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New GAA Pitch Developments

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Hi everyone. My club are in the very early stages of Gaa pitch development. Getting quotes for grass surfaces, floodlighting etc. Has anyone any advice for us from past experience. We are proposing two grass pitches. Are prunty pitches the best or what other grass contractors are out there? Floodlights - who are the go to company for designing supplying etc. Goal posts, spectator railings etc thanks in advance. gti (Westmeath) - Posts: 240 - 23/01/2017 20:50:44 1948230 Link
good luck with the development and the fundraising - great to see clubs improving facilities janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 24/01/2017 09:27:20 1948311 Link
Replying To gti: "Hi everyone. My club are in the very early stages of Gaa pitch development. Getting quotes for grass surfaces, floodlighting etc. Has anyone any advice for us from past experience. We are proposing two grass pitches. Are prunty pitches the best or what other grass contractors are out there? Floodlights - who are the go to company for designing supplying etc. Goal posts, spectator railings etc thanks in advance." Our club used Michael Rock about 10 years ago to develop grass pitches. Think they are based around Slane. Would be worth a look for you. Can't help you with regards floodlights though. AHP (Dublin) - Posts: 323 - 24/01/2017 20:56:49 1948561 Link
Are prunty pitches the best or what other grass contractors are out there? Floodlights - who are the go to company for designing supplying etc. Goal posts, spectator railings etc thanks in advance. gti (Westmeath) - They are the best and developed the protocol/patent for the sand-based pitch. The have over 40 years experience -just look at their website. The above mentioned Rock is good also. Just be aware that the cheapest are not always the best as some clubs got badly caught though out the country getting inferior jobs carried out. All pitches require maintenance when completed. The better/best contractors for the job will give you good guidance for the other aspects of the development like fencing/lighting/goal stops/etc. A company in Croom provide very good concrete dugouts and are probably cheaper than constructing- I think St Patricks in Stamullen, Meath have such dugouts. browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 24/01/2017 22:01:52 1948576 Link
Replying To gti: "Hi everyone. My club are in the very early stages of Gaa pitch development. Getting quotes for grass surfaces, floodlighting etc. Has anyone any advice for us from past experience. We are proposing two grass pitches. Are prunty pitches the best or what other grass contractors are out there? Floodlights - who are the go to company for designing supplying etc. Goal posts, spectator railings etc thanks in advance." You're in Westmeath, yeah? Go see Raharney's new pitches...they're sex on grass! Both Prunty Pitches, by the way, & cut perfectly for hurling. Joristown used to be a swamp. keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 25/01/2017 00:51:26 1948599 Link
Thanks Keeper, yes Ive seen Raharney's pitches - Its very very good. Does anyone know the best floodlighting designers/suppliers. gti (Westmeath) - Posts: 240 - 26/01/2017 15:23:42 1948973 Link
Replying To gti: "Thanks Keeper, yes Ive seen Raharney's pitches - Its very very good. Does anyone know the best floodlighting designers/suppliers." best lighting prob on market is musco an American outfit but with a rep in Ireland just go on their website, brilliant service before and after and also their system uses only 1.5cbmt of concrete compared to 7 0r 8 of others. Also each light pod can be tailored to a specific area of a pitch especially if near housing or roadways due to design all light is directed to an area on the grass, also bulbs guaranteed for 5000 working hrs. Regarding the pitches you would go along way to beat CRL in Armagh who have done croke park, wembley, the brazil world cup pitches and numerous gaa pitches across the country. Also FOX in Carrickmore does a great job and very reasonable cost wise. Prunty as stated do a great job also and again it's down to cost. Advice for what it's worth is shop about but get the best the club can afford, plenty of cowboys about that can end up costing the club in the long run. If clubs own money you'll have a strong hand as the price will be a lot less if clubs paying compared to having gov grant money as the contractors know how much the grant is and they've all been in the game long enough to know how far they can push the limit to. Another factor when looking at a new pitch is the surface is your ground condition and what you will be playing on them. A golf course green mix soil/sand/ peat mix would be preferable as it is a great surface and a lusher grass, only can get wet if not enough drainage, sand mattress pitch is also a great surface as it will be a lot firmer and drain better but can get serious hard during prolonged dry spells so needs kept watered. Also the maintenance on sand pitches is a lot greater in the region of £7500 sterling per pitch due to the different type of fertilisers needed to replace nutrients that are absent in the dead sand used. Sounds like a lot of money on maintenance but scrimp at your peril as the surface wont last and the grasses used will start reverting back to their wild/ natural state to survive. Anyhow good luck with your development it's not going to be easy and you'll get a lot experts in your club coming out of the woodwork especially if they've a farming background or just cut their own lawns. If you've got ground at present maybe a good agronominist {soil specialist } could advise you for little money to see if you could utilise your current soil as drawing in 4/5000 tonnes of soil soon adds to cost. bulmccabe (Tyrone) - Posts: 361 - 26/01/2017 16:14:32 1948988 Link
The Breffni Park groundsman posts as seanorinn on the Cavan board if you wanna ask over there. Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12120 - 26/01/2017 16:44:57 1949003 Link
Go see Raharney's new pitches...they're sex on grass! keeper7 (Longford) - Posts:3239 - 25/01/2017 00:51:26 1948 ill trust your research on that one!!!!!! janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 26/01/2017 17:19:04 1949016 Link
Replying To janesboro: "Go see Raharney's new pitches...they're sex on grass! keeper7 (Longford) - Posts:3239 - 25/01/2017 00:51:26 1948 ill trust your research on that one!!!!!!" Metaphorically-speaking, of course ;-) keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 27/01/2017 00:33:51 1949112 Link
I do not think that Croke Park is a very good example as it is very expensive to maintain and every time it rains the players appear to be sliding all over the place and it is underused compared to the average club pitch browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 27/01/2017 16:59:01 1949278 Link