Brandywell Stadium grass pitch return not off table as Council considers up to seven options

​Chief Executive of Council, Mr John Kelpie admits the current surface at Brandywell is 'not ideal' for professional football and the local authority want the issue resolved as soon as possible.

Having commissioned an options appraisal, carried out by consultants including a specialist sports surface expert which was estimated to cost up to £7,000, Council plan to sit down for talks with anchor tenants Derry City and the venue's various stakeholders to discuss the best option.

The immediate priority at the ground is the completion of the new North Terrace Stand which will accommodate up to an extra 2,700 standing supporters with preparation work finally getting underway last week with the removal of seating in blocks A and B in the Southend Park stand.

However, when addressing a Derry City fans forum at the City Hotel last Saturday, Mr Kelpie discussed the various options available in terms of an alternative to the pitch, ranging from natural grass to various hybrid options.

The FAI recently warned Derry City the current surface, which is showing signs of wear and a tuft loss problem, may not be suitable for professional football beyond 2023. However, Mr Kelpie eased those concerns by revealing the pitch has passed it's most recent annual FIFA inspection.

"It's been tested and it's clear for this season," he revealed. "To be honest we would be fairly positive it would be clear for next season as well but we don't want to leave too long.

"There's probably another couple of years left in it if we keep replacing the beads and making sure they're compacted well and making sure it gets through the testing. For professional soccer we know it's not ideal."

However, Council recognised the issue with the pitch which is nearing the end of its lifespan, must be resolved and plan to engage in further talks with the club to discuss the next move.

"We want to get this decision made sooner rather than later because obviously like everything else costs are going up. It takes time to do these things.

"The focus at the minute is trying to get the North Stand on site," he began. “You wouldn't believe the amount of work that has to go on behind the scenes to get all this sorted but I have never seen a time where the club and the Council have worked so closely together. It really is tremendous.

"We understand the pitch is an issue obviously so what the Council has done, it's put some money into the whole thing as well and we've appointed a set of consultants to look at options in and around the pitch.

"So the Council has commissioned a report through a set of consultants working with the club and the FAI to look at different options for the pitch which are being costed and looked at.

"They range from grass grown on site right up through grass grown off site, right up to various hybrid options up to the top end of the scale which would be a hybrid pitch that's grown off site and imported. The cost of that goes from the bottom end of that right up to the top end and there's a huge difference.

"There's about seven options coming out from this appraisal."

In terms of a timeframe for selecting a realistic option for the pitch and making the next step, several factors must be considered including financial costs and the needs of the relevant stakeholders.

"As soon as we get the stand on site and get all that moving the Council is then going to sit down with the club in the first instance, look at all these options and see what's the best option for the club.

"Some of these options are going to take time as well so there's the growing of the grass and what the club does during that period. So we will have to work through all of that and see what the best thing to do is.

"There's pros and cons for all of those. Very importantly there's many other users of the Brandywell and we need to make sure all their needs are considered as well and then we work with the Council and come up with an option.

"I think the Council's view would be to get this matter resolved sooner rather than later for the good of everybody."

The Brandywell pitch is currently in use for over 35 hours per week and since its introduction, has generated an average income of £80,000 per annum for Council but when asked if those profits will be the most significant factor when considering a potential return to a grass surface, Mr Kelpie said it wouldn't be the 'overarching factor'.

"We have the Council finances as well and there's a lot of other users of the facilities and we have to take their wishes on board as well and make sure we have everybody on board and going along with this.

"In terms of the income to Council will be a factor in this but it won't be the overarching factor. There's so many variables at play here in terms of what the right thing to do is for everybody. When you start looking into it it's actually quite complicated trying to figure them all out.

"The short answer is, we're trying to jump ahead of this. We're trying to get a good idea of the options and trying to work through it all and figure out how to afford it and when to do it. “Hopefully in the next few months I'll be able to say something more clearly around that.”