Leinster Rugby v Cardiff Blues

Greystones
No matter the resources, every
club could do with upgrading
their facilities.
Many moons ago, Greystones had the
foresight to acquire farming fields to the
south of their fine clubhouse at Dr Hickey
Park.
A run-off ditch bordered by thick gorse
separated the field from the main pitch
and a ball kicked beyond this boundary
was considered unrecoverable due to the
thickness of the growth there.
“I remember those days well. Initially, we
leased those fields in 1991 before buying
them outright in December of 1995 from
the local council,” said club chairman
Donall Gannon.
“When we first got them, they would
have come to us as agricultural or potato
fields. They were harrowed and cleared
out, made reasonably level.
“However, there were stones that
appeared later on the surface and,
while we brought it up to a reasonable
standard, time and usage caught up with
them.”
The appropriately named ‘south pitches’
have provided a space to handle the
overflow of teams as the playing numbers
grew at Greystones.
It also meant that the primary club pitch
did not have to handle the burden of
over-use. The main surface has long
been recognised as one of the finest in
the province and was used as a training
location for the Irish rugby team before
they decamped for Carton House.
The ‘south pitches’ have enabled the club
to grow and expand on several levels.
One significant aspect has been the
consolidation of playing areas into one
club ‘campus.’ Previously, pitches at both
Mill Road and Farrankelly meant divided
training schedules. Consolidation brought
all playing areas to one site where all
members could avail of the clubhouse
facilities.
These pitches are a key feature of
mid-week training for various teams in
the club and, on Sunday, they support
extensive activities from 9am onwards for
U-7s to U-11s, both of the Seagulls mixedability
teams and Youths teams, coping
with around 500 players within a threehour
window. It doesn’t end there. This
can be followed by league matches for
the U-20s and the J1s in the afternoon.
There have been drawbacks, however.
The intense usage has taken its toll. The
pitches had been showing their age and
were fast-approaching their endpoint due
to the deterioration of the surface.
“They have been in play for the guts
of 30 years. The wear and tear and
old style drainage meant those pitches
suffered badly. In the last seven or eight
years, it was noticeable how the surface
deteriorated quicker through the seasons.
The maintenance carried out in the
summer would only last to January before
it became bumpy and uneven.”
All the while, there was an ambition to
bring the ‘south pitches’ up to standard
and, four years ago, it became part
of a plan for an extensive capital
refurbishment across the club.
A full grass-based transformation of these
pitches was made a priority, both to
safeguard player welfare and to create
two full-sized pitches, playable in almost
all conditions.
The costs of the renovation works
were estimated to be approximately
€150,000, or almost €4,000 per year
over the expected lifetime of 40 years.
This was partially circumvented in 2018
when the club applied for a sports grant,
from the National Lottery monies, and
received €80,500 towards the project.
By early 2020, it was full-steam ahead
for pitch preparation, beginning in
mid-March, when Covid became the
heavy cloud that hung over the project.
The groundsmen, Willie and Sam Byrne,
listed as essential workers, were limited
to applying grass and weed treatments,
From The Ground Up | 80 | www.leinsterrugby.ie