Artificial Pitches - Does Murrayfield Give a Toss?

EARLIER this week, the coach of a Scottish club coach with whom I am friendly, sent me a wee note, motivated by the latest SRU Clubs and Schools e zine.

This edition included a copy of the official SRU list of approved artificial surfaces in Scotland, on which it is possible for a SRU member club to either train or play. As my contact said: “How many clubs are using council or football club facilities that have not been installed to WRB standards for coaching sessions, especially during the winter months?”

The list showed the locations of 59 artificial pitches. Thirty-four of these were approved for both playing and training, with a further 25, some of them admittedly small, approved for training. These pitches are located from Shetland to the border with England.

Not bad for a wee country like Scotland, you might think – except, when you dig deeper, the position is far from acceptable. You see, very few of these pitches actually meet World Rugby standards.

A look at the World Rugby pitch regulations shows: the pitch should have the following dimensions:

• minimum length - 94 metres + two 10 metre in-goal areas
  
  
• maximum length – 100 metres + two 22 metre in-goal areas
  
  
• minimum width – 68 metres
  
  
• maximum width – 70 metres

Bearing these maximum and minimum dimensions in mind, I went back to the list and discovered, of the 34 pitches approved for playing, only 14, fewer than half, came within these maximum and minimum parameters.

Only three: the pitches at Dyce Academy in Aberdeen, Canal Park, Inverness and the Edinburgh University pitch at Peffermill are the maximum 100m x 70m, but, the data I have available to me does not indicate if they also meet the minimum 10m depth for the two in-goal areas.

The “hybrid” international pitch at Murrayfield is not on the list, but it certainly meets World Rugby criteria.

The 14 World Rugby-compliant pitches are situated at: Dyce Academy Aberdeen; Oriam Indoor at Heriot-Watt University, Currie, Midlothian (which has a roof height limitation); Garnock Community Campus, North Ayrshire; West of Scotland RFC, Burnbrae, Milngavie; Canal Park, Inverness; Outdoor at Heriot-Watt University, Currie; Marr College, Troon, South Ayrshire; Malleny Park, Balerno, Midlothian; Volunteer Park, Hawick, Scottish Borders; Queensferry High School, South Queensferry, Midlothian; Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire; Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire; Scotstoun Stadium (main pitch), Glasgow; Edinburgh University Peffermill, Edinburgh.

We have 32 local authorities in Scotland, yet the 14 World Rugby-compliant artificial pitches on which matches could legally be played are divided among only 10 of these 32 authorities. Five of these artificial pitches are in the Greater Edinburgh area, but, three of those five are owned by two universities.

I am not suggesting ONLY these pitches can be used. The dimensions I have shown at the top were gleaned from the World Rugby website. However, the various member unions, including the SRU, are given some leeway in the matter of pitch size and smaller pitches are allowed, better certainly to play on a pitch which doesn't meet the minimum requirements, than not to play at all – and World Rugby regulations allow for such stretching of the regulations.

Most of the artificial pitches listed were installed with the assistance of grants, either from the local authority, or sportscotland, or both. In such instances, “community use” is a factor in the funding being allowed. There is anecdotal evidence of “community use” artificial pitches being built, with the support of the SRU and the local rugby club, only for it to be discovered, once the pitch was laid, that is was not rugby-compliant. The artificial pitch at Duffus Park, Cupar, home of Howe of Fife, is often cited as the prime example of this sort of short-sighted thinking.

The SRU is supportive of a move to artificial pitches; just look at how this was, initially, a cornerstone of the Super-6 franchise application process. However, since those glorious early days of “install a 3G artificial pitch within the initial five-year franchise period,” things have been reined-back somewhat. That notion appears to have been kicked into the long grass, just about the time those of us who scented S6 as a potential disaster discovered, the £3 million or so that would be needed to build these six pitches would not be easily accessed, since sportscotland funding was being cut and, in any case the clubs would need to show “community access and use” to even get a sniff of what little money there was available.

However, the sting in the tail for all this is – to obtain SRU approval for your local artificial pitch to be used for rugby, well, you have to cross BT Murrayfield's hand with silver; yes, they charge a fee to approve the pitch – even those which are, too-short, too-narrow, both, or can only be used for training.

And if the pitch isn't approved, that affects the club's access to SRU insurance etc. SRU approval for no less than 14 of the 59 listed pitches, expires between now and the end of the year.

My club coach makes a salient point about all this artificial pitch palaver, saying:

“It's all particularly ironic as the artificial pitch at Murrayfield is in a shocking state with a surface more akin to Brighton beach, and a unique plastic pile that is guaranteed to draw blood from elbows and knees. Seriously - if referees enforced the rules on blood injuries most games would be abandoned at half time. “

That artificial pitch at Murrayfield, by the way, in not actually World Rugby compliant – being only 66 metres wide, where World Rugby minimum width is 68 metres. You might think one of the leading Unions in the game would ensure a pitch, adjacent to its headquarters, met the minimum standards.

But, hey, it's the SRU we are dealing with here. Don't do what we do – do what we tell you and all that.

I hope they get the pitch dimensions right as they begin to build their Legoland Stadium for Edinburgh's use on the back pitches at HQ.

I also hope, they can get their act together to ensure, more clubs have access to good artificial surfaces for training and playing – pitches that are World Rugby compliant.