The project was the brainchild of Tony Harte, who brought the idea to reality with the help of Offaly native John Foran, through his company Emerald Pitch Developments Ltd. The two men patented the idea in a joint venture. This new grassless all sand all weather pitch/training surface has been designed by Tony in conjunction with the Edenderry based company. It has been designed to withstand constant use in all weather conditions and is suitable for all sport where training activity is such that grass surfaced areas are unable to put up with the heavy wear. It is also suitable for equestrian activities like lunging rings, jumping arenas and indoor training areas where a consistently firm though yielding surface is required especially where dust or blowing sand might otherwise be a problem. It is like a beach where the sand adjacent to the sea is held sufficiently firm by the capillary action of the water underneath to allow activities like horse racing, football, tennis or even motor sports to take place and yet always has perfect drainage. This uniquely designed pitch/training surface which has been developed over the past three years is now ready for installation anywhere in the country. It is particularly suitable for G.A.A, rugby or football clubs where space is at a premium and where the demands of a training place are an unacceptable burden on existing playing surfaces, especially during the winter months. While the specification for the pitch/training surface is quite complicated the actual completed system is very simple and very hard wearing. It consists of a 250mm depth of sand, which has a single grain size and shape, sitting on top of an impermeable membrane. This means there will never be any migration of other materials into the sand layer and also no matter how much wear or disturbance to the surface it will always be the same material on the surface. The sand is placed on an impermeable membrane to a depth of 250mm - 300mm and when there is free water on this membrane, this water will be drawn up through the sand column and be held firmly though yielding. It is designed to withstand all weather and remain perfectly stable even in torrential downpours. The only maintenance required is to level out occasional ruts caused by heavy wear. Because the specification is quite complicated and because it is a patented system, Emerald Pitch Developments Ltd have decided to make the main elements of the design available in kit form. This will promote consistency in construction and guarantee the finished product. Naas rugby club are currently the only owners of the revolutionary new development and club official John Walsh admitted that they were more than happy with the pitch/training area and also had special praise for Tony Harte, the man behind the idea. "We were so limited for space before the pitch was laid but now that has all been done away with as we can use the pitch for a car park when needed and it doesn't affect the surface at all, no matter how bad the weather conditions are," said John. "The development is repaying for itself very quickly as a number of clubs, i.e. soccer and Gaelic have used the facilities and the fact that there is very little maintenance to worry about is a huge bonus for us. Land prices for development are way too dear, so this project has been a godsend for the club. Tony Harte really is a genius in his field and he deserves great credit for his work. We even had the Ireland rugby team do a few sessions on the new pitch and they were very happy with the outcome, which is a great recommendation for the product," he added. Indeed Tony revealed that the idea of a new all weather pitch came to him while working in UCD and witnessing the annual occurrence of pitches being 'cut up' especially during the winter months when the wet conditions made the surface very soft. "The idea came to me one day when I was watching Dave Billings work with some of the students in UCD and they were training in terrible conditions and I thought that there must be a solution to this problem," said Tony. "I ran the project by John and together we developed the pitch and are very pleased with the outcome." As stated the pitch can be used in all kinds of weather even during heavy frost, when other all weather pitches would be forced to close. Frost does not damage the pitch in any way but sometimes a frozen surface may be unacceptable, this would certainly be true if the surface was being used for equestrian activities. Frost protection can be achieved by the simple addition of granular salt to the surface, this is best done by using a spinner either mounted behind a quad or some other vehicle or even a pedestrian spinner. The amount needed is not great and it will stay effective for quite a while depending on the rainfall. Emerald Pitch Developments and Tony have considered every detail and even advise that concrete pathways leading up to the pitch for the entry and exit of players and for maintenance equipment so as to cut down on any possible contamination of the sand layer. The production of the grassless all sand all weather training surface is a complex affair that takes a considerable amount of time, due to the great detail that Emerald Pitch Developments and Tony Harte take when constructing a pitch and with every aspect of the specification laid out in great detail, it is easy for a prospective client to understand the development. Tweet

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