Farsley Pitch problems

[leedscol]

Statement following last night’s cancelled friendly v Rotherham


Last night’s cancelled game was hugely disappointing and frustrating, particularly given the amount of time, effort and resource that has been put into the site, specifically the pitch, to try and correct issues created by previous activity.

We as a club didn’t blindly enter this match on a wing and a prayer, we took independent advice from two different groundsmen who confirmed that although not beautiful, the pitch was safe and playable. We played there last Saturday with no issues, and the feedback we received from the players was that it actually played well. We have trained on the pitch in the week and last night’s referees were happy to proceed with the match, and following the cancellation we trained on it again. Rotherham’s decision not to play on the pitch is of course their decision to make, and if that’s the course of action they chose to take then so-be-it, we respect their decision to do so.

The pitch clearly isn't yet perfect, no one is disputing that, but we would not set ourselves up for a fall in this manner, having sought multiple independent expert opinions first, and having played on the pitch last week we were of the informed opinion that the pitch was and is fit for purpose. If we didn’t believe this was the case we would never consider putting any of our own players at risk by asking them to play on it.

Moving forwards, we have already appointed a groundsman who will maintain and care for not only the main pitch on site, but also our training and academy pitches, along with a support team and resources to ensure we can give all of our teams the best surfaces possible.

Having only been at the club a few weeks now, I have put a lot of focus on getting the pitch right, as the pitch has a history of being poor, and I know that this isn’t the first time a pre-season friendly has been called off due to issues with the pitch. But what I can assure everyone of is that this will be the last! I will not allow our club to face ridicule like this again from anyone!

Paul Barthorpe
Chairman

[Darlo_Pete]

Does anybody know if these problems have been resolved yet?

[poppyfield]

Hard to tell from Photos I know but these are from their Halifax game 2 weeks ago. (at the time BM was looking a bit ropey)
https://www.farsleyceltic.com/photos/fa ... 00972.html.

They played their final friendly at home yesterday.
As a side note is Syers still playing for them? as he hasn't featured yet, could be injured of course.