| Home halves 23:00 - Apr 14 with 2401 views | dalian |
Someone mentioned on another thread about maybe changing shooting towards the Sandy in the second half which leads me to the question of why do we almost always shoot towards that end in the second half? I sit in the Pearl St end these days but have been a regular in the Sandy in the past. In fact for the first round FA cup match versus Bromley I went in the Sandy and couldn't believe we played that way for the only game I can remember us doing in this season!
I assume choice of kick off or which end to shoot at is still decided by the coin toss with the captain's before the game and no captain worth his salt ever chooses the kick off. Law of averages says we win about half of the coin tosses so how do we always end up shooting towards the Pearl St in the first half? Am thinking there must be an advantage somewhere but not sure what and why doesn't the away team take the same advantage when they win the toss?
I hope somebody, anybody, can enlighten me on this please! |  | | |  |
| Home halves on 00:01 - Apr 15 with 2321 views | D_Dale |
This has been aired before, without any really persuasive explanation. Some even reckon it goes back to the early 20th century when there was a slope towards the Sandy which favoured attacking play in the second half when goals are more likely to be scored!
I'd be interested to see some statistics, but no one (not even The Voice Of Spotland) seems to have compiled them - though the topic is much more interesting than the frequency of white stockings.
Assuming Dale captains, who would opt to play towards Pearl street in the first half, win the toss 50% of the time, and visiting captains who win the toss choose more or less randomly (or on variable factors such as the wind direction), that would mean roughly 75% of matches involved Dale playing towards the Sandy in the second half. So, over the course of a season involving, say, 28 games (23 league, 5 cup), there'd be about 7 with Dale playing towards the Sandy in the second half. Yet my impression is that in fact it's not more than 2 or 3. | | | |
| Home halves on 00:21 - Apr 15 with 2289 views | D_Alien |
When the teams emerge for the start of the match, the home side seem to have first dibs on which end they take before the captains toss the coin
Invariably, Dale take the Sandy Lane end. It's possible, therefore, the opposing captain can't be arsed having both teams cross over if he wins the toss, unless there's some real advantage to be gained due to weather conditions |  |
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| Home halves on 01:18 - Apr 15 with 2239 views | TVOS1907 |
| Home halves on 00:01 - Apr 15 by D_Dale |
This has been aired before, without any really persuasive explanation. Some even reckon it goes back to the early 20th century when there was a slope towards the Sandy which favoured attacking play in the second half when goals are more likely to be scored!
I'd be interested to see some statistics, but no one (not even The Voice Of Spotland) seems to have compiled them - though the topic is much more interesting than the frequency of white stockings.
Assuming Dale captains, who would opt to play towards Pearl street in the first half, win the toss 50% of the time, and visiting captains who win the toss choose more or less randomly (or on variable factors such as the wind direction), that would mean roughly 75% of matches involved Dale playing towards the Sandy in the second half. So, over the course of a season involving, say, 28 games (23 league, 5 cup), there'd be about 7 with Dale playing towards the Sandy in the second half. Yet my impression is that in fact it's not more than 2 or 3. |
Liverpool nearly always shoot towards The Kop in the second half.
United always to the Stretford End.
I doubt it’s anything more than tradition. |  |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Home halves on 09:43 - Apr 15 with 2010 views | Daley_Lama |
Keeper gets sun in his eyes first half only for the odd match in Spring/Autumn
Wind blows towards TDS more often than not, use that advantage first up.
Tradition |  |
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| Home halves on 09:54 - Apr 15 with 1973 views | 442Dale |
| Home halves on 00:01 - Apr 15 by D_Dale |
This has been aired before, without any really persuasive explanation. Some even reckon it goes back to the early 20th century when there was a slope towards the Sandy which favoured attacking play in the second half when goals are more likely to be scored!
I'd be interested to see some statistics, but no one (not even The Voice Of Spotland) seems to have compiled them - though the topic is much more interesting than the frequency of white stockings.
Assuming Dale captains, who would opt to play towards Pearl street in the first half, win the toss 50% of the time, and visiting captains who win the toss choose more or less randomly (or on variable factors such as the wind direction), that would mean roughly 75% of matches involved Dale playing towards the Sandy in the second half. So, over the course of a season involving, say, 28 games (23 league, 5 cup), there'd be about 7 with Dale playing towards the Sandy in the second half. Yet my impression is that in fact it's not more than 2 or 3. |
The topic might be more interesting to some than the white socks, but clearly those who choose what we wear are very interested in the impact on results.
Those socks were not part of any of our kits earlier on in the season and were worn out of necessity at Slough. Since then they have been utilised on five occasions where there was no need whatsoever, with the black away socks being perfectly acceptable to use each time.
Another point of interest (to some) is that the socks are seemingly visibly un-branded. |  |
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| Home halves on 10:31 - Apr 15 with 1905 views | DaleiLama |
I must admit I often wondered this. Opponents who have played us regularly must know our preference and you would have thought they might try to break the "tradition" just to try to unnerve us and seek some tiny edge. I suppose that would have been more the case when "fortress Spotland" was in its pomp. |  |
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| Home halves on 10:36 - Apr 15 with 1894 views | ColDale |
| Home halves on 10:31 - Apr 15 by DaleiLama |
I must admit I often wondered this. Opponents who have played us regularly must know our preference and you would have thought they might try to break the "tradition" just to try to unnerve us and seek some tiny edge. I suppose that would have been more the case when "fortress Spotland" was in its pomp. |
It was noticeable that Rory McArdle when captaining Scunny earlier in the season won the toss and made the teams switch round. |  | | |
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