South Park pitch more like a bird sanctuary due to pipe problem

A city GAA club has been discommoded for almost a year because its local authority owned pitch is submerged in water.

Fr Griffin/Éire Óg football club’s training sessions at South Park have been disrupted for nearly 12 months because of a drainage problem that occurred during the winter storms of 2013/2014.

The club, which has 145 members, does have a pitch it can use at Crestwood for matches, but its training sessions for Junior A and Junior B adult men’s teams, as well as underage, have been curtailed.

The ladies section of St Michael’s GAA Club also used to train at Fr Griffin/Éire Óg’s pitch at South Park but they, too, have been ‘put out’. Schools that use the pitch have also been disrupted.

Tom Cox, Chairperson of Fr Griffin/Éire Óg, confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that the club has been inconvenienced as a result of flood at the pitches in the Claddagh.

There are fears that the flood problem at the pitch won’t be rectified in time for the coming season, discommoding the clubs again this year.

On any given day, the flooded pitch is like a mini lake and bird sanctuary as birds congregate on the water.

Mr Cox and representatives of the club, as well as local area City Councillor Catherine Connolly (Independent), and the Claddagh Residents Association, separately, have made representations to the local authority about the flooding at the Swamp.

The problem first surfaced in the wake of last winter’s storms. Mr Cox explained that there is a drainage system at the pitch which channels water from the field through a pipe, out into the River Corrib at Nimmo’s Pier.

At the end of this pipe there is a ‘no-return valve’, which prevents water flowing back up the pipe onto the pitch. However, this valve is apparently broken and water is backing up onto the pitch – it is tidal, and so at high tide the pitch floods even more.

The City Council has advised Mr Cox and Cllr Connolly that the problem isn’t as simple as first feared and that the pipe may be corroded and in need of replacement.

Mr Cox and Cllr Connolly have urged the City Council to carry out the necessary works as soon as possible, and they have received assurances from the local authority that it is included in its schedule of works. The water that is funnelling back the drainage pipe is salt water, which poses its own problems for the pitch, and damages the playing surface.

“We are hopeful that as part of the planned matserplan for Southpark, the pitch will be upgraded. We expect that the drainage problem caused by the broken no-return valve will be fixed quickly – we’re told it is in the schedule of works. And then we hope that the masterplan will be expedited so that the damage from the salt water on the pitch will be fixed as part of the overall masterplan. We have been given assurances that the masterplan will be ready in quarter one of this year,” said Mr Cox.

A City Council spokesperson yesterday confirmed that the masterplan is included in a schedule of works this year. The problem with flooding will also be addressed, he said.