Faythe Harriers open All-Weather Floodlit Arena

The Faythe Harriers Hurling & Camogie club recently opened their new outdoor floodlit all-weather playing arena at their grounds in Parc Carman. The arena is 80 metres by 40 metres in size, is fully floodlit and fenced and has a surface which is as comparable to playing on real grass as is possible. The arena is named in honour of one of the club’s greatest ever stalwarts and will be known as “The Pat Murphy Arena”. Pat Murphy had been Chairman of the club for almost 20 years until his untimely death in 2006 and the club decided to honour him by dedicating this arena in his name.

The arena is the culmination of 6 years hard work by the club’s Development Committee, from when the idea was first conceived. There were a number of problems along the way but everybody in the club is extremely proud to see the plans finally come to fruition. The arena is perfect for outdoor hurling and can easily accommodate an adult 8 or 9 a side game, with even more players being involved at underage level. The surface is unique in that is specifically allows the use of football boots, both for normal screw in cogs and moulded boots. The surface is specially designed to replicate playing on a normal grass pitch with the same sort of bounce that one would associate with playing on a summer grass pitch. The arena can also be divided into 3 smaller pitches going across the arena. The club has already had their own adult teams test the arena, while their under 12s are currently playing an internal league on it every Sunday morning. The arena has been developed to the highest specification and has already been passed and commended by Wexford County Board, the Leinster GAA Council and GAA HQ in Croke Park.

While the arena will be primarily for use by the Faythe Harriers for their own members and teams and will help keep their underage players playing over the winter months, the arena is also available for hire to other clubs. It would be idea for use by clubs in preparing for the new GAA season. Anybody with any enquiries regarding using the facility should contact any of the club’s officers or alternatively should ring 085-2450136. It is hoped that the local schools of the Wexford town area can also avail of the facility. It is also hoped that the arena can be of some possible use to the training of our intercounty squads or underage development squads later as well. Dressing room facilities are also included with the use of the arena if so desired.