Shaymen Are To Get A New Playing Surface Next Season

The Shaymen have lost National League games to the weather over the past few months - and the council have pledged to help.

The club share the Shay with the town’s rugby club and in a statement it has been confirmed a new surface will be installed.

The authority run the stadium and Calderdale Council’s Sports Services Manager Gary Byrnes announced: “The decision to postpone the Halifax Town fixture on Saturday 9 March was made by the match official at around 2pm.

“The pitch at the Shay had been heavy with water all week, and staff at the ground spent hours carrying out maintenance to allow the fixture on Tuesday 5 March to go ahead as planned.

“This hard work continued throughout the week, despite heavy rain making conditions more difficult.

“Unfortunately, further bad weather overnight on Friday left the pitch waterlogged.

“Staff contacted Halifax Town Football Club on Saturday morning and continued to do all they could to try and make the pitch playable. The match official carried out pitch inspections throughout the morning, but due to the ongoing poor conditions, the decision was made to postpone the fixture.

“Extensive drainage works were completed at the Shay in 2015 and as such the number of postponed fixtures has reduced significantly over the recent years. Further work is planned at the end of this season, and ground staff work incredibly hard to prepare the pitch for each fixture.

“Renovations of the pitch at the Shay will take place from Monday 20 May.

“The top layer of the pitch will be removed, and treatments will be applied to the soil underneath.

“Reseeding and fertilising will then take place to ensure the grass is in the best possible condition.”