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chels - WEFC

By chels - WEFC
in Windsor

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Staines-upon-Thames Rebel Newbie

Staines-upon-Thames Rebel

Posted
Posted

Zoom you say it is down to the clay in the area - however the area is not soild clay as it is in the valley of a river and part of the substrate is sand/gravel so there should be some drainage.

 

The thing with stag meadow is that it fails to drain even though the pitch has a significant slope both along its length and width which should only cause the south east corner problems!

 

Today we were at east thurock and they had a pitch that is as muddy as stag meadow but no standing water even though the pitch is level.

 

What I belive windsor need to consider is in investing in a dranage system rather than the irrigation system that was installed last summer - it is far easier to add water to a pitch from mobile sprinklers than trying to remove it from the surface.

 

The other option is to install a new pitch with a sub base of sand and gravel under the grass - however I am well aware of the cost of this and maybe you are now regreting wasteing the rent from slough on the likes of jarvis and co when you could have invested in the long term good of the club and its pitch!

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dansilk Newbie

dansilk

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Quote:
however the area is not soild clay as it is in the valley of a river and part of the substrate is sand/gravel so there should be some drainage.

 

The thing with stag meadow is that it fails to drain even though the pitch has a significant slope both along its length and width which should only cause the south east corner problems!

 

However the water needs to drain somewhere - basically the surrounding land. And this is still saturated, you can tell by the puddles all around in the meadows proper and the standing water which has been there for ages.

 

I daresay some kind of bypass to drain to the sewers or something could have been put in, if enough was spent on it, rather than the irrigation system... but the problem we had over the last few years wasn't usually the mud in winter, it was playing on a dustbowl by March.

 

 

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Windsor_Sec Newbie

Windsor_Sec

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Let's put a few things to rest once and for all shall we?

 

1. Prior to the ground being built at Stag Meadow the area in question was always known as the 'Windsor Bog' and consisted of mainly marshland which was underwater throughout the winter period due to its low-lying nature and the number of streams and underwater springs in the area. This , coupled with the fact that the area in question has a substrate consisting entirely of London Clay, means that natural drainage is almost non-existent.

 

2. During the 1970's a full drainage system was installed by the same company that did Wembley Stadium [the old one]. Compaction of the clay substrate over the years caused by cutting, rollling and playing means a clay cap is formed which effectively blocks off the drainage as the water can't get through to it. Decompaction has therefore become a major part of close-season works for the last 4 years and, up until this very wet winter, had seemed to be doing the job.

 

3. The cost of installing a brand new pitch with a new sub base of sand and gravel has been quoted in the past at something like £150k so making cheap shots about wages for the likes of Jarvis and co don't cut the mustard I'm afraid!

 

4. Given that the forecast for the future is milder [therefore wetter] winters, it is apparent that the club will have to take extra measures to ensure better drainage in the future. Therefore the plane for the coming close-season is to implement a sand-slitting excercise [after decompaction] to compliment the already insitu drainage system. Sand-slitting has helped a number of clubs with similar problems but it can also be a nightmare for clubs who haven't got a good enough irrigation system so was something that couldn't have been considered in previous years. So you will see that the money that was allegedly 'wasted' on an irrigation system is in fact part of a forward-looking plan for the future that will, hopefully, ensure that the pitch at Stag Meadow in future years will be able to cope with whatever the weather can throw at it. These works coupled with the introduction of the training area will ultimately lead to less wear and tear as well which all helps in the long run.

 

5. Finally, we mustn't forget that this winter has been one of the wettest on record in recent years and the sheer number of games played nowadays means that any sort of period when games are not being played will lead to a backlog of fixtures. We are not the only club who are suffering at the moment but at least we are trying to do something about it! I spent most of last week down in Bashley and the journey there and back each day brought home to me just how wet it really was this winter with most of the New Forest covered in water, the rivers Avon, Stour, Meon and Test all over their banks and flooding the fields and the farmers fields up and down the M3 corridor all suffering with standing water. This is not what we would consider to be normal winter conditions therefore we have suffered accordingly. Look back over the last 3 seasons before this one though and count the postponements at Stag Meadow, I think you'll find on average we have done better than most clubs in the area!

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Clive_Thistle Newbie

Clive_Thistle

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quality comment SR1......

 

"maybe you are now regreting wasteing the rent from slough on the likes of jarvis and co when you could have invested in the long term good of the club and its pitch!"

 

I can't think of any local teams who have wasted money instead of investing in the long term good of the club and its pitch...oh hang on a minute yes I can....

 

People in glass houses and all that!

 

 

 

 

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Staines-upon-Thames Rebel Newbie

Staines-upon-Thames Rebel

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You dont need to tell the slough fans about mismangement of club income as it is this that has landed us playing at stag meadow!!!

 

All the slough fans want is to see our team giving 100% on a decent pitch - we have the 1st but you dont provide the second!

 

Think about how much income windsor has had from Slough in the past few years - the income from the rent, income from the bar, income from the burger bar - and how much improvement has been made to the ground? it is in a worse state than when we arrived!

 

Looks like windsor has failed to learn from the mistakes of "local teams"!

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Windsor_Sec Newbie

Windsor_Sec

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SR1, if it was purely down to pitch conditions you would be sitting in mid-table with maximum points from your away games - you need to face facts and they are simple, you're just not good enough as we weren't last season! We went down because we were crap and there was no other excuse, so at least be honest and admit you're in the same boat as the pitch is the same for both sides in a match and your opposition doesn't seem to have had any problems in winning at Stag Meadow.

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