Happy Valley Recreation Ground is closing pitch 1 and pitch 6 (the rugby pitch and large football pitch). I cannot find any press releases but through word of mouth from some folks in the rugby union we think that the pitches will be closed for two years and then converted from natural grass to artificial turf.
It makes sense to convert the pitches. A combination of overuse and strange groundskeeping has yields a large dust bowl for most of the year. The rugby pitch is the home turf of Valley, one of HK's largest rugby clubs. If you play rugby anytime other than the weeks after it is closed and resodded you will come away covered in a fine layer of dirt both on the outside and on the inside. Or you will come away muddy because the groundskeepers seem to prefer watering the pitch in the middle of the day so that most of the water can evaporate before even landing on the grass and what lands on the grass softens the ground up so that it can easily be ripped out by players' boots.
As much as my knees and elbows will rejoice in using artificial turf over hardened earth I will be sad to see the natural grass pitch go. It is the only place I can go nearby and walk barefoot. SB and I always cut through the recreation ground on our way home in the evening and we often remove our shoes and walk across the pitches. I wonder if the pitches could be sustained even with the steady use. What if the groundskeeper didn't cut the grass so short and only watered it in the early morning instead of right before a team took to it? Why can't LCSD hire a contractor? The LCSD facilities that are managed by contracts rather than in-house look so much better.
These next few weeks may be my last opportunities to walk five minutes from my home and touch blades of grass. The closure of the pitches makes Happy Valley much less appealing for me as I have moved here largely because of the sports that I can play. Lacrosse and hockey will still be played but GAA and rugby will move on to greener pastures. I wonder if we will pack up and follow the grazing lands also.
It makes sense to convert the pitches. A combination of overuse and strange groundskeeping has yields a large dust bowl for most of the year. The rugby pitch is the home turf of Valley, one of HK's largest rugby clubs. If you play rugby anytime other than the weeks after it is closed and resodded you will come away covered in a fine layer of dirt both on the outside and on the inside. Or you will come away muddy because the groundskeepers seem to prefer watering the pitch in the middle of the day so that most of the water can evaporate before even landing on the grass and what lands on the grass softens the ground up so that it can easily be ripped out by players' boots.
As much as my knees and elbows will rejoice in using artificial turf over hardened earth I will be sad to see the natural grass pitch go. It is the only place I can go nearby and walk barefoot. SB and I always cut through the recreation ground on our way home in the evening and we often remove our shoes and walk across the pitches. I wonder if the pitches could be sustained even with the steady use. What if the groundskeeper didn't cut the grass so short and only watered it in the early morning instead of right before a team took to it? Why can't LCSD hire a contractor? The LCSD facilities that are managed by contracts rather than in-house look so much better.
These next few weeks may be my last opportunities to walk five minutes from my home and touch blades of grass. The closure of the pitches makes Happy Valley much less appealing for me as I have moved here largely because of the sports that I can play. Lacrosse and hockey will still be played but GAA and rugby will move on to greener pastures. I wonder if we will pack up and follow the grazing lands also.
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