I’m pitched off with the all-weather jibes DONS v LIVI TAKE THREE
Livi chief says it’s all about location
It’s not so much the jibes that are wearing thin but the lack of understanding of why artificial surfaces exist.
The Tony Macaroni Arena’s 4G surface is back in the spotlight after Aberdeen made two wasted journeys in the past fortnight only to suffer call-offs.
A combination of freezing temperatures and torrential rain made the plastic dangerous.
That was all the ammunition cynics required to lay into a plastic surface now used by a quarter of top-flight clubs, including Kilmarnock and Hamilton.
Naysayers reckon artificial surfaces produce an artificial product and should be banned in the Premiership.
But Ward – who revealed Livi spent £8000 trying to get the pitch fit for the clashes with Dons to no avail – insists the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
And he believes the problem is not the make-up of the pitch – it’s the location.
The Lions supremo said: “It’s the terminology that’s wrong. They aren’t all-weather pitches.
“But there’s no doubt with the artificial surface we have fewer games called off than had we still had grass. There have been a couple of occasions already this winter where we would have been touch and go on the old pitch.
“It’s always going to be divisive. Everyone has opinions on it.
“But I have seen games this season on grass pitches that have been churning up and the ball’s not moving or bouncing.
“Would we go back to grass? Not where we are right now. It’s difficult to maintain a grass pitch where we are.
“The reality is it is probably the wrong
ABERDEEN will be hoping to make it third time lucky as the SPFL have confirmed new dates for their next two games against Livingston. The clubs are now hoping it will happen on Saturday, January 30 at the Tony Macaroni. That date was able to be used after the third round of the Scottish Cup was postponed. Their game scheduled for Pittodrie next month has also been moved forward 24 hours to February 2. Meanwhile, former Dons loanee Ryan Edmondson has now joined Northampton on a fresh loan. location for a stadium. We are in a valley in an area that’s quite high up. It’s a bad combination.
“We’ve had snow and frozen conditions for three weeks.
“We spent the best part of £8000 trying to get the park sorted for the Aberdeen game – we put 100 hours into getting the snow off it and prepared – but the reality was it was just too cold.
“Both those games would have been off whether we had a grass park, an ash park or an artificial park. The referee’s decision wasn’t necessarily based on the surface water, which would have drained, but it was the fact there was ice forming underneath it.
“You could argue undersoil heating would have sorted it but our system had deteriorated to the extent we had spent £40,000 on it and it still wasn’t flowing through the pipes.
“It’s difficult and I genuinely feel for Aberdeen that it’s been them hit twice.
“But they were quite vocal on Wednesday night that they didn’t want to play on it because of the frozen conditions underfoot.”