Anger as council makes tracks on football pitch
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HIGHLAND Council has come in for criticism after an attempt to cut the grass on a Wick football pitch put a children's soccer festival under threat.
The upper and lower pitches at Wick's Bignold Park play host to junior club East End FC as well as Caithness county league sides Wick Groats, Wick Thistle and Staxigoe United.
There have been issues with both pitches in the past, with particular concerns over Lower Bignold by teams who played there last year.
However, improvements to the respective surfaces were made.
Unfortunately, both appear to have suffered through an over-enthusiastic horticulture worker employed by Highland Council. What may have started out as a basic grass-cutting exercise has ended up with the pitches – Lower Bignold especially – looking badly churned up.
East End's summer football festival on Saturday looks to be in doubt as a result, with between 60 and 100 kids set to miss out on a day of footballing fun.
A member of the East End coaching team said: "This was meant to be a simple grass-cutting exercise.
"However, whoever was told to do this did not weigh up the factor that the pitches were too soft thanks to the recent wet weather.
"Therefore, they might not be able to hold up the weight of the tractor he was in. Sure enough, the pitches started to cut up.
"What's made it worse is that, having done one strip, surely he would have seen the damage done and stopped. Apparently not, as he attempted to do the other strip – with similar results.
"The pitches had been looking great all summer and we were looking forward to staging our football festival.
"Now we don't know if we have to cancel and leave up to 100 kids disappointed because the pitches are not suitable for football."
Reaction has also appeared on social media with both the Wick Groats and Wick Thistle managers condemning what has happened.
Kevin Anderson of Groats posted: "Best the upper and lower Parks had looked... what a mess both are now... absolute joke."
Just shows you they are clueless to cut grass when there has been a downpour.
While Alan Farquhar of Thistle was just as scathing by writing: "Damn disgrace. Just shows you they are clueless to cut grass when there has been a downpour."
Highland Council responded to what has happened and offered a glimmer of hope that the pitches may recover in time for East End's football festival.
A spokesperson said: "This area is cut with our tractor-mounted gang mower, and regrettably on this occasion the operator continued to cut when the ground was very wet.
"The standard procedure when encountering these conditions is to leave the site and only return when ground conditions are suitable again.
"We regret the inconvenience this has caused, and thank the pitch users for their patience while the grass recovers, which given the current growth rates should only be a few days."
