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Leeds Rhinos: Headingley pitch all set for a facelift
Headingley Carnegie Stadium could have a new £500,000 playing surface by this time next year.
Leeds Rugby chief executive Gary Hetherington today confirmed that plans are being drawn up to lay a new pitch at the end of the current engage Super League season.
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It is hoped the pitch work will be carried out at the same time as the long-awaited South Stand redevelopment.
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The Headingley track has come in for serious criticism in recent weeks, with Leicester Tigers coach Richard Cockerill describing it as "as bad as I've seen in a decade" following his team's narrow Guinness Premiership win over Leeds Carnegie last weekend.
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The state of the playing surface was high on the agenda at a Leeds Rugby management meeting yesterday.
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Hetherington said weather conditions are largely to blame for its current poor condition, but he admitted there is a long-term problem. "We want to put in a brand new pitch," Hetherington revealed.
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"That will mean completely removing nine miles of cabling five inches below the surface, which has been there since 1961 – and significantly improving the drainage.
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"It is a big job and we are getting costings now – but it is certainly going to be in excess of 500,000."
Head groundsman Jason Booth is currently investigating potential new types of surface for the relaid pitch, including the possibility of a 3G synthetic arena.
"The plan is to do it as part of the South Stand development," added Hetherington.
"When that is being carried out, the pitch will become a building site anyway. We are committed to redeveloping the South Stand in 2010 and the pitch will come on the back of that.
"There's a lot of work needs to be done – in terms of both planning and financing – to move things forward so we can be in a position to start the South Stand work at the end of the current season."
Of the recent problems with the pitch, Hetherington said: "It has taken a terrific pounding over the winter, with an excess of snow and water.
"We have had it covered, but we did play on it throughout January, in atrocious conditions.
"It is inevitable, given that it is a traditional soil-based pitch, that is is going to get badly cut up. It is going to take a few weeks to get it better, but there's nobody better to do the job than Jason Booth and his team – it is in very capable hands.
"It is fair to say that for the Castleford and Leicester games – and for Salford this Friday – the pitch was very heavy and carrying a lot of water.
"The drains have been a problem for many, many years and remain a problem. Having said that, Richard Cockerill's criticism was completely over the top and purely and simply an excuse for what appeared to be a below-par performance by his Leicester Tigers team."
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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