than meets the eye, because the centrepiece of Gosforth RFC’s Druid Park is a state-of-the-art 3G artificial pitch.
Graham Crozier
It might not be the rugby purist’s cup of tea and, indeed, opponents used to refuse to play on it, but Gosforth are proud of their director of rugby, Graham Crozier; and his colleagues are proud of their claim to fame. This reporter has headed out to see what all the fuss is about as the first team prepare for a
Durham/Northumberland Division One meeting with table-topping Darlington. “It is something we are very proud of,
it makes the club look good, and I hope to God it helps us flourish,” Graham told me as we stroll around the glistening pitch. “It is a wonderful surface and, when teams arrive, they are bowled over by how good the facilities are. What a place it is. It gives us a wow factor.” The pitch cost in the region of £400,000 to install four years ago, when the club was taken under the wing of Premiership outfit, Newcastle Falcons, but provoked an angry backlash from Gosforth’s rivals who, initially, won the right not to play on the controversial surface.
“Once it was laid, we held a ten-a-side tournament, when we invited all the sides in the league to play on the pitch and have a bloody good day, I am proud to say that I scored the first try ever to be scored on the artificial pitch; I think I got the second one as well,” Graham recalled.
“But there were a lot of objections from the teams in the league at the time. They didn’t want to play on it, and were supported by a Rugby Football Union directive saying they didn’t actually have to, and that they could play us on grass if they wanted to. A few teams refused to play on it, and we had to hire the grass pitch at nearby Bullocksteads to play those fixtures.”
GOSFORTH and back again ...
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