You wouldn't have gone to a game of rugby if you knew Ritchie Mather may get a grazed knee?



New to RL yes hence why needs trialing. Football in Britain has never seen anything like it and the closest ones have just won a world cup vote in Russia and hosted a Champions League final. NFL still has plenty of artificial pitches and Sarries wan't the same surface as us when they get their new place.



So again you go back to Coyle's leg? I'm pretty sure if the pitch had any involvement it would have come up, unfortunately breaks happen on all surfaces and this sounds like more of a collision injury then a leg caught 'in the mud' injury too. Betts was replying to the questions being asked by SKY re: Mathers comments HE did not actually refer directly to him. So you think the pitch was involved in the break despite I guess not even knowing what the exact injury is? Nice.



Rugby player in wearing skins shocker, that wasn't a serious point was it? Either way if players are fearful of the surface or especially in the cold weather regardless they aren't thick enough (though they want us to believe anyway) to not know what benefits skins would have in those conditions either real or perceived. Other clubs may moan. They may not. Who knows.



I'm sure they will but the FACT is no official complaint has been made period. Only the media picking up on Mathers comments and hyping them up themselves have made an issue and tbh I fully agree with Widnes stance as it stands. Had ours and Salford's game been the other way around I 100% doubt any issues would have been made. Every Widnes fan I have seen comment as said only time will tell. Yet it's only your lot who keep pushing the point despite that as if you want an admission it's crap and will go asap. Or is that wrong?

Wakefield fans are sticing up for their (ish) player and nothing wrong with that and I am sure Mathers comments have been noted. However at the end of the day you are all vigorously attacking a surface because one of your players grazed his knee in a Friday night professional Rugby game on one of the coldest nights of the winter. Even though other surfaces have also shown similar / if not worse damage.

Fifa have sanctioned the use of 4G pitches. Like you say, they have them in Russia. they also use them in Scotland to good effect with few complaints. The Premier League is yet to sanction them but, then again, they hardly need to worry about making their new stadiums pay, finding training facilities, or allowing the local community to use them. Grass with under-soil heating is better for them as a result.

Arsenal have a partially artificial pitch I seem to recall. Stops it from cutting up so much.

So do Huddersfield don't they?



Don't let facts get in the way of these arguments. Everybody keeps banging on about experiences on 3G pitches.. ours isn't Wish people would embrace it, seems quite a lot of jealousy knocking about. I'm sure if the doubters club's had an iPitch they'd be singing a different tune

The effect the pitch has on a football player, is much less than on an average SL/RL player so it's like comparing chalk with cheese.
One game has been played and people are now taking note, and rightly so.
If players are effected more then it isn't suitable, if players have to start wearing skins etc for the sole purpose of protecting themselves from the pitch, it isn't suitable.
I don't mind an advantage being given to the home side, that's what all home pitches should do, but if the above two points become fact at the end of the season and you've had a year of defending the indefensible then it should be ripped up.
For the record (again) I think in theory and on most levels I think artificial pitches are a great idea, however they may tick many boxes but if the box marked suitable for players to play RL on, remains unticked all the rest stands for nothing, and know amount of bitching from you lot or your coach will change that.
The world awaits!!!

What about the injuries Saints new surface is pulling up?

Cost Widnes 3 lads and Salford have had a few too

The only person bitching about it is you. The only injury the pitch has caused is grazing. That is easily preventable. The grazing may not even happen when the weather improves. The pitch has actually out performed grass in freezing temperatures. Despite also being susceptible to freezing, and causing some grazing in the same way turf does, it stays soft under foot. This means fewer games will need to be cancelled and it is less likely to cause serious impact injury than a grass pitch in the same conditions.

If the ipitch proves unsuccessful it will be removed. Your club has little at stake, so I’m not sure what your problem is, other than petty jealousy. If the ipitch proves itself, it will be a massive boon for the sport. With that in mind, I would be careful what you wish for.

Leigh and Doncaster as well

ipitch to the rescue:
[urlhttp://www.widnesvikings.co.uk/article.php?id=7161[/url

It was hard to write a reply as quite a lot of what you have said in this thread is either illogical or irrelevant. I can't tell if you're deliberately obtuse or if that is your nature.

The injuries caused were exactly the same as injuries caused on other pitches that weekend. Whilst you might argue that grass has proven historically to be generally safe for Rugby League, I argue that this match has proven nothing whatsoever except for the fact that the pitch has the same effects in sub-zero temperature. When the weather improves you'll get a better idea of safety. Until then what you're doing is just speculation and conjecture. I suggest you suspend comment until a direct contrast can be made i.e. if there is a week where players on the ipitch suffer injuries but players on a grass pitch in the exact same weather suffer no injuries you might have a point. But until then what you're doing is pointless.

Wigan fan in peace....

I'm led to believe four of your under 20s currently have infected abrasions on the knees; obviously people are linking this to the iPitch. Personally I've played Wendyball on Astro, the solution then was to wear skins. I'm sure your players will do the same soon enough if they aren't already.

Best of luck for the rest of the season, would love you to be in the press for the right reasons

Could have possibly but like you said, the solution is to wear skins. A handful of Salford players decided to wear leg and arm skins and i have no problem in that.

Thanks for the good luck messages, we're going to need it big time with our injuries and team



We started off at 4/5 to finish bottom, already we're now 1/7

Surely they should just "man-up"?

I want this on a t shirt. Right now

Which man? It looks like everyone is up Mathers on the Wakey board.

Good idea for Wakey that making a bit of money out of the situation to be fair.

Though your poster boy being a loanee sucks a bit

that is a T-Shirt, on sale now at Trinity store, may also be on line too.

HOW OFTEN DOES THE IPITCH GRASS NEED TO BE CUT?

Every time Richie Mathers and Stephen Wild cry on it.

Was there a lot of snow and ice in Widnes this week? Can't think why else your u20's play in full length skins.

Ask them it's up to each individual what they do.

It is interesting though that U20's do tend to wear some whereas first team don't!

There wasn't a single first teamer from out side wearing protective clothing yesterday. Proof enough for me that it isn't an issue. As enough people said on here in the past. It's our players playing on it every week so if there were still grazes and burns happening then surely our own players would be covered head to toe.

Not wanting to get into a slanging match about the ipitch, I was wondering is Widnes poor start partly because of the ipitch and that it is a major disadvantage to them?

From the games and footage that I have seen the ipitch seems to make for a really quick game which when you are a new team, struggling anyway to get up to the speed of super league, obviously isnt a good thing. Muddy pitches and bad conditions are a great leveller for poorer teams and Widnes havent got this with the ipitch. I would have certainly thought that playing on the ipitch would suit the likes of Wigan, Saints, Warrington, Leeds etc a damn site more than Widnes. Just a thought but I may be completely wrong.

There is probably quite a bit of truth to that. Against Leeds we did have a few long range tries scored against us, which might not have been scored on a heavy pitch. Also with Leeds not playing JJB, Peacock and Bailey on a boggy pitch Leeds might have struggled down the middle. Anytime we did put pressure on Leeds, however they were able to use their faster more agile players to get them out of trouble. I suppose the pitch might hinder us for the 1st few games, but the fact we're going to be playing on it every other week, may mean we're the ones who will be used to the faster pace than a lot of other teams - well here's hoping anyway.

I don't know if it was the pitch, poor defence or just class, but at times Rob Burrow was untouchable against us and I've got a feeling Tomkins will be exactly the same when we play Wigan.