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TS , my understanding is that there is effectively a layer of concrete above the drains about 8-10 inches down. It was intended to be a layer of stone that water found its way through, but someone used recycled stone from another pitch rather than new stone from a quarry and it was already deteriorating rather than being sharp-edged to permit drainage. Water simply isnt getting into the drains .. pre-season, the board must have looked at all the expenditure envisaged and concluded that they would try to get through this season without a pitch rebuild, prioritising instead the work under the Willbutts Stand to build classrooms for Dale Futures and no doubt the work required at Bowlee to start building the training hub, not to mention the refurbishment of hospitality areas, bars and vital areas of back- office infrastucture, ticketing, turnstiles etc. Clearly the gamble has not quite paid off and some priorities have probably been rescheduled. These things happen, thankfully our owners have the wherewithall to change their spending plans whereas previous regimes have simply not been able to afford that luxury. Our Head Coach must surely be aware of his good fortune with regard to the Ogden's arrival and going forward, he will have the squad, the pitch and the supporting facilities that he could barely have dreamed of 2 years ago. Yesterday was not a good day for anyone and there may be others over the next few weeks, but the neccessary building blocks for sustained success are being put in place by benevolent owners who, like the Head Coach, are still learning about the football industry, the town and its weather and their capacity for unexpected twists and turns...I just hope the pitch rebuild takes into account the fact that it rains every other day on average and around 44 inches per year, often more than twice the rainfall of Southend-on-sea... "Rochdale: Averages around 1,133 mm to 1,197 mm of precipitation per year. This rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year, with December typically being the wettest month. Southend-on-Sea: Averages around 527 mm to 766 mm of precipitation per year. Some sources even list it as the driest place in the UK, often receiving less than 600 mm annually."
I buy my son a season ticket ( full adult SLE) on the basis of him getting to early and late season games and midweek fixtures, but on Saturdays he is often playing Lacrosse,. Based on £22 per game without a SC, if he gets to more than 10 or 11 games he is breaking even if he makes 12 or 13 he's in profit...and having the card is much more convenient if a Lacrosse game is called off late in the day....
Yes, seeing Pritchard back on the bench on Saturday was most encouraging , I guess we can assume that his injury has responded well without surgery as was suggested he might need....Its a good time to get him back as we go into these dismal days with lots of games to be played and more injuries are likely. He impressed in the early part of he season. Getting him back to full fitness and form would be like signing a new player....
"1 cm of rain means that if the water collected on a flat, non-absorbent surface, it would have a depth of 1 centimeter (10 millimeters). This equates to a volume of 10 liters of water per square meter." .ergo.. 1mm of rain = 1 litre per sq meter
1mm of rain on 1 sqm of pitch = 1 litre of water... multiply the mm of rainfall. ( 4.3mm) by the number of sqm of the pitch ( 68 x105 metres) = total rainfall in litres on the pitch .. convert to UK gallons.( 4.45609 litres = 1 Imperial Gallon ) . BTW one imperial Gallon weighs approximately 10 lbs ( 10.0389 lbs) if you want to know what all that water weighs Happy to help.....
Yesterday it rained 4.3 mm , so on 7140 square meters of pitch at 1 litre per millimeter it means that over 1600 gallons fell on just the grass....all of which needs to drain away to somewhere.. hopefully not under the pitch...
I wonder if its cheaper to buy one of these tents and use it for 6 months every season than it is to dig the pitch up again next summer and put more drains down. ....it would also stop the " will it be on?" jitters every time it rains before a game and give certainty to coming to fans coming to a match....
The drains under the pitch have been a problem for decades my Dad used to tell the story of a local farmer putting field drains under the pitch which apparently worked OK until it snowed and the club got a snow plough on the front of a double decker bus clear snow off the pitch and in doing so smashed the drains... the groundsman mentions "hundreds" of drains under the pitch in one of the descriptions referred to earlier... none of the rebuilds has lasted much more than a couple of seasons. But, modern football demands a much higher quality of surface, so we are obliged to do expensive repairs on an increasingly regular basis. Our problem, almost uniquely I would think, is to provide a suitable surface in the face of an incredibly wet climate which has days and days of rain and more rain from October to March, never allowing the pitch to dry out for months on end.... statistically it rains more than 1mm on around 160 days a year with over 100mm in just October this year in Rochdale Sadly the fixes are required virtually annually, because It seems the very soils that permit grass growth also clog drains. At least a tent of some sort would allow an amount of mowing, marking etc underneath, whilst drying out the surface.
The 40,000 gallons of water in a week has to go somewhere. The last re- build mentions a drain across the SLE will lateral drains joining it from under the pitch. (lengthwise) and other , smaller drains, feeding into the laterals.. The first investigation is the SLE drain to see if water is or isn't entering and getting away . Then the laterals need rodding to see if they are blocked which seems the most likely problem... If the Laterals are free draining and the problem persists, then its the small drains just under the surface that are blocked and at that point there isn't much else to do other than dig it up Because the pitch is level with the surrounding track, the whole area needs draining, not just the pitch you might notice that Man Utd have a pitch that is 12 - 18 inches above the level of the surrounding area precisely to aid drainage off the pitch, the old Bury Pitch was built up like this too. Maybe the track because of its different construction drains relatively well.. but maybe towards the pitch! Digging lateral drains under the track running to the SLE if they do not exist would seem sensible in the scheme of things using the plastic " "crates" like these would create a large void alongside the pitch for water to escape into.
If we can afford one, a full pitch inflatable cover seems like the only certain way of securing a playable surface. There are costs no matter what we do, if we move to another ground, we lose money at home vis bars hospitality etc. and pay to be away in terms of a rental fees. A full cover would also protect us from snow and frost...
Were it not for continuous bouts of rain, the pitch would require less work over summer months whereas the current situation seems to need major work every 3 or 4 years. A full cover might, over time, actually pay for itself.
We are between a rock and a very hard place with no easy solution. The current flat covers are apparently not working, and even an inflatable "tent" will need an assured route for the run off, which in the last week amounts to over 40,000 gallons of water given we have had something like 20mm of rain.
In the summer of 2020, Rochdale AFC conducted a significant renovation of the pitch at the Crown Oil Arena (Spotland Stadium), which involved stripping the surface down to the ash layer, improving drainage, and installing a new hybrid playing surface. Key details of the 2020 pitch renewal: Excavation: The top five inches of the existing surface, including the original Mixto layer of turf, were removed down to the ash layer underneath. Levelling: Laser-guided bulldozers were used to ensure the surface levels were accurate. Drainage Improvement: The main drain was installed in front of the Sandy Lane stand, with lateral drains laid out at five-meter intervals. Secondary drainage was also put in place to help water drain away more quickly. New Surface Installation: A layer of sand was applied on top of the drainage system. Stitching: A "stitch-pitch" system was installed, which involved inserting synthetic fibres 30cm deep into the sand and natural turf layer. This process binds the surface with the roots to create a sturdier, more free-draining surface that is less likely to divot.
Timeline — last 20 years (≈2005–2025) Below is a concise, cited timeline of the pitch-works and major related events at Spotland / Crown Oil Arena from about 2005 up to the most recent public updates in 2025.
Timeline — headline items Summer 2006 — drainage upgrade reported. After a winter of problems the stadium is recorded as receiving a new drainage system in summer 2006. Wikipedia
2014 — pitch maintenance scored highly. The club reported very good Playing Surfaces Committee marks for the Spotland pitch (showing consistent maintenance standards at that time). rochdaleafc.co.uk
Summer 2017 (reported) / Feb 2018 — new surface & drainage laid previous summer; pitch problems and postponements followed winter 2018. Media coverage in Feb 2018 noted a number of postponements due to waterlogging and said a new drainage system and pitch had been laid “last summer.” Sky Sports +1
June 2020 — major reconstruction of top layers and drainage works. Contractors removed the old top layers, exposed and relaid drainage lines, re-profiled levels, added sand layers and installed a stitch/hybrid type surface — a significant structural intervention. hornetsrugbyleague.co.uk +1
2024–Jan 2025 — recurring waterlogging and match postponements. Despite the 2020 works, the club reported persistent waterlogging in parts of the pitch (notably the centre circle), leading to postponements in late 2024 / early 2025. The club’s updates indicate the drainage failure is below the root zone in places and that only a full reconstruction would permanently resolve it. rochdaleafc.co.uk +1
Jan 2025 — targeted centre-circle excavation & relaying; additional maintenance equipment and covers used. The club excavated the centre circle (c.200 mm), applied sand infill, relaid turf and used hybrid stitching; they also deployed rain covers, Verti-Drain/air-drying equipment and other maintenance measures to manage ongoing problems. rochdaleafc.co.uk +1
Short analysis / implications Over the last 20 years the ground has had repeated drainage and surface interventions (2006, ~2017, 2020) but still shows localized failures — especially under the root zone — that have caused postponements and required remedial spot-works in 2024–25. Wikipedia +2 hornetsrugbyleague.co.uk +2
The pattern suggests that the club has intermittently invested in major remedial rebuilds (2020) plus ongoing maintenance and spot fixes (2014, 2018, 2025). Club statements indicate a full rebuild (from the base up) would likely be necessary to permanently fix certain underlying drainage failures, but that is costly. hornetsrugbyleague.co.uk +1
A dome makes little difference if the problem is that there is no drainage...the rain still falls on the pitch surround and if the water isn't getting away to drains, the swamp remains the same. Something during the various pitch rebuilds has caused this problem , maybe reducing the slope from the Pearl Street to the Sandy Lane end has caused it, who knows? The damage has been done and we are going to have to get inventive. My quick suggestion is to dig out the surrounding track to about 3 feet deep and fill it with stones leading to big soakaways near the Sandy Lane corner flags and out into the Sandy Lane main drain. Covering the pitch would then at least push the water towards an escape route. A mini digger could dig a 3feet deep trench around two sides and across the Sandy Lane End in a day add a day to drop stone in and another day to fill it in and level it .? It's a 3- 4 day job....less if enough manpower can be brought in... any mini digger drivers on here?
You can protect the pitch as much as you like, but the water still has to go somewhere and it clearly isn't getting away into any drains.. what happens to the water that runs off the pitch onto the track?... nothing if it isn't getting to a drain. I suspect the pitch has developed a water table which never really drains away for 6 months of the year, The only quick-ish solution I can imagine is to dig a new drain / soakaway around the pitch edge and give the water somewhere to get away to.
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