Gillingham FC Forum

Having seen the pitch on Quest's coverage of the league one goals against Scunny I was surprised of the lack of grass in areas. I was under the impression that we had a new one layed at the end of last season. Am I wrong or have there been a terrible failure ?

There was a hybrid pitch laid around the beginning of October last year - the home league game against Blackpool was put back a month , and the game against Tottenham under 23 s ended up being played at Charlton , so that everything could settle .

That what I thought. From the TV evidence it doesn't seem to be holding up too well.

Guess thats why turf is put down on the ground in April, so it gets three or four months to grow before it's used ??

Turf is best laid in the autumn when the ground is still warm from the summer and there is plenty of rain

It did seem a bit late though. And we were playing on it within 2 weeks out of necessity which seemed too soon in my opinion.

I totally agree if your putting down turf in the garden. Lay the turf down in late August or September and forget it , by the Summer allow people to play on it. On the other hand laying turf on a soccer pitch in late summer or fall and it's a pretty good bet that 22 guys and a ref running around on it once or twice a week ain't going to do it much good.
My bet is the grounds keeper went to Scally at the end of last season in early May, and siad Sire, look at the mud we call a pitch, we need to replace it NOW. We can have the new turf down in a couple of weeks keep people off it and water it , let the sun shine on it and watch it grow, we will be fine by August.
Of course while he was saying that the owner of the club that knows everything other than how to run a successful football club,had his fingers in his ears and was singing show tunes from The Sound of Music .

We didn't have any home friendlies this season. I thought it was so a new pitch could be laid. Very strange.