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I think this is something beyond 'playing potential'. The 'lawn' is an obsessive compulsive thing at very least in Anglo WASPy culture, possibly on the Contine

I think this is something beyond 'playing potential'. The 'lawn' is an obsessive compulsive thing at very least in Anglo WASPy culture, possibly on the Continent in some ways, that definitely transcends the game of football. It's more obvious on golf courses at least in North America. There's something about middle age in these cultures that just draws you in, like a growing whisper. As a young man golfing, I would snicker at the overbearing perfectionism of the grounds-keeping ... while at the same time admiring the beauty of it. But now I think I get the addiction. Every time you play a video game, you're introduced to this fantasy like creative perfection ... it's a little bit like that ... but 'the perfection is in reality'. Whether it's a grand idea or not, I suggest this industry is going to grow and grow. Pun intended.

osullivj 5y ago
Agreed: the lawn is much more important in anglo culture. Compare with Italian or French formal gardens. Britain has a temparate climate with high precipitation, which does make lawn cultivation easier than Mediterranean climates. Just take a look at tennis grass courts or cricket pitches in hotter climates like Australia. The Australian Open used to be played on grass, like Wimbledon, but switched to hard courts back in the 80s.
- Bayart 5y ago
  >Britain has a temparate climate with high precipitation, which does make lawn cultivation easier than Mediterranean climates While true, most of the professional lawn is imported from the Netherlands and Denmark. Considering the amount of money in football, the state of the pitches in England has more to do with the care and the method put into it than the weather. After all there are some pitches just as good in Spain. Barcelona probably pioneered the obsession with perfectly tailored grass.
automatic6131 5y ago
It's exactly like that. Even being 'innoculated' with stories of how it's a relic of a feudal show-off doesn't work. I resented mowing the lawn with my chores as a child, but then once I owned some grass, I saw every weed as a personal insult, and I became a lawn addict within a year. But even if it's a memetic virus, I don't resent it.
- wffurr 5y ago
  Neighbors or their landscaping services running small gas engines day in and day out in the service of some manicured lawn ideal is one of my least favorite things about having neighbors. Now I look for the surrounding area to be slightly weedy or unkempt, but not completely out of control, as a sign that no one is going nuts with lawn care. Which I then take as a sign that no one is going to drive me nuts with their equipment. The most ridiculous and obnoxious thing so far is the apartment building across the street from my current place. The landscaping company had a man on a riding blower who was also using a backpack blower at the same time. What a cacophony of engine and blower noise to no useful purpose.
- lupire 5y ago
  Hating weeds isn't the problem so much as using grass as the foundational goal.

osullivj 5y ago

Agreed: the lawn is much more important in anglo culture. Compare with Italian or French formal gardens. Britain has a temparate climate with high precipitation, which does make lawn cultivation easier than Mediterranean climates. Just take a look at tennis grass courts or cricket pitches in hotter climates like Australia. The Australian Open used to be played on grass, like Wimbledon, but switched to hard courts back in the 80s.

Bayart 5y ago
>Britain has a temparate climate with high precipitation, which does make lawn cultivation easier than Mediterranean climates While true, most of the professional lawn is imported from the Netherlands and Denmark. Considering the amount of money in football, the state of the pitches in England has more to do with the care and the method put into it than the weather. After all there are some pitches just as good in Spain. Barcelona probably pioneered the obsession with perfectly tailored grass.

automatic6131 5y ago

It's exactly like that. Even being 'innoculated' with stories of how it's a relic of a feudal show-off doesn't work. I resented mowing the lawn with my chores as a child, but then once I owned some grass, I saw every weed as a personal insult, and I became a lawn addict within a year. But even if it's a memetic virus, I don't resent it.

wffurr 5y ago
Neighbors or their landscaping services running small gas engines day in and day out in the service of some manicured lawn ideal is one of my least favorite things about having neighbors. Now I look for the surrounding area to be slightly weedy or unkempt, but not completely out of control, as a sign that no one is going nuts with lawn care. Which I then take as a sign that no one is going to drive me nuts with their equipment. The most ridiculous and obnoxious thing so far is the apartment building across the street from my current place. The landscaping company had a man on a riding blower who was also using a backpack blower at the same time. What a cacophony of engine and blower noise to no useful purpose.
lupire 5y ago
Hating weeds isn't the problem so much as using grass as the foundational goal.