LinkBack URL
About LinkBacksMad game, why did I go ? 'Cos I'm mad - froze my butt off watching this - this was the ground about 90 mins before kick off.IMG-20120211-00059.jpg
Mad game, why did I go ? 'Cos I'm mad - froze my butt off watching this - this was the ground about 90 mins before kick off.IMG-20120211-00059.jpg
Cold you may have been. But how would you have felt if you went all that way and then the match you went to see was called of at the last minute? [France vs Ireland]
Yeah, but you've got the 'I was there, man' story for the rest of your life
I have the 'Year of the muddy quagmire at Silverstone' which is rolled out at now and again to bore everyone to death.
Like the Silver star on your rep!
mattx (12th February 2012)
The French rugby folks should be banned from hosting if they're going to be that unorganised. Far worse here and we managed to play without a problem.
Agreed, the French not having under soil heating in their national stadium is a complete disgrace, they should pay back the travelling costs of all the spectators.
I can understand the ref cancelling the match though, I remember playing rugby on frozen solid pitches and it was a very painful experience. At the speed and brutality it's played at international level, it could well have resulted in career ending injuries.
Must say, even though England are lacking a bit of skill and coordination at the moment, I was very impressed with the way they came back in the second half. I much prefer watching this lot than the bunch of over inflated ego's at the world cup. There are some really talented young players in the new team, they just need some time to gel together. Give them a year or so and they'll be world class, I just hope they keep Stuart Lancaster as coach, I like his attitude.
At least most of the action was behind the posts I was sitting freezing my testicles off.
In all honesty this has to be the coldest / wettest I've ever been whilst watching any sport. Would you belive the ground was supposed to be full ? 20,000 didn't turn up or did not make it.
I ended up walking about 2 miles back to the Metro just so I could get the feeling back in my sodden feet.
It took quite a bit of effort to get the snow off the pitch:
What's rugby?
mattx (14th February 2012)
More to the point, have you seen my liver ?Originally Posted by tech_guy
I think I ate it on Saturday night with some fava beans a nice chianti....
mattx (14th February 2012)
I heard that there are pockets of methane under the Stade de France, which goes someway to explain it I suppose. You also have to ask about the French rugby authority's decision to play a game at 9pm at the start of February!
It wasn't the french rugby authorities that agree'd that. It got forced upon them by the RBS organisers.
So in order to get rid of the unpopular Friday evening games they changed to a 9pm kick off? Genius. Why they couldn't go with 3pm GMT and 5pm GMT (6pm local) is beyond me...
The trouble was, the forecast for Friday was worse than Saturday, and Sunday was worse than Saturday so I could see WHY it was done on Saturday, however the decision was made a while back (September I believe).
As for the undersoil heating, The Stade De France doesn't have the capacity to do it, short of digging up the entire pitch and laying the piping.
This is something that has been done many many times in football!
Something the french should have thought of, perhaps?Under Soil Heating Systems
An under soil heating system should be seriously considered whilst designing and constructing a new sports venue or stadium. Sporting fixtures being postponed due to bad weather is certainly not a new problem but with colder winters predicted in the years ahead, under-soil heating is a great weapon to fight the frost.
This is likely to be a consideration for large venues and stadiums only. Any venue that is hoping to hold top flight or important sports fixtures should ensure the stadium is fitted with under soil heating. The installation will be expensive but should prove to be a great long term investment. Not only will far fewer games have to be postponed or abandoned but the playing surface will cope with the hard winter months much better.
Football and rugby are the two sports that would benefit most. To take football as the example, most Premier League clubs have under-soil heating and there are many people in the game who would like under-soil heating to become compulsory for major competitions. With under-soil heating, it is almost guaranteed that any fixture will go ahead.
Under-soil heating involves installing pipes underneath the playing surface and pumping hot water through them. Even in the worst conditions, any snow and ice is melted quickly and the pitch can then drain fairly fast.
Whilst under-soil heating can be installed at any point, this will cause much disruption as the playing surface will have to be dug up. It is much easier to simply install it whilst the sports venue is under construction.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
