Message Board - Football: Same areas every time !!!
22 Jan 2007 by Maesglas Football Club.
Set the scene please then try and answer this, the football pitch we use is great when dry, but when the wet weather comes in, the rain water just sits on the surface and doesnt seem to drain, and it also puddles up in the same areas of the pitch, even after forking, the week after its the same, now this is what puzzles me the other half of the pitch does not have this problem its dry and seems to drain very well, any suggestions of what may be causing this, and if so what can we do to resolve the problem, we are volunteers so money is tight, see pic below
22 Jan 2007 by Mal
Looks and sounds like you have a problem with a poor cut and fill operation. If I'm correct then the site has been levelled by moving soil from the high area to the low area to produce a level playing surface. If done correctly then the topsoil will have been stripped of and stored for later use and then the sub soil levelled and the topsoil replaced evenly over the top. Drainage may well be a part of this operation but usually carried out after everything has been put back together and laid to a fall. Done badly then the cut and fill will have been carried out without removing the topsoil so in the end in one area you have a thin topsoil (That drains poorly) on the end cut (the area nearest in the photo) and a better draining area of a deeper topsoil the area of fill.
Geography is everywhere
22 Jan 2007 by emily
Following on from Mal it is more likely that during the cut and fill operation the better quality subsoil from the cut was moved into the fill area, exposing the heavier material/ clay from below. This would then have probably only 150mm of topsoil spread over and then seeded. If there is no drainage in this area then it will perform badly with poorly rooted grass plants and be prone to waterlogging. Only real solution is to install drains in this area.
22 Jan 2007 by Maesglas Football Club.
would a mole drainage system work, by going across the pitch from left to right as we look at the picture, a local farmer hasmole tool so he has offered to do the job, only concern is that the pitch is so wet at the moment, would you advise to do it or wait till end of season ?
22 Jan 2007 by ticky21
mole draining is a good idea in the right conditions, i would not entertain it at the moment, purely because the ground is so wet you will not get traction, even a single leg mole needs 80 to 100 horsepower to be efficient, and not many turf tyred tractors will pull a mole in these conditions, and definately do not let the farmer on your sports ground with cleated tyres, or you will spend the next fortnight hand forking out cleat marks,
Ticky supports British farmers...!!
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