‘No easy, cheap solution’ to pitch problem, says Head Groundsman

The head groundsman at Spotland Stadium has released a statement regarding the pitch following the recent match postponement.

The statement from Philip Collinson, has been posted on the club’s website.

Mr Collinson said he hopes what he has said will give a “greater understanding” into the problems regarding the drainage at Spotland.

Mr Collinson said: “I would like to address the concerns currently being expressed by the football club, the football management and supporters of the football club regarding the drainage of the Spotland surface.

“This statement will hopefully give a greater understanding into the problems being faced by myself and my staff, and therefore raise awareness to what would be needed to be done to alleviate and eliminate them successfully for the future.”

Mr Collinson continued: “Anyone who witnessed the fixture versus Leyton Orient would have seen the way in which the pitch responds to heavy rain over a sustained period. This was then again seen in the lead up to the Southampton fixture recently. Despite the pitch being verti-drained, which in layman's terms is punching ¾" holes to a depth of 10" approximately every 6 inches along the pitch, the rain water was not passing into the piped drains at a quick enough rate to prevent standing water on the surface.

“So in essence the holes were filling up quicker than they were draining away and hence a waterlogged pitch. This was true for the majority of the pitch except along the lines of the land drains where there was no standing water and a dry surface was present. This demonstrates that when the water can get to the drains they will take the water away. The Spotland surface will never be flooded due to the pipe drainage not having the capacity to deal with the volume of water.

“If the problem was within the top 6 inches of the surface, i.e. the root zone which had 330 tonnes of fibresand ameliorated into it during the summers renovation period, then once we punch through this layer with the verti-drain we would see any standing water drain through into the underlying subsoil. This is not occurring; it is the subsoil that does not drain at a rate to prevent water logging with heavy rain in a short period.

“Recent test results show that the underlying subsoil drains 8 times slower than the top 6 inch fibresand reinforced root zone. The tests were carried out in an area just off the pitch where the drainage is considered one of the better areas and I am confident had we dug up the worse areas this figure would be considerably higher(obviously I do not want to be digging up large areas on the pitch during the season) . Here lies the problem with the Spotland pitch. The natural subsoil does not discharge water quickly enough to prevent water logging. The fibresand layer is not compact and does drain freely enough to cause us no concerns with drainage. The pipe drains in place are more than adequate to remove the rain water out of the stadium.

“There are solutions to this problem.”

Speaking about possible solutions, Mr Collinson, said:”The ideal one and the one that would give the possibility of the year round "perfect" pitch would be to dig down to the level of the pipe drains (approx 24")and construct the whole pitch with suitable free draining materials. This would obviously come at a high cost due to the materials and the great deal of work involved. Also this work would require approximately 10 weeks during the growing season (May-September) to ensure a good strong sward when play re-commenced. This would remove the slow draining subsoil and therefore remove the problem.

“A cheaper alternative is to install sand slits.

“These basically provide a channel for the water at the surface to the drains below and effectively cut through the slow draining subsoil. These were installed in 2006 at Spotland at the same time as the pipe drains. The system was effective, however, what you gain in drainage you lose in surface stability. If grass cover is lost on top of the sand slits then the sand becomes exposed and is easily kicked out under play, resulting in a bobbly surface. Obviously on a dual use pitch grass cover is going to be reduced during the non growing months and therefore with this system of drainage stability of the pitch would be an issue.

“This is the reason fibresand is recommended for dual use pitches, to provide a free draining root zone yet not compromise stability, and I feel this year the pitch has held together the best we have ever seen and has played well even during the winter months.

“The third option would be a cover for the pitch. The club and myself have been in contact with a company regarding this option and negotiations are ongoing. We obviously want to be 100% sure that the product will work for us as the cost is quite large.”

Mr Collinson added: “It is my opinion that for the Spotland pitch to perform to our expectations the first option would be the best.

“However, the cost implications are large. I am currently in the process of getting a figure for this work and I expect it to be around the £350k mark but this figure will be confirmed once we receive the quotes. As a comparison, Plymouth spent in the region of £400k and Man City £945k this summer to provide a "perfect" pitch. Also the 10 weeks required for such a project would need to be worked out

“The next best option, in my opinion, would be the rain cover. We know that the period of weather that affects the fulfilment of a fixture is the 12-15 hours leading up to it and so if we could prevent the rainfall landing on the pitch in that period we would stand a greater chance of playing.

“We know that the Macleod covers cost around £250k but we are looking abroad at a similar cover and the cost of this option is more attractive and if it works it will protect against rain, snow and lower frost temperatures. Again though, we are looking into the effectiveness of this cover and it is an ongoing project. The drawback with this option is that the pitch would be unprotected from approx 2 hours prior to kick off and therefore at risk from flooding should heavy rain be falling in this period. I would like to think however that:

1) The pitch could take a couple of hours of heavy rain

2) We would have to be very unlucky to have the amount of rain needed to flood the pitch arrive at 1pm and continue until 4.45pm

“The sand slitting option is not ideal due to the instability issues it brings. We have achieved a stable surface through the use of fibresand and this is something I do not want to lose. We have to avoid a bobbling surface the best way we can and sand slits cannot guarantee this.”

Mr Collinson concluded: “As you can probably see there is no easy, cheap solution to the problem we are facing but hopefully this now puts people in the picture to the underlying cause of the recent postponement.

“We are working closely with the Sports Turf Research Institute and reputable contractors to provide us with costs for the solutions explained above and also researching any solutions that may have worked at other sports facilities that have faced our problem in the past

“We continue to work hard to give the best surface possible but as you can hopefully understand we are limited due the ineffective drainage of the subsoil.”