3G perfect arena for sport at Netherdale
Ally McGilvray • Published 7 Feb 2012 09:30
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THE Scottish Football Association's senior football development officer for the Borders welcomed the long-awaited opening of the region's first 3G pitch this week.
Dougie Anderson watched from the stand as Gala Fairydean defeated Preston Athletic 3-1 on the first competitive game to be played on the new all-weather surface on Saturday.
He has been appointed manager of the new sports complex - dubbed the 3G Arena Netherdale - which was orginally due to open in November.
However, the football coach, who revealed they had feared it might not be completed for another three months, insisted it was worth the wait.
Anderson said: "It's great for everybody involved, especially Gala Fairydean that we are up and running.
"The delay was well highlighted but there was nothing anybody could do about the weather. Although the weather was decent, it was damp and because of the valley and lack of wind it was just impossible to get the sand in, which was the problem.
"It could potentially have been April before it was ready so we're delighted to have had this wee spell of weather which has allowed us to get things moving."
Construction work has been taking place since the beginning of August to create the full size 3G pitch and a smaller 3G training pitch at the Gala Fairydean ground in the town.
3G provides an ideal all-weather surface and the main pitch meets the highest football and rugby standards, being both FIFA 2-star rated and IRB-22 compliant.
The state of the art shockpad ensures that the pitch meets stringent rugby head-fall height conditions, without compromising football requirements.
The original concept for the 3G arena was driven by 'Netherdale - the Next Generation' (NTNG), which was set up in January 2010 to investigate ways of fundraising to create the much-needed facility for the Borders.
NTNG is made up of football clubs in the town, local rugby clubs, the Scottish FA South East Region, the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) and Borders College.
The project is being jointly funded by Scottish Borders Council (£500,000), Cashback for Communities through sportscotland (£350,000) and The R.S. Hayward Trust (£100,000).
Anderson said: "The five a side court is not complete yet. The disadvantage of it being at that side means it doesn't get much sun.
"We've all thought we were experts on what we thought we could do to get this moving but the firm that does the job has 15 years experience and they have told us we have got to wait on the weather. And they have been proved right.
"Credit to them, when you look at the facility here now, it's absolutely top drawer. I thought the quality of game today was improved because of the surface at this time of year. You look round the Borders and a lot of games have fallen victim to the hard frost and yet here we've had a great day, big crowd, good game of football and everybody enjoyed it."
An official opening of the new pitch is planned for later in the year.
This article appeared in Border Telegraph 07 Feb 12
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