Roofs & Plastic Sides?

[mikeyR]

I was wondering if someone had a reason or explanation of the following. I been to lots of events over the last few years and watched the videos of other events where fields are netted off, for obvious reasons. Why dont these fields have roofs?

I'll define roof in this context. Poles are laid across from side to side horizontally and netting attached over the top to produce a roof. Make sense?

The netting on the side of a field is 20-30ft high which is fine but if you put a roof over the field then surely you can bring this height down. If you bring the height down then the structure is more stable in the winds (less chance of it acting like a sail) Also the roof supports would firm up the lateral movement of the sides and so stop sides falling over ('Dam 2002)

Is this possible or even viable? Any scaffolders got the answer?

Also instead of netting at the bottom 6-8ft of the sides, what about clear plastic like on the sides of ice hockey rinks? I know it would get breaks on but it is a solid surface so no chance of spray or whole balls finding their way through into spectators, who are obviously going to want to be that close to the action. In between games they could be wiped down just like the barricades are. Maybe its something that should be implemented once the sports on T.V at X-Ball or the larger Tourneys. Would probably make filming easier.

Just a couple of random thoughts.

 

[Aarron]

totally agree with the roof idea is great probably the same cost or cheaper and a hell of a lot safer. The plastic side wouldn't really be viable unless it became a TV sport as I don't think it would be financially viable to do.

 

[Collier]

I'm not convinced that roofs would be cheaper.... but then I'm not a scaffolder.

Paul

 

[Liz]

I can tell you now that it would cost a whole lot more! The scaffolding for side netting can be single poles in most circumstances, but if cross members over the top are required then a much more rigid structure is needed. Then you get the cost of the extra netting, and you're talking a lot more netting here to cover the whole roof rather than just extending the sides up. Then we get to the logistics - actually getting the scaffolding done & then netting it in. Difficult job which would take lots of time, & time is money especially when you're talking scaffolders! Then of course there's the extra time and cost of getting it all down again, if like the M25 you aren't using a permanent site.

The plastic sides is a fun idea, but again has cost & time implications. A tear in netting can be patched easily without interfering much with viewing - not so with plastic sheeting. Also, you'd have to clean it down between every game to get even half-decent viewing & that has staffing implications (can't really expect marshalls to do even more cleaning down of stuff) and time, i.e. the extra time between games so you can clean the plastic. For something like a permanent indoor arena, like they have for ice hockey. with solid plastic walling, this may be possible though (but you still get the cleaning down issues).

 

[weedave]

Roofs would always help the weather on every occasion.

Keeps Players and Marshals out of Rain and would also give shade for those sunny days.

And would keep sun out of the players eyes

 

[yatesy]

if your playin with something with a roof if it stops the sun gettin in your eyes its gonna stop light gettin in especially on a dark rainy day so u would need to rig up some lighting like in the euro indoor which i bet isnt cheap for 4 plus fields

 

[FAMINE]

And you would still need a good deal of height for long ballin

 

[Ms Bossy]

You won't need to longball, just bounce the paint of the netted roof

 

[mikeyR]

Originally posted by Bud
You won't need to longball, just bounce the paint of the netted roof

Is this the reason we dont have roofs? To stop people 'angling' shots down on to back players?

As for letting in light I was thinking the material would be netting as per the sides, so light and rain would still come through.

 

[kidzero]

i wonder that the longballing thing came up so late, it was my first thought when i read the word ROOF! and solid walls??? mate, we use black netting to be more spectator friendly,so: WHAT SOLID WALLS????