THE DEBATE over the condition of the Rodney Parade pitch continues to rage on – and there are no signs of the conversation dying down.

The New Year’s Day derby between Newport Gwent Dragons and the Ospreys resulted in yet more bad press for the troubled playing surface.

The Guinness PRO12 clash, given the go ahead by referee Ian Davies, inevitably became a mudbath as the ground’s well-publicised drainage problems were highlighted once again.

Two of Newport County AFC’s matches this season had to be abandoned at half time because of a waterlogged surface, and there could well be more to come.

County, the Dragons and Newport RFC all play their home fixtures at Rodney Parade – a combined total of 36 rugby and football games have been played there by those teams since the start of August.

And fans haven’t been quiet in voicing their dissatisfaction over the state of the pitch, with Rodney Parade Limited, who are responsible for the surface, being called to explain what, if anything, they are doing to remedy the situation.

“It is time for management to ask serious questions as to what has happened with Rodney Parade’s drainage,” commented Warbles on the Argus website.

“It has never been as bad as the past few years. Clearly something, beyond our control, has gone wrong but nobody seems to want to investigate.

“At this rate Rodney Parade will rapidly become defunct. It may have been okay a while back but in this professional era they must demand answers or ‘top-level’ sport in Newport will cease to exist.”

Meanwhile, East Newport Dave wrote: “This is 2017 and I am in utter disbelief that full-time professional rugby teams play on that surface and that multi-millionaire owners are content to stand by and let it happen.

“And what are the local authority doing about it? Do they not realise that this is the shop window for the city and that people judge the place by what they see at the stadium?

“So, yes, Newport/Newport Gwent Dragons/Newport County AFC are all a laughing stock in the eyes of the rest of south Wales and the wider world who see them wallowing in the mud.”

The question of whether the new housing developments around Rodney Parade has had a detrimental impact on the pitch has also been up for debate.

Former Argus rugby writer Robin Davey took to Twitter to say: “The whole thing is a fog and needs a thorough investigation, but, as ever, nothing will get done.”

Ex-Argus editor Kevin Ward believes the Dragons, County and Newport RFC should hold a joint press conference to address what is happening with the pitch.

He says they need to “explain what’s wrong and how much it’ll cost to fix it” and then the “community/private/public sector can decide if investment is worthwhile”.