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Football

18th Mar 2018

Everyone went mad over Leicester City’s pitch pattern

The groundsmen have had some fun

Reuben Pinder

They have form for this sort of thing

Leicester City have been grabbing the headlines quite a lot in the past few years. There was the great escape in 2015, then there were the funky patterns their groundsmen were mowing into the grass at the King Power which attracted a lot of attention; they famously mowed poppies into the pitch for Remembrance Sunday in 2016. And I think they did something in between those two events, but I can’t quite remember.

The rules have changed since then, meaning that in the Premier League you can only mow the grass into plain, horizontal lines. Spoilsports, I know. Therefore, to add to the special occasion of playing in an FA Cup quarter-final, the Leicester groundsmen decided to have some fun, decorating the pitch with diamonds that intersect the horizontal lines.

It seems to have confused some people.

And entertained others.

Some people are not keen and find it distracting.

https://twitter.com/lulumillership/status/975410842618515463

While others are concerned that should the referee have to refer to VAR, the pattern will cause even more confusion than there was last time, in Manchester United’s FA Cup tie against Huddersfield.

https://twitter.com/RoyWelch1/status/975408993005899776

I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that for the sake of everyone’s enjoyment, I hope VAR is not used today. Or ever, for that matter. But Leicester’s pitch, eh? Pretty impressive work from the groundsmen.