Dundee City Council has suspended play on its Riverside football pitches after players became injured on stones that have appeared on the surface.
Chris Grieve (37) went to hospital after suffering a knee injury on the playing field, weeks after the council had declared the surface safe.
His deep four-inch cut is the seventh reported injury to a Dundee Saturday Morning Football League player in eight weeks.
Use of the Riverside pitches was suspended in early December after a player had to attend A&E over a knee injury caused by stones on the pitch.
The council worked on the pitches, but Chris said he slid into a tackle and into a rock hidden beneath the grass leaving a huge gash in his leg.
”I felt a pain in my leg and when I turned round there was a big laceration,” he said. ”A couple of guys came on and had a look and gave me first aid and taped it up just to keep it as clean as possible and keep it together. Then we went up to the hospital.
”The amount of blood involved and the size of the wound meant I had to go into theatre that night.”
He spent 48 hours in hospital, needing nine stitches and glue to close the wound, and said he would be suing the council over the injury.
”It does make me angry because obviously the council has said it cleaned up the pitch. Then this happens,” he added. ”The pitches are definitely not safe to play on, especially when we’re paying money to play on them.”
Steve McSwiggan, DSMFL secretary, described the injury as ”horrendous” and added: ”I’m aware that sustained efforts have been made to address the quality of the playing surface at Riverside over the past few weeks, but these have been inadequate.”
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: ”The council has taken the decision to suspend play on the pitches. The council is now carrying out a thorough investigation of the surface and the soil underneath at the pitches, which are located on reclaimed land.”
West End councillor Fraser Macpherson told the Courier: ”This has occurred before so I was very concerned to learn of this injury. I contacted the city council’s environment department seeking an assurance that the stones problem on the pitch area will be fully resolved urgently.”