ground criteria

[matt]

With all the arguments going on at the moment on ground criteria i have just returned from dinas game against port talbot, have you seen the state of the ground , one word , a disgrace, div 2 welsh league side and the stand resembles down down bagdad after the usa have been on a bomb run.
For me clubs are still paying players while there grounds are falling to bits.
The welsh were right to implement ground criteria and i hope div one is made up from teams that have the best ground and facilities .
I for one would welcome clubs that invest in there ground and not there players, get rid of the clubs in div 3 of the welsh league whose grounds are not up to standard and start promoting teams that have the ground criteria to go up

[azza]

I totally agree with you matt , some of the grounds and the facilities i have visited over the years are a disgrace ( one side promoted to div 1 this years pitch and stand resemble a cow field and a burnt out drinking / drug den ) . You have to blame once again the welsh league committee as they inspect the grounds and allow these sides to continue operating in the welsh league , if its quality they want they need a first division of good ground and pitch standard and anyone with ambition to play in the first division should strive to improve their facilities and if they have no intention of improving at all they should be relegated to local park football where their facilities are not out of the norm !!!

[izzy]

Excellent posting matt, agree with your comments.
Corries and croesy play on cricket pitches and are allowed to get away with it.
I have myself visited dinas and its nothing short of shocking, they also use a leisure centre for there half time food and refresments.
If we are to improve ground standards then these clubs with dreadfull grounds must be brought to book and removed from the welsh league never mind div 2.
Always has been a closed shop for welsh league status and its about time clubs with poor facilities are sent back to parks football

[westwalian]

Where have uou been?

This is what the relegation issue is about.

Only the 1710 0r 2009 Criteria is in question.

[azza]

Whilst on this subject , what about Treharris !!!! Jesus H !!!
.
The pitch is like a ploughed primary school postage stamp and the changing and shower facilities resemble something from WW2 concentration camps . is their Chairman on the Welsh league committee ? he must be as they should have gone years ago its a joke .

Who inspected their place Andreas Bouchelli

[guest]

while we're having a go i'd like to add Caerleon!! We had to have two sittings for the players to change as there wasnt enough room! Pontardawe is another good one, the stand is ace! lol. Croesy are at least trying to sort the problems out so will leave them out. Have you seen Newport Civils stand? LOL its a joke, a containor with the front cut out. Cwmbran (how the mighty have fallen) Town have a stand that seats 1000 and they only get 10 watching! Lets face it the only way is up. ;D

[Counting Crows]

Cwmbran (how the mighty have fallen) Town have a stand that seats 1000 and they only get 10 watching! Lets face it the only way is up

You have to have reached heights in the first place to then fall from them

I echo your thoughts on Caerleon and Pontardawe, and good-on Croesy for improving their lot. There's nothing in any criteria that says you have to fill your stands though

And the stand holds 2000+ when the council stop condemning it!! Mind you, i'd rather the council award us a lease on our own pitch instead!

[Guest]

Name me one football league in Europe that fixes it's leagues so that the best grounds are all in the top division (i.e. 3 divisions of Welsh League and we are apparently supposed to shove the likes of Llanwern, Quins, Cwmbran etc into the top tier despite the fact they were relegated last season)

Tell me then, Einsteins, what happens the year after this grand plan (Usually shouted for by lower league teams with lights - often not even owned by them) when three go down from the top division (because their Third Division standard team was nowhere near good enough for Div 1) and three sides come up who were apparently not one of the chosen few the year before? And the year after that when the other 3 rubbish lower league sides who were put up into Div 1 because they have lights then drop into the bottom 3 as well and three more "underlings" win the right ON THE PITCH (Football league remember, not a nicest ground contest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) to be romoted. Back where we started!

Seriously - Southampton, Leeds, Newcastle Last Year, Sheffield Weds etc etc etc - all nicer than Burnley and Pompey but where were they last season?

It's a FOOTBALL league - get off your high horses it's embarrassing to see that we honestly think that the make up of welsh football's highest divisions should have little to do with the standard of the on field activities and more whether the club is flush with money and able to build. There is no funding in Welsh Football and clubs do their best.

This is the Welsh League - not the Welsh Premier. Some clubs can barely afford to pay the referees let alone build stands etc.

Someone had a go at Dinas Powys earlier - try looking into the facts before you shout your mouth off on here. They are constantly blocked from building / erecting lights because the Council won't grant planning permission - not because they don't try.

Crossiciliog I read a while back have planning through for a heck of a lot of work to be done - but again, they have very little money so it won't happen overnight - or even in the short term future.

Here's a novel idea - if we are going to have pot shots at clubs (the source of some of this direct abuse will not be keen to do this though for whatg will be obvious reasons) Let's have a go at the clubs who could not organize themselves well enough, and get their teams performing well enough on the pitch to stay up / get to the top division. Well, there is a thought eh, a football forum actually debating good and bad performance - ON THE FIELD!

Wake up and smell the coffee some of you!

[Crowthrice]

Wow some people have been eating too much marmite and pepperami. Easy Tiger.

have I been dreaming or did FAW just set criteria for Premier League and practically make it a closed shop.

Hang on I think thats coffee I can smell. Yes here's the waitress now. She tells me that the Welsh League have decided to introduce a criteria for Welsh League Division One so that clubs can aspire to promotion to the Welsh Premier again.Now that is almost visionary for the Welsh League Management Committee. Well done lads.

Cor this waitress knows a lot. She tells me Blackpool have had to spend a lot of money to bring their ground up to Premier League standard.

What there's more.Apparently Welsh rugby clubs have been refused promotion because of poor ground facilities.She thinks the Welsh League should have different criteria for each of their League. She says her grandfather is on a club committee in Senior League and they couldn't afford to meet the criteria in one jump . They could afford to improve their facilities gradually if there were separate criteria for each division.

Thank you guest I agree with you smelling coffee solves a lot of things. And if this waitress wants to stand for the Welsh League Management Committee I for one would support her

[Counting Crows]

Excellent post Crowthrice.

The problems we are seeing now are because the WL had no foresight/guts/inclination (delete as appropriate) to slowly increase ground criteria over the years.

In 1988 all clubs should have met the 1988 criteria. Then gradually over the years, they could have introduced slightly better criteria - perhaps every 5/6 years.

And clubs - instead of giving some donkey of a striker £50 a game - could have been prudent and saved for improvements.

We could have had a league of well-run clubs with relatively comfortable grounds - for players and spectators! We could have had grounds with lights and decent drainage and only occasional postponements... The league may even have finished on time.

Alas, we have clubs who can't hold matches on a weekday but can pay their players for entertaing a crowd that have to share one toilet and wear wellies to save them from the mud...

And before people have a go at me - i too wish my club had got its own ground during its heyday. Perhaps we wouldn't be in our current positon, stuck between a rock and hard place, never being able to afford our own ground because of our current ground rent!

I'm not having a go at clubs, or fans, or the people who run clubs. I'm blaming the WL (and perhaps the FAW for only caring about its darling English clubs and not looking to help its 'bread and butter') for not having the foresight/guts/inclination (delete as appropriate).

I can only hope now that the FAW (and WGI) can turn to the WL (and Cymru Alliance etc.) and look to supply some help to those clubs.

Rant over :-)

[matt]

In answer to the guy who thinks we should smell the coffee get real and look around the grounds at welsh league level , they are shocking
and in answer to dinas they have been paying players since jonah was there and kinsey was in charge.
They could have easily put these funds to good use and improved there ground but oh no they choose to pay players and then say they have no funds .
If you look at there squad for this season they have quite a few players who have done the rounds and most of them will be getting wedged up, so dont go bleating on this forum about poor dinas.
Have you seen the stand mate it resembles down town bagdad and you saying the council wont let them rebuild it, ye ye.
There are plenty of lower league teams with excellent criteria and should be allowed into the welsh legue div 3 if they come up to standard .
Have you seen the haunted house in garw ie the changing rooms, fine example for feeder team to the welsh premier , good ridance to them and all of them who dont come up to standard

[Ghost of footie past]

I quite liked Garw! Quirky and funny to see the players emerging one by one from the front door.

[Guest]

Blackpool will have 1 side of their ground out of use all season!

Dinas Powys have not paid a player since the day Jonah left. Dan Kinsey never had a single penny to spend in his tenure as Manager!

[azza]

Smell the coffee guy i think Crowthrice has firmly put you in your place with a very good reply , get real and see some of the hell holes that teams are allowed to play on . Top post Crowthrice !!
Relegate all Clubs who play on Dumps and have changing rooms like a broom cupboard end of !!

MMMH ! nice coffee !!

[matt]

Smell the coffee man you must be a fan of a club then that pays its players and lets the ground go untouched for years.
All we want as supporters is decent conditions to watch our football not get soaking wet while standing in a stand thats got holes all through it, ie ton pentre.
Also while we are on the subject all first division welsh league clubs should have the best grounds and if clubs dont come up to standard they dont go up simple.
Are you telling me newport civil who have a portacabin turned upside down represents a stand and pentwyn dynamos change in a leisure centre , shocking.
Get the teams promoted from feeder leagues below who have far superior grounds and stop the closed shop which the welsh league has become.