Brahma Lodge vs Glenung last week on the 28th April

[Dogwatcher]

I would have thought it's an indictment on the SAAFL actually.

Yes Phil ,we know you love your technicalities, but the SAAFL should have been aware that a rubber mat's being used. They should, you would think realise the dangers that may cause when wet, or even in normal circumstances (think Shaun Rehn - bounce pad at Footy Park). They should have been proactive in this case and said "I'm sorry, plastic mats are not good enough. Brahma Lodge please speak to your council and rectify this situation". Common sense should rule - not by the book bureaucracy.

[Bradman]

the reason it was called off is because they use some sort of rubber matting on their cricket pitch rather than sand like every other club in the amateur league. obviously the SAAFL umpires though it was unsafe to play on, which i can understand cause i have played on it in the dry but could imagine it would be very slippery in the wet. The B's would have played bacause it wasnt up to league umpires whether they played or not. So is it the councils fault they use a rubber mat or the clubs?

From what I've heard, they did in fact deem it unfit, however Amateur league had inspected the matting prior to the year commencing and deemed it ok to play - so the umpires did not have any ground to stand on when they called it off. Ridiculous decision.

Not if - as Bondy said - it was wet and slippery. Something that the SAAFL inspection would not have taken into account.

Phil, if the SAAFL inspect it and say it's fit, I would've thought that would've been taken into consideration, not just the conditions on the day of inspection. I don't really think VERY part time umpires in Div 5 are in a position to make a call like that and completely disadvantage two sides who now have to play a make up game in June.

the umpire you refer to as being amateurish was actually asked to be an afl umpire 5 years ago but declined
has umpired sanfl grand finals and is filling in when needed by the league
his knees and shoulders are stuffed and therfore does not train with the umpires
to me that would make him more than qualified to make the decision

the rule clearly states if on arrival the "umpires" deem the ground to be unsafe for either umpires officials or players the game is to be abandoned.
if someone split their head open on the edges or got knocked out etc who would be liable? home club? visiting club (they have to sign the oval off to be fit to play) the umpires for not calling it off? or the amateur league?
i know if i was an umpire with the way people are sued these days i would leave nothing to chance for myself being sued

[gadj1976]

the reason it was called off is because they use some sort of rubber matting on their cricket pitch rather than sand like every other club in the amateur league. obviously the SAAFL umpires though it was unsafe to play on, which i can understand cause i have played on it in the dry but could imagine it would be very slippery in the wet. The B's would have played bacause it wasnt up to league umpires whether they played or not. So is it the councils fault they use a rubber mat or the clubs?

From what I've heard, they did in fact deem it unfit, however Amateur league had inspected the matting prior to the year commencing and deemed it ok to play - so the umpires did not have any ground to stand on when they called it off. Ridiculous decision.

Not if - as Bondy said - it was wet and slippery. Something that the SAAFL inspection would not have taken into account.

Phil, if the SAAFL inspect it and say it's fit, I would've thought that would've been taken into consideration, not just the conditions on the day of inspection. I don't really think VERY part time umpires in Div 5 are in a position to make a call like that and completely disadvantage two sides who now have to play a make up game in June.

the umpire you refer to as being amateurish was actually asked to be an afl umpire 5 years ago but declined
has umpired sanfl grand finals and is filling in when needed by the league
his knees and shoulders are stuffed and therfore does not train with the umpires
to me that would make him more than qualified to make the decision

the rule clearly states if on arrival the "umpires" deem the ground to be unsafe for either umpires officials or players the game is to be abandoned.
if someone split their head open on the edges or got knocked out etc who would be liable? home club? visiting club (they have to sign the oval off to be fit to play) the umpires for not calling it off? or the amateur league?
i know if i was an umpire with the way people are sued these days i would leave nothing to chance for myself being sued

fair enough, I generalised and was wrong. IMO the umpires shouldn't have the final say without authority of an SAAFL official being on site. All I know is they played on it last year, all teams didnt' have a problem, umpires didn't have a problem and the ground IMO was and still is safer than wet sand. I rest my keyboard.

[PhilG]

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[Dogwatcher]

I would have thought an AFL precedent would have superseeded anything that is done in WA.

And council would not have kicked the club, where it's been for many years, off the oval just because they disagreed on a covering for a cricket pitch.

[PhilG]

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[Dogwatcher]

You can't vote the morons out of council.
It's not the people who are voted in who make these decisions.
It's the paid employees who run the day to day council operations.

Having had regular contact with councils through my work - I understand some of their thought processes.
And a council IS not going to boot a club out of its premises because of a cost differential between sand and a plastic mat. For a start, it would be better to negotiate a better covering than to have a building sitting there doing nothing and grounds not cared for because a club has been forced to vacate.

[Pag]

The Salisbury council do a decent job with grounds our area and I very much doubt they'd kick Brahma Lodge because of a mat covering the cricket pitch...

[PhilG]

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[Dogwatcher]

Right - and they aren't doing their job and they should be sacked. If they aren't, you vote out the council who made that decision.

Riiiiighhht, because people are going to vote out a council for covering a cricket pitch with plastic...
You can't vote out the council staff either.

Now, you tell me. What council in their right mind would risk something like that happening at local level? I don't know if these mats are cheaper than covering the pitch up with sand or dirt (I suspect they are which is why it was done) - but if they are then they were thinking with their hip pocket instead of their brains.

I brought it up because you said that the same thing was done in WA and it wasn't an issue. So, thank you for agreeing with me.

Now if either the club or the league went back to the council and told them to remove the mats and incur the bigger expense of the sand or dirt, how would they react? That's what I meant with kicking the club off the ground - that's an option they could well take. I'm not saying they definitely would, but the fact is that's not beyond the realms of possibility for a council looking to protect it's hip pocket over it's community responsibilities.

A council would not kick a club off for that reason - ever. A council that did that would be mad and would definitely risk voter lashback.

[PhilG]

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[LaughingKookaburra]

Can I ask a simple question? Who here has actually played on Brahma Lodges oval with this rubber "Astro turf" covering the pitch? Alot of people seem to be putting in their 2 bobs worth in and I bet the majority have not even seen or played on it. I have played on it in 2006 and I was not too impressed by it.Id hate to see an incident (ie Byron Pickett on Kane Cornes on the weekend) occur on that surface as there would be a lot worse injury than a k.o occur. It is dangerous and sould be covered by either sand or put a plastic covering over it and lay proper turf a top and pull it up at seasons end. Our council rates should cover common sence.......

[Dogwatcher]

Good point LK - I haven't played there with the covering. Have played their in the past.

I may actually now be arguing for arguement's sake, and will now stop. Cheers.

[LaughingKookaburra]

Its a shit of a ground anyway,cant beleive we win there most of the time.Won like 4 out of our last 5 games there and the B's have never lost to Brahma Lodge full stop.Were lucky to have such a great ground to play and train on, behind golden grove it would be the best ground in the lower divisions.

[bondy]

Played there on the weekend and yes it is a shit ground.

FYI, Macedonia Lions Soccer Club, who share the ground with Brahma Lodge and play there on sundays, had their A Grade game cancelled on sunday because of, you guessed it, Elizabeth Grove complained about the mat on the cricket pitch and the ref decided to cancel the game. This time on a sunny day compared to the wet day when Brahma's game was cancelled.

Read http://www.footballnews.com.au/forum/vi ... hp?t=12682

Another spanner in the works

[Armytank]

Is this the same rubber matting that all of the council grounds in the Southern League are using? There haven't been any games cancelled at Happy Valley Oval that I know of, they seem ok with it.

(for the record I think they are carp)

[LaughingKookaburra]

In all honesty what are the councils coming to.If they can not afford a couple of trailer loads of sand to cover a cricket pitch then they should be voted out.If people get a chance when they drive near the oval at Brahma Lodge stop by the pit of a ground it is (By the way lock your car) and take a look at the pitch area.Absolute disgrace,if you were ko'd in a contest and went face first in to it on a wet or dry day you would cause serious injuries to your head.Also the residing clubs should be hung because this has gone on for the past 2 years and it took an umpire with balls to stand up for what is logically right. Don't get somebody seriously injured before something is done.

[heater31]

In all honesty what are the councils coming to.If they can not afford a couple of trailer loads of sand to cover a cricket pitch then they should be voted out.If people get a chance when they drive near the oval at Brahma Lodge stop by the pit of a ground it is (By the way lock your car) and take a look at the pitch area.Absolute disgrace,if you were ko'd in a contest and went face first in to it on a wet or dry day you would cause serious injuries to your head.Also the residing clubs should be hung because this has gone on for the past 2 years and it took an umpire with balls to stand up for what is logically right. Don't get somebody seriously injured before something is done.

why dont the oppostion club's also refuse to play on it. they can as all clubs must sign a a form to say that the ground is in satisfactory condition to play on.

[LaughingKookaburra]

Most clubs are not going to risk forfeiting matches.Im just asking for common sense from the council and the residing clubs end of story.

[Bully]

i have to admit that our cricket pitch area ( PLYMPTON ) was a tad hard on the weekend. I certainly know coz i got tackled hard on it . Hope in five weeks when we DO play at home again it will be softer, or i will get out there the friday night before and water it