Winter is one of the harshest times of year for keeping a playing surface in the right condition. You need a proper sports field drainage solution in place to deal with the freezes and thaws – which can otherwise turn the best of surfaces into a churned up mud bath.

The British weather has changed noticeably in the last three years – returning to the traditional freezing winters. They are back though – and that return of harsh conditions has brought pitch surfaces that are stopping play in all levels of sports involvement. No-one can play on a surface so churned up it could break and ankle – and that is exactly what is happening to some of the best pitches in the country at the moment. Sports field drainage, which takes all that melting ice well away from the turf, and so keeps the ground at a much more sustainable level of dryness. It is the only way to avoid having your rugby pitch, football pitch or golf course turn overnight into something that looks like a fallow field.

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So how does proper drainage work? It is actually pretty simple, provided you have modern equipment to hand. Companies like Kestrel Contractors offer a fully bespoke sports field draining service, removing the old pitch, digging in and laying all the gullies and drainage ditches you need to make all the water go away, and then relaying the turf for a full and professional finish. The art of sports field drainage is exactly the same as the art of irrigating fields in wet and dry countries (anywhere in fact with an extreme of climate). You make the best use of the water coming down from the sky by wicking it well away from your flat surfaces and into drainage ditches. At which point, of course, you can do what you like with it. You can incorporate this kind of drainage system into a superbly eco friendly model for a sports club or pitch area, by storing the water you drain away and then using it to water the same pitch or pitches during the dry spells of summer.

Sports clubs that use a sports field drainage service in this way will not only found that their winter surfaces become playable again with immediate effect: but that they may be in line for some rather nice tax breaks from their local authority. Any business that can prove a sustainable energy commitment is usually liable for a payment or for a refund on some of its corporation tax. So getting your pitch drained may not even cost as much as you have been quoted. Some of that money should go right back into the reserves as tax back at the end of the year.

Sports field drainage, by making winter playing surfaces properly available, also increases local revenue (no one can play on a ruined pitch, so you only pay when the pitch is good) and bolsters community spirit. Best get to it then.