Football pitch - Cracks across pitch over drains

[Mikee]

The pitch is on heavy clay and has been professionally drained. During the summer cracks appear across the pitch at approx. one metre intervals where the drains were installed. Last year the club brought in tons of top dressing to fill the cracks.
Would it be better to fill these cracks (which are about 30mm wide and at least 250 mm deep) with pea shingle to within 50mm and then finish off with top dressing and re-seed?

[seanandruby]

i am wonderingif they surrounded and topped the gravel with a permeable liner? if not the top dressing etc could be sinking into the gravel, in which case it will silt up and cause problems. if it was " professionally done" i doubt it. but you should get them back to advise.

[Mikee]

Thanks Sean, I think what they may have done is used one of those machines which creates a slit in the ground and lays a pipe at the bottom, I've seen them used on agricultural land. The reason I say this is there are bits of pipe sticking out of the ground here and there, its white, corrugated and about 25-30 mm diameter. These are fed into a 150 mm pipe that runs down one side of the pitch to discharge into a brook.

[seanandruby]

Yes tile pipes are used. it is common to get depressions. topping up with sand/ soil should do the trick, then grass seed. may take a couple of seasons.