 | Forum
Reply | Pitch video
at 21:02 15 Dec 2025
Rochdale is wetter than Blackburn , Burnley Oldham, Burnley and Bury , it also has more wet days than those places, not huge amounts but significant amounts. Bury's pitch was built on a plinth as is Manchester United, hence higher than the surrounding track, clearly Burnley and Blackburn probably have means to work more extensively and more often than we do and Oldham rebuilt their pitch a couple of years ago with help from the Council. ..The point is that pitches in this part of the world have to cope with the pitch being wet more often and with more precipitation than pitches almost anywhere else in the top 5 divisions with the exception of Barrow...
So, why does Spotland seem to hold more water than local pitches.. probably because the water is effectively held in a "bath" made up of the 4 stands and their foundations, hence the importance of under-pitch drains. As for places like Lenny Barn and Firgrove, I am not aware of them ever having had major work , but then I have memories of playing 4 games in a week.Sat. Tues. Thurs and Sat again on Firgrove in May because so many games were called off during the season but to be fair that was 50 years ago...
Location Average Annual Rainfall (mm) Source Information
Rochdale 1,197.2 mm 1991–2020 data from Met Office and Starlings Roost Weather
Burnley 1,113.8 mm Data based on weather reports collected during 2012–2021
Blackburn 1,009 mm Long-term climate trends
Oldham 780 mm Data from NearWeather, specific timeframe not stated
Bury 736.6 mm Data from Weather Spark based on reports collected |
| Forum
Reply | Pitch video
at 18:59 15 Dec 2025
You have answered your own question...Added to the fact that they were not taking enough water away, the decision to lay new drains in alongside the existing ones seems to be an acceptance that the local weather dictates a different scale of drainage to other, dryer, locations....clearly they anticipated that the coarse drainage layer wasnt letting the water through, that it wasnt as compacted as they thought it might be probably points to the quantities of water above it being simply too big for even a slightly compromised stone layer. Lesson learned hopefully. It will be great if this pitch lasts 10 years without major work and games get played without the threat of cancellation every time it rains. |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Southend United
at 15:25 7 Dec 2025
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." |
| Forum
Reply | Update on the pitch
at 12:57 29 Nov 2025
A helicopter has landed on the Lacrosse pitches so I guess the Cameron Ogden is casting an eye over pre-match proceedings today...... |
| Forum
Reply | CAB minutes 17/11/25
at 21:11 27 Nov 2025
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.... |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Tamworth v Rochdale
at 14:00 22 Nov 2025
Jim doesn't do shooting he's more a tap-in kinda guy.....Shooting is crude and unpolished, tap-ins are stylish and cool..... |
| Forum
Reply | Kevin Berkoe recalled
at 19:54 20 Nov 2025
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.... |
| Forum
Reply | Update on the pitch
at 18:03 12 Nov 2025
"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..... |
| Forum
Reply | Update on the pitch
at 14:17 12 Nov 2025
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.... |
| Forum
Reply | Rochdale v Scunthorpe on Tuesday
at 16:06 5 Nov 2025
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. |
| Forum
Reply | Rochdale v Scunthorpe on Tuesday
at 15:13 5 Nov 2025
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.
https://skyplastics.co.uk/polystorm-soakaway-crate-x-120-22-46-20-tonne-1000mm-x |
| Forum
Reply | Rochdale v Scunthorpe on Tuesday
at 12:35 5 Nov 2025
We could put it in a container..on the car park maybe on pallets with an electric pallet truck to make it easier?
[Post edited 5 Nov 14:50]
|
| Forum
Reply | Rochdale v Scunthorpe on Tuesday
at 12:29 5 Nov 2025
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. |
| Forum
Reply | Rochdale v Scunthorpe on Tuesday
at 12:01 4 Nov 2025
AI Overview
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.
https://hornetsrugbyleague.co.uk/article/654/crown-oil-arena-pitch-update#:~:tex |
| Forum
Reply | Rochdale v Scunthorpe on Tuesday
at 10:15 4 Nov 2025
According to Chat GPT
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 [Post edited 4 Nov 10:30]
|
| | 49thseason
|
Site Scores| Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 0 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.