“We have U2 performing here just one week before the AFL season starts”
GAVIN DARBY, Arena Manager, Telstra Dome Arena Ply road to minimise turf damage
despite using turf protection. Our main hirers, the AFL, were not satisfied with the turf quality, so we now try to have a sporting season of January through September, then concerts and the like from September through December. This is not always adhered to if the money is right. For example, in March, we have U2 performing here for two nights, just one week before our AFL season starts!”
Loading the drop-iin wicket outside the stadium Wicket bases prepared and waiting Lowering into place
THE Telstra Dome was opened in 2000, and was built to replace Waverley Park, a venue 45 minutes drive from the city centre. Victoria’s Premier at the time, Jeff Kennett, wanted to have a new stadium in the centre of the city to make it the hub, and to complement all the other sporting venues, such as the Rod Laver Tennis Centre and the MCG, which are also located on the fringes of the city centre. And, because Aussie Rules is played during the winter when it can be wet and cold, the Premier wanted a roofed stadium. Jeff Kennett got what he wanted, a magnificent stadium accessible by road, rail and sea, but he also presented the Arena Manager with a not unfamiliar scenario, as Gavin explained. “We have similar problems to most enclosed arenas. In June and July, during our heaviest football traffic, we have an area of about 9,000sq m at the northern end of the ground which sees no sun at all, not even a minute. Our north eastern corner only sees sun for 5 weeks of the year. We have done a little bit of work with lamps to improve the growth, but without much success.” The Telstra Dome pitch is suspended over a 2,000 space car park. The drainage pipes and irrigation are strapped to the concrete floor, above which is a 260mm gravel layer and a 240mm straight sand zone. Apart from a 3m wide band of artificial grass encircling the ground the pitch is constructed using the Motz system. The system has a 50mm sand profile with a synthetic reinforced backing, 38mm artificial fibres run vertically through the profile which is topped with a 100% perennial rye grass. It weighs about 80kgs per sq m, so it has enough weight in itself to be stable. Turf damaged by concert staging, fork lift trucks etc. can be replaced in the morning and they can be playing on it that night. Gavin accepts that, agronomically, it is not the best system
28 Centre wicket ends being prepared
for growing good turf, but it does enable him to get events on.
Drop in Wickets
Gavin has been in the position of Arena Manager since July 2003, following a 3 year spell as
Superintendant at Gulf Harbour Golf Club in Auckland, New Zealand and time working as a project manager for a turf contractor in Melbourne. The prospect of installing drop-in wickets would give most groundsmen nightmares, but Gavin and his team have got the procedure off to a tea. Since the concert they had been busy
preparing the ground, as Gavin explained. “By 4.00am on the Sunday all the flooring, the terra plas and the porta floor, was gone, at about the same time as the lighting and sound equipment, with the stage out by 5.00pm. On Monday morning we brought in an excavator and a small tip truck, and they spent the whole day removing the sand from the centre of the field and at the side ready for the drop in wickets. Yesterday we did some work on the ground picking up things like nuts and bolts, then we re-seeded some of the bare areas and fertilised.” In normal circumstances there are just 3 full time staff working on the arena, but for something like this, Gavin brings in a team of a dozen or so casual professional groundsmen and landscapers. “In total, the drop ins have been undertaken nine times,” explained Gavin. “This is the fifth time I’ve done it, the first time it took 36 hours to drop in just one pitch! Last time we did 4 pitches in 8 hours, and today I reckon we will do 3 in around 6 hours. The team have improved the process each time.”
The day began at 6.30am with the team laying the ply roads for the 100 tonne crane. The crane is carefully located in a predetermined position, fixed by a surveyor. The legs of the crane are set on bog mats to disperse the weight. Being over a car park they have to be very sensitive about the concrete floor. The car park below the crane legs is underpinned with aquaprops on railway sleepers supporting the roof precisely below where the crane is located.
Each full length pitch is split in half, 12.5m long 3m wide x 200mm deep, packed into a steel frame, weighing
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