Sorry Ipswich, too late: Why Portsmouth's new £1.5m pitch will mean no repeat of postponement controversy
Twice in 31 days in the 2025-26 season, the Fratton Park fixture against Ipswich was cancelled due to pitch and weather issues
It may be far too late for Ipswich, yet Pompey’s new £1.5m pitch has been backed to end Fratton Park’s flooding and frost problem.
This summer has signalled the installation of a new hybrid sand-based pitch, plus improved drainage, representing the biggest overhaul of the Blues’ playing surface in club history.
With the previous pitch nearing the end of its shelf life, last season saw a home fixture against Ipswich postponed twice - and, much to the anger of away fans, both on the day of the game.
The first, in January, fell victim to a frozen pitch, while the rearranged match the following month succumbed to a waterlogged pitch.
When the Championship game was finally played in April, John Mousinho’s men ran out 2-0 winners for a crucial win which bolstered their survival hopes - while Ipswich still went on to be promoted to the Premier League.
Now Pompey boast a new state-of-the-art playing surface - and head groundsman Dan Mellor is convinced there won’t be a repeat of previous problems as a result.
‘There is no expectation’
He told The News: ‘After what happened against Ipswich, with this new pitch we have no expectation that coping with weather conditions will now be a difficulty or could challenge us.
‘With the design of the pitch which has been put in, there is no expectation that we’ll see anything like the levels of flooding we’ve had in the past few seasons.
‘The new drainage is a really good product. We work on an infiltration rate and the rate we are testing at the moment is between 150-200mm an hour.
‘With the previous pitch, in places we were measuring at anywhere between 7-15mm an hour in areas where the pitch was at the end of its life.
‘In terms of frost and cold weather protection, we are working with a company called Sports & Stadia who provide pitch protection. We’re working on having a heated dome for the coming season.
‘We now have facilities built into the pitch perimeter this season which enable us to deploy that a lot easier, offering a mitigation against cold weather. That is in line with the EFL guidelines for on-pitch protection.
‘So Ipswich would be happy if they played here this season, although they are in the Premier League, so good luck to them, it’s a great club.’
Two Ipswich games called off in a month
Ipswich were last season initially scheduled to play Pompey on Sunday, January 4, only for referee Leigh Doughty to declare the Fratton Park pitch unplayable due to frost.
The Championship fixture was rescheduled for Tuesday, February 3, only this time the game was called off in the early afternoon on match-day, due a waterlogged pitch.
And Mellor is adamant the Blues’ groundstaff did all they could to try to get both games on, albeit unsuccessfully.
He added: ‘The first game, which was a Sunday kick-off, was called off because of a frozen pitch.
‘The pitch was covered at 1pm on the Friday, we cut it on Saturday lunchtime and it was playable, firm in places but playable. We covered the pitch at 2pm on the Saturday before the sun disappeared out of the stadium, double covering it in places.
‘Then the temperatures plummeted on the Saturday night. We got down to minus 5 on the south side of the stadium in front of the dug-outs. Coming in at 5.30-6am on the Sunday for an initial check, immediately we knew that frost had penetrated through the covers.
‘For the second game, on a Tuesday night, we’d obviously had significant rainfall throughout January, three times the amount of rain we would normally have.
‘On the Monday afternoon, we cut the pitch and it was playable. Unfortunately, we then had 44-46mm of rain from about 5am on Tuesday.
‘The pitch was never going to be playable - and that was purely because of the end-of-life situation we had with the drainage.’