Keinzley concerned pitch may not be ready in time

Wairarapa United soccer boss Phil Keinzley is hoping Masterton District Council grounds staff have digging up the cricket wicket at the Pugh Sports Bowl in Masterton high on their priority list.
The first of Wairarapa United's matches in their debut season in the central league is scheduled to be played there on Sunday, April 4 and Keinzley has good reason to be worried about the consequences of the necessary remedial work required to get the playing surface back into top shape.
"It's pretty much life and death for us & if the ground is not suitable for the first game then there won't be any mucking around, we will be tossed out of the league,"
Keinzley said.
"There's only a month left to get things right, it's not a long time, is it?"
Keinzley said Capital Soccer, who supervise the central league, had made it abundantly clear that any grounds on which those matches were played should not have cricket pitches as part of their make-up.
This was because in dry weather the pitches tended to go hard and provided a higher-than-normal bounce of the soccer ball while in wet weather they did just the opposite, turning into slush and virtually providing no bounce
at all.
"We saw last season what the wet weather could do at the Pugh Sports Bowl, the middle of the ground was virtually unplayable at times," Keinzley said.
"We got away with it then but we won't now."
Keinzley said that with central league being second only to the national league on the competition ranking list and the national league is now in jeopardy because of financial hassles Capital Soccer were intent on providing playing surfaces which were of the highest possible standard.
"They want the grounds to be as flat and even as bowling greens, and that's what all the clubs involved have to aim for," he said. "We believe the Pugh Sports Bowl can be that way but it's the time element which is a worry, there's no other ground in the Wairarapa which comes even close to meeting their standards.
"So transferring elsewhere is entirely out of the question."
Making the current situation even more concerning for Wairarapa United is that Capital Soccer has already given them some leeway in terms of other facilities.
For example the changing rooms at the Pugh Sports Bowl are not seen as anything like ideal but Wairarapa United have been given a dispensation in that respect.
"They (Capital Soccer) have gone out of their way to support us but on the grounds issue they are very clear, if we don't come up to the mark there then there will be no alternative but to show us the back door. It's as simple as that," he said.
Keinzley said he had attempted to raise his concerns with MDC grounds staff but he had been unable to speak to those who were responsible making decisions like that being sought.
"Hopefully they are aware of when our season starts, a heck of a lot depends on it," he said.