red ash pitches in junior football

[happy]

In the early 70s Auchinleck Academy opened and had 2 red ash parks.The lines were made of white plastic strips around 30cm wide. I kid you not,the lines were held down by 6 inch nails!

[dreggin]

The black ash pitches I remember were Pollok, Perthshire, Ashfield, St Rochs,  StAnthony, Denistoun Waverley, Maryhill Harp  there might have been more but that's I remember when I was the Pollok hamper boy

Edited June 2, 2019 by dreggin

[tinto]

St.Anthonys pitch was grass but with a bare patch down the middle due to over playing on it. This was true for many junior grounds. Dennistoun Waverley were a big club at Juvenile level and recruited many of their players from these teams.  They had the only full time manager in junior football called Andy Moffatt. Strathclyde Juniors near Celtic Park had a black ash pitch within a decent sized ground at Springfield park. They had the distinction of the lowest crowd at a junior match of zero to see Blantyre Celtic.

[amigan]

Excuse my ignorance, but what was the logic behind these pitches?  Was it just that they were easier to maintain?  What was under the ash?  I remember taking the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow you used to see a lot of them,.

[garrellburn]

2 hours ago, tinto said:

St.Anthonys pitch was grass but with a bare patch down the middle due to over playing on it. This was true for many junior grounds. Dennistoun Waverley were a big club at Juvenile level and recruited many of their players from these teams.  They had the only full time manager in junior football called Andy Moffatt. Strathclyde Juniors near Celtic Park had a black ash pitch within a decent sized ground at Springfield park. They had the distinction of the lowest crowd at a junior match of zero to see Blantyre Celtic.

I have an SNLR booklet with reprinted articles from 1932-33 Saturday Pink edition of Evening Times and it says of Strathclyde moving to New Springfield Park 'the holding capacity is "estimated" at 45000' I only remember visiting it once around 1955 and my admittedly very vague memory is of being quite confined with very few facilities. Certainly a crowd of zero could very easily be overlooked in a ground of that size! No recollection of whether it was a red, black, green or tartan surface.

[tinto]

It was black ash. From memory it had a white rail around the pitch. Two or three steps of terracing were on three sides which were overgrown. The clubhouse was behind the entrance which was at the end of a street. There was no cover. The Strathies had little support in an area that had several other teams nearby. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

10 hours ago, garrellburn said:

I have an SNLR booklet with reprinted articles from 1932-33 Saturday Pink edition of Evening Times and it says of Strathclyde moving to New Springfield Park 'the holding capacity is "estimated" at 45000' I only remember visiting it once around 1955 and my admittedly very vague memory is of being quite confined with very few facilities. Certainly a crowd of zero could very easily be overlooked in a ground of that size! No recollection of whether it was a red, black, green or tartan surface.

^^^was steaming.