Quoted today was the fact that QPR have
one of the smaller pitches in the Premier League and it is made even
smaller by the surrounding vertical stands that make Loftus Road a
bit of a cauldron. Pitches at the adult level may be between 100 and
130 yards long and 50-100 yards wide but not square.
So the smallest pitch in the Premier
League is West Ham's at 110 x70 yards, Spurs 110 x 73, Everton 110 x
74, Palace 110 x 75, Liverpool 110 x 75, all in “old stadia”.
Leicester at the King Power weighs in
at 110 x 76 and then comes QPR.
The biggest is the Etihad 116.5 x 78
and Old Trafford 116 x 76. Hull is equal widest at 78 the rest are
around 114-5 x 72-76. The newer stadia tend to be 115 long and about 75 wide.
What a difference a yard makes? Some
managers have been known to narrow pitches to congest matches
against ball playing opposition and some even go to the extent of
putting advertising hoardings close to the touchlines so long throw
experts don't get a run up.
Brian Clough famously over watered the Baseball Ground before a European Cup tie with Benfica, including their star Eusebio, in the attempt to negate the skills of his
foreign opposition. He fell asleep in the dead of night after he
turned on the hosepipes and flooded the pitch almost
postponing the game. The pitch was waterlogged the following morning and very muddy (it never had grass!), explained by " a local thunder storm"; there are a lot of those in Derby. he got away with it and won the two legged tie.
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