Following the football season’s abrupt end due to the coronavirus pandemic, Swanage Town and Herston Football Club are making good use of the time to help stop their pitch getting waterlogged in the winter.
For numerous seasons, the Swans have experienced major problems with the north end of the pitch at Day’s Park, which has at times looked more like a lake than a football field. This has caused the postponement of many matches and the problem has steadily got worse.
Rain stops play at the north end of the club’s football pitch
Now the club is in the process of installing new drainage to fix the problem, so it’s ready for whenever football can resume again.
There’s still no indication when either the amateur or professional English football leagues will resume. Today it should have been the FA cup final but like all major sporting fixtures in the UK, it’s been cancelled.
The pitch is marked out for the drainage trenches, not social distancing!
Gerald Dimarco from Swanage Town and Herston Football Club said:
“We made the decision a while back to put proper drainage in, so we’re getting the work done in this ideal window when all football has been stopped due to coronavirus. All week, the team has been working hard, digging the trenches and then laying the perforated drainage pipe. It’s installed at a slight slope, so the water will run down to a main drain. The trench will then be backfilled with sand and gravel, with turf laid on top. Hopefully it should do the trick for now.”
Kingston Contractors were able to help by providing the specialist equipment required
New artificial 3G pitch
In the future, the football club has ambitious plans to install a new artificial 3G pitch and to build a new football club and sports centre for the whole community to use, but as the project is still several years from becoming a reality, maintaining the current facilities has to continue.
Gerald Dimarco added:
“We’re looking forward to a time when we have a totally new all-weather pitch here, but in the meantime, we’ve got to run the club and maintain what we’ve got. Without a decent pitch, we can’t play football!
“I really must thank Andy Dunster, Barry Audley, Matt Dunster, Sam Willcocks, Charlie Dyke and Kingston Contractors for all their hard work installing this – without them, this wouldn’t be happening.”
