Widnes Vikings have full confidence in the safety of their artificial pitch despite criticism from some of the Wakefield's players in the wake of Friday's opening Stobart Super League match.
The Stobart Stadium's revolutionary 'iPitch' was one of the major talking points from the first weekend of the new season. Wakefield full-back Richard Mathers called it an "absolute joke" and used his Twitter account to distribute photographs of his grazed arms and legs after the game, which the Wildcats won 32-14.
Widnes chief executive Julie Gaskell insisted the injuries were more likely to have been a result of the icy weather, saying: "We had four games on the pitch this weekend and you have to bear in mind the extreme weather."
She added: "Certainly on Friday night it went down to minus seven.
"The injuries are consistent with those on any surface in those temperatures and we noted there were similar injuries from the game at Salford on Saturday night.
"Our players have been training on a similar surface for the last nine months and there have been no issues. I am sure any problems would have shown up. We have also had five-a-side football and boys and girls tag rugby on the pitch over the last four weeks and again we have had no reported injuries."
The RFL say Friday's match commissioner raised no concerns over the pitch in his report.
"We are happy for Widnes to continue using the iPitch," said spokesman John Ledger. "The indications are that it posed no more danger to players than on any other surface over the weekend. We believe the extreme weather may have been an issue."
Widnes' academy match against Wakefield at the Stobart Stadium on Saturday was abandoned after 65 minutes after Vikings player Thomas Coyle suffered a compound leg fracture, but the RFL say the pitch played no role in the incident.
North Wales Crusaders played Halifax Under-23s on the pitch on Sunday while Whitehaven held a training session there on Saturday morning.
Comment 1 - 2 of 2
I work at the stobart stadium and have been on the pitch most days, and I can guarantee that the recent cold snap is to blame, before the frost and cold weather hit no player has cut or grazed himself during training. The temperature was at -7 during the game and if it was a normal grass pitch the game would have probably been cancelled due to a frozen pitch.
Richard Mathers is nothing but a whinging little girl, you are a professional rugby player for gods sake, act like it and not a petulant little child. The injuries he sustained are exactly the same as the players did at the Salford game which was played on a frozen pitch.
The I-pitch is still the future for rugby league like it or not, this is the 21st century and not the dark ages before rugby became professional. Within 10 years every team will be using some kind of artificial pitch because it is the way forward.
Does Richie Mathers do anything but moan? He has to be one of the most over rated players in the super league, I was so glad when we got shot of him at Warrington!
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account