Winter Sports - Rugby Union
compacted the hell out of the lake area, but this piece of kit took the level down another six inches”
“We had
effectively making it like a massive fishpond, was agreed. The detailed specification for this was down to MJA, who worked with their chosen liner supplier to produce the right solution for the site.
What MJA proposed was a three-layer system. First, a thin geotextile layer was placed across the whole sub-soil surface. On top of this was the liner itself, and this was sandwiched with a thicker layer of geotextile. This meant that the pitch works machinery could operate without any detriment to the liner. There were, of course, a lot of trenches for drainage, irrigation and electrical ducting for floodlighting, plus foundations for kiosks, kerbing and such like. The three-layer liner system had to be dropped down into each individual trench and, in order to stop water ingress, it was necessary to lap, tape and heat weld all the jointing; this involved creating half-metre lapping rather like roof tiling. There was, therefore, no possibility of water seepage. The whole of the main site area is now self-contained and 50% of excess water makes its way into a specially constructed irrigation lake adjacent to the main plateau. The rest goes into a 3-metre
“Independent tests and all the necessary checks have been done to see that IRB 22 certification has been met”
34 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014
Installation of the 3G pitch rubber shockpad
deep, 50-metre long soak-away, which connects to the site’s original Kempton Gravel Beds, excavated in the 1960s, but still in place today. The soakaway too is fully lined and acts as an overflow from the irrigation lake. It was reassuring to everyone that the constructed water cycle was working well, even during the abnormal deluges in December and January.
When London Irish take over the site this summer, it will have seventeen pitches in all at its disposal - five of them full-size adult pitches. Pitch One, nearest what will be a remarkable new single storey 100-metre long clubhouse, is a fibre-rootzone construction, replicating Reading FC’s Madejski Stadium where the club plays its home fixtures. Pitch Two is an all-weather 3G synthetic, again precisely mimicking the Madejski's dimensions and profile. Pitch Three is topsoil rootzone with full gravel carpet and drainage. Pitch Four and the rest of the main plateau is top-soiled and drained. There is a heavy sand dressing over the whole area, with secondary drainage at one metre centres being installed in the spring. The whole area will be fully irrigated automatically by a built-in system. Despite the prolonged
winter drenching, the pitches looked very playable already.
The second plateau area furthest from the clubhouse, which will be used mostly by club juniors, has been stripped, the sub-soil graded, and 350mm of topsoil placed and leveled prior to seeding. On this part of the facility no drainage or irrigation will be installed. Nathan took me across the Madejski look-alike Pitch One, which was thickly swarded courtesy of an early autumn sown blend of DLF’s J Premier mix, as used at the Reading Stadium. It had been cut earlier that day and looked pretty good, but for the effects of fertiliser leaching, inevitable after weeks of incessant rain. The ‘next door’ 3G pitch is a Rhino
Turf carpet called VT60, a new product chosen by MJA. What had impressed them most about this was that the rubber crumb element is held in place by a thatch layer, so surface disruption by rucking, scrummage and heavy tackling is kept to an absolute minimum. Weekly brushing will still be necessary, and full decompaction needed at least two or three times a year.
The surface has to meet IRB 22, which are the guidelines covering the HIC
Independent testing of artificial pitch to achieve IRB 22 certification
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156