Recently went on a ground tour prior to my son being a flag bearer Does anyone know the reason why the gap between the north stand and start of the pitch is far away from each other ( compared to ponty ) Apparently it’s so if we ever get into Europe ( might sound daft but think about the fa cup semi final against Cardiff ) and how close we were that year We would need to make the pitch bigger to gain entry into the competition
I always thought as long as its not less than 90metres an more than 120metres long and between 45 and 60 metres wide it was viable to play any 11 a side game on it, as i recall from my refereeing days, but its a good bit of knowledge.
It is my belief that the Oakwell pitch is within the FIFA recommended limits so I don't really believe that.
I think the size of the gap between the North Stand and the pitch is due to the fact that when they built that stand it was the distance from the pitch that it is and that's how big the gap is.
As far as I recall the slight slope on the pitch went to its lowest point in that corner so any building work had to take that into consideration if anybody remembers when the East Stand was built the pitch suffered a lot more water logging then previously.
I was told it's so the pitch gets enough sunlight. A smaller gap would have had a detrimental effect on the grass. I absolutely hate it though.
Sounds like BS to me... I do know that the biggest pitch in the football league was at Donny Rovers, Belle Vue. No idea which is biggest now....
So ours is shorter or narrower than this, if thats the rules, then, if and wen we get into europe we'll have to comply, i think it'll be the size it is nar for a fair few years yit.
That’s only for hosting tournament matches though like Euros etc not European club games. Wolves played in Europe other year and their pitch is smaller (100 x 64).