Even though Leicester City won the Premier League in 2016, most would see the club as representing a step down from Manchester United. But for new boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, one aspect was a step up – the training ground.
Upon visiting the “amazing” site, Van Nistelooy declared it was as good as the facility Real Madrid have, making him the latest boss to praise the quality of the venue, which opened in 2020.
While the whole facility deserves praise, the actual grass parts that footballers run and round kicking a ball on as they train – 14 pitches in all – enjoy the benefits of the fact that it has excellent drainage, as the site used to be a golf course, which means it benefitted from being landscaped in a way to cope well with water.
Keeping Golf Greens Green
This has two aspects of course, as any golf course groundskeeper will know; on the one hand, good drainage prevents the course from getting flooded when it rains a lot.
On the other, that means courses need a lot of water on them in hot, dry spells to prevent them from becoming too dry and developing bare patches. After all, golf courses have greens, not browns.
At the same time, this is, of course, why so many sports clubs, including but not limited to golf courses, could benefit from a decision to change business water supplier, if they can get a lower charge for the water they use.
That may not be much of an issue in the wet and stormy winter months, but it could be in the summer, especially if climate change brings more heatwaves.
A changing climate can make dry days drier and wet days wetter, with the latter applying in some notorious instances. Across the Midlands from Leicester lies New Road in Worcester, a cricket ground that invariably floods in the spring it lies on the Severn flood plain.
However, while images of the venue underwater and Worcestershire playing early home games on dry land away from a river (usually in Kidderminster) are nothing new, the situation is threatening to get worse and the county is considering whether it has a future there.
Cricket’s Water Issues
For other cricket clubs, the opposite issue can apply; good drainage, either natural due to being in an elevated position and favourable soil, or the result of landscaping to help clear water off outfields faster and resume play sooner after rain, will equally increase the risk that such areas will become parched in dry weather, hence they need watering.
Indeed, one only has to look at old footage of past years of drought to see what this is like, such as the bare patches and yellowed grass of outfields in 1976, when the severe drought and consequent water shortages meant groundstaff could do nothing about this.
Nowadays, county and, even more so, international grounds have improved drainage to keep the players on the field more, whereas it may be that club sides will be more willing to get the players out there when conditions are not quite so optimal. This better drainage does, however, increase the need for watering when it is very dry.
The same can even apply to football clubs. Once again, some can suffer waterlogging when it is wet, especially venues close to rivers. But in other instances, even when the weather has not been dry, the use of more water to make the pitch slick and help swift passing means the desire to keep watering it can exist apart from the weather.
Such heavy watering may be applied at Leicester City’s training ground, while the players there can be assured that they won’t have to deal with any waterlogging due to the drainage.
Copying Leicester’s Lead?
Back at Ruud van Nistelrooy’s old club, Manchester United have reportedly been looking to copy the lead of Leicester City in buying up a golf course on which to develop their own state-of-the-art training venue.
As Golf News reported in January this year, the club’s new part-owners Ineos had looked at High Legh Park in Knutsford, Cheshire, which would provide the 100 acres of easy-draining ground the club would need to move all men’s and women’s team training to the same ground.
Although no agreement had been made by the time of the report and the club has since spent substantially on upgrades at its existing Carrington base, the basic principle of the idea is clear; a golf course, with its great drainage, is wonderfully equipped to handle heavy rain.
However, that also means whoever owns the site will invariably be a heavy user of large quantities of water, meaning a good deal with its commercial water supplier is essential.
