Pitch Management & Maintenance

Pitches

The pitches in St Annes (P34 & P35) and St Pauls are modern sand based grass pitches. They have built in drainage which assists keeping them playable quickly after heavy rain. These pitches provide a good playing surface but they are grass and have to be treated as such to maintain the playing surface so that we can play the maximum number of games on them.

The pitches are not synthetic all weather surfaces and should not be treated as such. To help preserve the grass surface teams using these pitches must observe a number of guidelines

Stay out of goalmouths except when necessary for specific shooting drills / match type drills

When sending panel of players off for a warm up / warm down run or an extended run – direct them away from 34 / 35.

Use alternatives to 34 / 35 when available – good for players to train in different conditions.

Kick outs - The area on the 13metre line directly in front of the goals is subject to overuse and must be protected. Goalkeepers should be directed to kick the ball from different areas along the 13metre line – see extract from Treoir Oifiguil which facilitates this;

“(2.7 (a) When the ball is played over the end line by the Team attacking that end, or after a score is made, play is restarted by a kick-out off the ground from the 13m line and within the large rectangle.)”

No ad-hoc training allowed by any squads or players – all sessions to be approved in advance by pitch management committee.

Be mindful of the weather conditions on the day – what may be acceptable on a fine summer’s day may be totally inappropriate on a wet winters day.

Be aware that pitches will be closed for maintenance during Easter break and summer break. We endeavour to ensure no games are missed during maintenance but training is normally suspended.

Explain to the players the reason for moving drills around – we need to increase good practice awareness.

Pitch Housekeeping

There is a specific set of nets/flags for each pitch – use the correct set for your allocated pitch.

Nets - Ensure they are taken down correctly (without damaging the toggles) and stored in the correct container.

Flags - Ensure that the 16 match flags are accounted for and placed in the correct container. (Only 16 flags required for both hurling & football). For Hurling don’t flag the 45’s and for Football don’t flag the 65’s.

Ensure that goalmouth protectors (when available) are returned to locked position.

Take responsibility for moving unauthorised pitch users along (whether members of the club or not).

Other pitches e.g. Pitch 7, Pitch 30 etc.

Keep out of goal areas for warm ups. Avoid doing drills etc that dig up the pitch on the pitch area - take them to the side i.e. off the pitch.