Top pitch in a mess

THE States Works Department was yesterday blamed for the poor state of the Corbet Field pitch as local football's first controversy of the new season erupted even before a ball was kicked. Most of Priaulx League champions Vale Rec's home pitch is covered in lush grass, but both goalmouths and large tracts in and around the centre circle are bare.

Reliable sources have told the Guernsey Press that States Works was to blame after it was alleged that States groundsmen accidentally soaked the damaged areas of the Corbet Field with too much high-strength weedkiller in the run up to the Island Games.

States Works assumed responsibility for all of Guernsey's premier football venues before the Games. The grounds looked pristine for the big week - but at a significant long-term cost to unfortunate Vale Rec.

Corbet Field groundsman Dave Le Noury said that he was told not to worry if the top of the treated grass browned slightly and was informed that the pitch would return to normal in time for the start of this season.

Not only is the pitch not back to normal, it is, in the opinion of experienced and respected officials, in its worst condition for years. There are even doubts over whether the ground is safe to play on.

A veteran football official said: 'The States aren't owning up to the mistake, but it's definitely their fault. They've killed off the grass in the affected areas and we just can't get it back.'

States Works groundsman Peter Jackson, who looked after the pre-Games pitch programme, said that he was unable to comment after recently being banned from speaking to the media.

A States Works spokesman later telephoned the Guernsey Press. After requesting that he remain anonymous, he said: 'We doused the whole pitch in weedkiller. If it's the fault of our use of weedkiller, why is the rest of the pitch fine?'

But he he did not refer directly to the allegation that a higher dose of weedkiller was inadvertently applied to the damaged areas of the Corbet Field before the correct lower dose was then used on the rest of the ground and at all other Games venues.

The local football season kicks off at the Corbet Field on Tuesday night when Priaulx League champions Vale Rec face Sylvans in the Martinez Cup.