News
Artificial pitches consultation finds widespread opposition
AGM hears of opposition to artificial pitches in the lower professional leagues, plus a move to curb sportsmanship
A RETURN to artificial pitches in English football looks unlikely after a Football League consultation found widespread opposition to the idea.
The topic was discussed at the League’s annual general meeting, and it emerged that the Premier League and Professional Footballers’ Association were among the official bodies against their reintroduction.
There is no support for the idea in the Championship and just two clubs are keen on the idea in League One.
However, discussions revealed a 13-11 majority in favour of artificial surfaces in League Two.
But, that would not be enough to push through any change of regulations, and there is not thought to be any realistic prospect of a club tabling an official proposal in the near future.
The seventy-two Football League clubs listened to a series of presentations, including one from
the Football Association’s national facilities manager, Mark Pover, and another from FIFA’s playing surfaces programme manager, Stuart Parman.
They also heard the feedback from the consultation period, which ended in April and drew more than 1,700 individual responses from clubs, fans and official bodies.
The clubs then discussed the issue in their divisional meeting before returning with their conclusions on Friday.
Strong support had been anticipated from League One clubs. However, the potential cost of installing an artificial surface - in the region of £500,000 - combined with the likelihood that a club would have to replace it with real grass if they won promotion to the Championship are thought to have counted against the idea.
Artificial surfaces were banned in 1988 and the last remaining one in the top four divisions - at Preston North End’s Deepdale -
Follow Your Dream!
Befriending Scotsmen was the way forward for GOSTA Student of the Year, Markus Klausmann!
WE are regularly asked “How can I get into groundsmanship or greenkeeping?” and our advice is always to start by volunteering at your local club.
We recently came across this story from GOSTA Training, who have been training golf course greenkeepers and landscape employees in the West of Scotland since 1982, about their Student of the Year. It just shows what can be achieved by having the belief and courage to follow your dream!
The young man in question is Markus Klausmann from Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society. Markus hails from Wildtal, a
4 PC JUNE/JULY 2012
small village right at the edge of the Black Forest area of Southern Germany.
Although he originally trained as a chef, Markus made the decision to relocate to Scotland to change both his career and his life. He worked as a car cleaner and hospital porter for nearly three years in order to finance his flight to Edinburgh.
Once there, he attended an English Language School and comments, “To say my English was bad would be an
understatement. By sticking to my plan to only befriend Scotsmen, and not mix with other German students at the language school,
Left to right: Ian Morrison, Captain of Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society; Lesley Lowrie, GOSTA Training; Markus Klausmann; Steve Miller, GOSTA Training; Andrew Connor, Head Greenkeeper Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society
I quickly began to grasp English.”
One wet day in 2008, Markus went along to Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society and asked the Head Greenkeeper, Andrew Connor, if there were any vacancies. The rest, as they say, is history!
Markus initially attended Oatridge College prior to moving over to GOSTA Training to do his SVQ Level 3 Modern Apprenticeship in Sports Turf. Steve Miller, his Lecturer, says, “Markus was an outstanding student who strove to achieve the highest possible standards at all times and is a worthy candidate to achieve this award.” Steve
also commented, “Markus now works at a prestigious and historically famous Edinburgh Club and has benefitted greatly from the experience and knowledge passed onto him by the team there.”
Lesley Lowrie, Managing Director of GOSTA Training, presented Markus with the GOSTA Training Student of the Year Award, an inscribed Quaich.
If you are based in Scotland and are interested in SVQs, Modern Apprenticeships or short courses (Certificates of Competence) please contact GOSTA Training on 0141-556-3999.
was ripped up in 1994.
However, advances in technology, combined with possible financial and community benefits, had led to a rethink on the subject, which was discussed at several Football League meetings last season.
Clubs at the AGM also voted unanimously to support a proposal by Exeter City to encourage sportsmanship and curb gamesmanship during matches.
Clubs will tell their managers, coaches and players to avoid showing disrespect towards officials, and diving, time wasting
and feigning injury will also be discouraged.
Referees will be instructed to take action against players obstructing the quick taking of free-kicks and stealing ground at throw-ins.
“As a collective of clubs, we have a responsibility to protect the image and long-term health of the game of football,” said Football League chairman Greg Clarke.
“We will now use them as a platform from which to engage with those parties that can help us change our game for the better.”
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