Author Topic: Watering pitch  (Read 4826 times)

Wyberton pilgrim

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Watering pitch
« on: April 25, 2022, 11:56:21 AM »
Does watering the pitch help or hinder? Luke Shiels slipped and Tom Platt had to make a last-ditch tackle when he got injured. Players from both sides were slipping and sliding.

Greengrass

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Re: Watering pitch
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2022, 01:48:52 PM »
The soil profile of the JCS pitch is likely contain a high proportion of sand, watering helps the surface maintain structure and stability. Sand pitches are far superior to soil based, and I doubt we will see a fixture off for waterlogging under normal conditions. I think the days of managers trying to "trick a pitch up" due to watering, or having the grass cut imperceptibly higher to slow the ball down as it runs to the corners are long gone. Players at our level are more likely to slip, even on a dry pitch.
Gutted about Tom's injury though, anyone know how bad it's likely to be?

howmanynames2pick

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Re: Watering pitch
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2022, 05:47:57 PM »
Thanks Greengrass ....you must know what yer on about  😀

Pete Brooksbank

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Re: Watering pitch
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2022, 07:43:15 PM »
The soil profile of the JCS pitch is likely contain a high proportion of sand, watering helps the surface maintain structure and stability. Sand pitches are far superior to soil based, and I doubt we will see a fixture off for waterlogging under normal conditions. I think the days of managers trying to "trick a pitch up" due to watering, or having the grass cut imperceptibly higher to slow the ball down as it runs to the corners are long gone. Players at our level are more likely to slip, even on a dry pitch.
Gutted about Tom's injury though, anyone know how bad it's likely to be?

If you're remotely interested in stuff like this and aren't already, Jim Portas and FineTurf are interesting to follow on Twitter. FineTurf are always posting about their various projects, which includes aftercare for our pitch. Reps will often pop down to take core samples of the grass and they post photos of them - you can clearly see the sandy layer.

Interestingly, water collected by our drainage system isn't filtered and retained - it's simply dumped into a nearby ditch. Jim posted a pic of that once and it's was amazing to see how much water the drains were collecting flushing out the ditch. It's a complete change to the old York Street days.

Cavalier

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Re: Watering pitch
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2022, 09:56:21 PM »
Does watering the pitch help or hinder? Luke Shiels slipped and Tom Platt had to make a last-ditch tackle when he got injured. Players from both sides were slipping and sliding.

The pitch may need to be watered regularly but doing it just before the game on Saturday definitely went against us. 
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noughtyforties

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Re: Watering pitch
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2022, 08:07:42 AM »
The soil profile of the JCS pitch is likely contain a high proportion of sand, watering helps the surface maintain structure and stability. Sand pitches are far superior to soil based, and I doubt we will see a fixture off for waterlogging under normal conditions. I think the days of managers trying to "trick a pitch up" due to watering, or having the grass cut imperceptibly higher to slow the ball down as it runs to the corners are long gone. Players at our level are more likely to slip, even on a dry pitch.
Gutted about Tom's injury though, anyone know how bad it's likely to be?

If you're remotely interested in stuff like this and aren't already, Jim Portas and FineTurf are interesting to follow on Twitter. FineTurf are always posting about their various projects, which includes aftercare for our pitch. Reps will often pop down to take core samples of the grass and they post photos of them - you can clearly see the sandy layer.

Interestingly, water collected by our drainage system isn't filtered and retained - it's simply dumped into a nearby ditch. Jim posted a pic of that once and it's was amazing to see how much water the drains were collecting flushing out the ditch. It's a complete change to the old York Street days.

But its not is it?

The rainwater is still not getting harvested, its been wasted.

I can't believe that given how much has been spent on the stadium another few thousand wasn't spent on harvesting the rainwater that falls on the pitch and the stand roofs. For the initial outlay the savings over the years would be enormous. 

Pete Brooksbank

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Re: Watering pitch
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2022, 09:39:05 AM »
I mean the drainage is completely different from York Street, which it is.

As for the rainwater, I would imagine you'd need to filter it once it's leeched through the pitch and picked up soil and sand particles, not to mention whatever chemicals are already present, and anything coming off the roof will have picked up dirt/debris and bird crap and such like. I don't know, but it might be that the cost and hassle of filtering that water just isn't worth it.

EDIT - I Googled it. It's called rainwater harvesting and filtration is indeed the big capital outlay. If you look you'll find a fair few examples of stadiums harvesting water off their roofs - but we're talking Major League Baseball, domed stadiums in Japan, and Allianz Arena type arenas. Harvesting water that's drained through a pitch seems less of a thing, so I assume once it's fallen on the grass it's considered unusable.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2022, 09:47:59 AM by Pete B »

Bostonshire

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Re: Watering pitch
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2022, 06:51:43 PM »
The soil profile of the JCS pitch is likely contain a high proportion of sand, watering helps the surface maintain structure and stability. Sand pitches are far superior to soil based, and I doubt we will see a fixture off for waterlogging under normal conditions. I think the days of managers trying to "trick a pitch up" due to watering, or having the grass cut imperceptibly higher to slow the ball down as it runs to the corners are long gone. Players at our level are more likely to slip, even on a dry pitch.
Gutted about Tom's injury though, anyone know how bad it's likely to be?

If you're remotely interested in stuff like this and aren't already, Jim Portas and FineTurf are interesting to follow on Twitter. FineTurf are always posting about their various projects, which includes aftercare for our pitch. Reps will often pop down to take core samples of the grass and they post photos of them - you can clearly see the sandy layer.

Interestingly, water collected by our drainage system isn't filtered and retained - it's simply dumped into a nearby ditch. Jim posted a pic of that once and it's was amazing to see how much water the drains were collecting flushing out the ditch. It's a complete change to the old York Street days.

But its not is it?

The rainwater is still not getting harvested, its been wasted.

I can't believe that given how much has been spent on the stadium another few thousand wasn't spent on harvesting the rainwater that falls on the pitch and the stand roofs. For the initial outlay the savings over the years would be enormous.

From what im aware is the water used on the pitch is harvest off the main stand roof and from the 3G pitch so a large element of it is eco friendly.