Summer maintenance work on the pitch at Rodney Parade has started this week after a huge season of action at the home of Dragons RFC.
Last season saw an incredible 102 games played on the stadium pitch as the Men of Gwent alongside Newport County, Newport RFC, WRU Finals, WRU Dragons Cup, FAW Finals, BUCS Super Rugby Milk Championship finals, Newport District Finals and Clubfest all took centre stage.
Now it is time for the pitch to receive some maintenance and renovation work with our partners at South Wales Sports Grounds starting work this week with several activations:
Koroing off the pitch – The first part of the renovation is to koro off the surface, removing any thatch and dead grass left on the surface after nine months of intense playing.
Fibres brushed – Next, they start to stand the fibre back up using a rotor rake in different directions, ensuring none of the fibres are buried.
Surface decompaction - The third phase is decompaction, using a Verti-drain which is spiking the ground 10 inches down. This year we will once again add a procore due to the number of games played, which will move in the opposite direction to the Verti-drain and will be six inches deep. The less compaction, the more it drains and the better the pitch performs.
Seeding - A pre-seed of fertiliser will be applied to the pitch along with 25 bags of grass seed in three different directions. The sprinkler process will aim to get the grass growing within 12 days, when the cutting process will start. All this is to ensure that the pitch is ready for the first weekend of August and the start of the football season.
Jon Raymond, Head of Stadium Operations at Dragons RFC, said: “It’s been a huge season of action at Rodney Parade with over 100 games played on the surface.
“To ensure we have the best possible pitch once again next season the team at South Wales Sports Grounds (SWSG) are now with us for the start of the process.
“The next two weeks are a critical period of work, but the team at SWSG are the best around and they’ve worked alongside our ground staff for many years to ensure we have an outstanding playing surface.”
Discover more about the work of South Wales Sports Grounds by visiting www.southwalessportsgrounds.co.uk
The next two weeks are a critical period of work, but the team at SWSG are the best around and they’ve worked alongside our ground staff for many years to ensure we have an outstanding playing surface...
