Fields

[MustangMid]

I am a player from madison academic, and being a team in the west there are a lot of teams with awful fields to say the least. I can understand an awful field like lumps and dirt all over, but what i cannot get is how we allow teams to use U10 fields. Madison played Crockett County this week, and Crockett are not a strong team, but madison had to go away to them. Crockett's field was purposefully picked to frustrate us. Their coach picked the elementary field knowing they could not play on a regular size field against madison. The field was so small the keepers could punt it from one goal to the other. I stepped off the sidelines... From the sideline to the near post was 13 yards. Basically, because crockett was allowed to play on this field they had a chance against madison when they never would have on a regular field. I honestly think if you cant play on a regular size field you should not be allowed to play. Needless to say the refs didnt show up 45 minutes after the game was supposed to start, and their players were trying to start a fight after the game. This is absurd.

[BigG]

I get frustrated, like you do, about field sizes, but I don't really think this is a purposeful choice by those schools. I would imagine that everyone woud love to have a 120X80 soccer field (not something they had to get "permission" from the football coach to use) but they just don't have the resources to do so.

 

Playing on those fields gives your team the opportunity to adjust to a different tactic. Yes, on a large field, the game would be very different. Unfortunately, this isn't going to happen, so we need to learn how to play against it, or realize that you might not win a game that you "should".

[MustangMid]

Well, what i dont understand is how their highschool has 1 field i know of at the high school, but instead they decide to play at their elementary... sounds sketchy to me when we passed their field and nothing was going on there...

[Staggie]

Well, what i dont understand is how their highschool has 1 field i know of at the high school, but instead they decide to play at their elementary... sounds sketchy to me when we passed their field and nothing was going on there...

 

 

 

I know there are schools where football rules and soccer teams are not allowed to play on the football field. When I started coaching we played on a horrible field and it took me three years and a new football coach to get permission to play on the football field...and even then they(football coaches) didnt like it. This might not be the case at this school but it is at some.

[chattanooga]

football coaches hate the fact that soccer is on "their fields"

[sportsnut624]

Tennessee high schools are run by football. Most schools do whats best for the football program while soccer is forced to take a backseat. I believe this is why some school are forced to play on subpar fields. Football gets the majority of school funding (what little the school can give) and money they raise through booster programs, while most soccer programs rely on their booster programs soley. However IMO this state is starting to change to a soccer advocate state. I've noticed more and more fans and students are starting to attend even low level games especially in the Knox. area. I think soccer has a bright future in the coming years for TN.

[tcamom]

I, too, have been frustrated for years that soccer is not handled with the same professionalism as other sports in TN. Teams have been 45min to an hour late at our last 2 games, but it didn't cause any forfeit discussion, because the refs were 30 min. late. One ref was clueless, and the other ref tried to help him out, constantly stopping the game to explain rules to him.

 

BUT, we need to remember that the football fields are maintained and manicured by the football coaches. They invest a lot of time and effort into the fields. If we want to use their fields, maybe the soccer parents need to volunteer to help with field maintenance in the spring.

 

It will be a nice change when high school soccer is regarded with the seriousness of other high school sports.

[CREE]

District 5AAA has it in our by-laws that for post season the field has to be 60 x 110. I think. Gives is a basic standard for all to try to reach.

[ThomasJ]

The rulebook states Width between 55 and 80 yds and length between 100 an 120. Football fiels just meet the width.

[chattanooga]

it seems they could meet the 100 yard barrier

[bobcatssoccer]

BUT, we need to remember that the football fields are maintained and manicured by the football coaches. They invest a lot of time and effort into the fields. If we want to use their fields, maybe the soccer parents need to volunteer to help with field maintenance in the spring.

 

 

At our school, we had to pay $500 to play just 3 games on the football field...AND we trimmed hedges and did weed eating.

[MVM]

I, too, have been frustrated for years that soccer is not handled with the same professionalism as other sports in TN. Teams have been 45min to an hour late at our last 2 games, but it didn't cause any forfeit discussion, because the refs were 30 min. late. One ref was clueless, and the other ref tried to help him out, constantly stopping the game to explain rules to him.

 

BUT, we need to remember that the football fields are maintained and manicured by the football coaches. They invest a lot of time and effort into the fields. If we want to use their fields, maybe the soccer parents need to volunteer to help with field maintenance in the spring.

 

It will be a nice change when high school soccer is regarded with the seriousness of other high school sports.

 

tcamom great point about parents helping out maintaining the field, The more parents step up, the better things would be.

 

I'm curious to know what part of the state your in? Maybe those were Highland Rim Refs? /roflolk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflolk:" border="0" alt="roflolk.gif" />