Aviva Stadium reopened its doors in 2010 and seats a capacity crowd of 51,700. The original multi discipline ground at the Lansdowne Road site since 1872 prior to its closure in December 2006, was the oldest rugby union ground worldwide and the oldest sports stadium in Europe.


The Dakota 410 at the Aviva

Majella Smyth, Head groundsman at the Dublin Aviva Stadium, is well aware of the responsibility attached to maintaining such a prestigious venue and uses the best equipment available to keep standards at peak level.

Surprising to some because of its compact size, one of these machines is a Dakota 410 Turf Tender which Majella uses to apply sand.

“Although not the largest model available for a pitch of this size, we chose the Dakota 410 turf tender for good reason,” explains Majella. “At one end of the stadium we have quite a steep run-off. A large spreader would need to turn on the pitch itself to ensure total coverage when spreading sand. The 410 is a smaller, lighter machine which is more manoeuvrable and won’t cause any compaction on the turf.”

Next season Majella intends to use the Dakota to help combat algae by adding a granular product through the Dakota. “The lack of light plus irrigation during the December-February months encourages algae,” he says “so we need to keep it under control. The Dakota is an excellent tool for targeted treatments.”