Rochdale to play two home games at alternative grounds as they undergo full mid-season rebuild

Rochdale say they are to play two home games at alternative grounds as they undergo a full mid-season pitch rebuild at Spotland.

This is due to severe ongoing waterlogging issues that have already caused two postponements and threaten more going forward.

With National League approval, work will begin on the 7th of December 2025 and will take between 4 and 5 weeks.

It will see the whole pitch stripped to the drains, new drainage and a gravel bed installed, with a new HERO hybrid surface laid, making it immediately playable.

But throughout this process, it means two home games have to be played elsewhere,, and hopefully they will be back at Spotland for the home match against Truro City on the 24th of January 2026.

We can confirm that the Crown Oil Arena playing surface will undergo a full mid-season rebuild.

Tap below to read our full update ⤵️#rafc

— Rochdale AFC (@officiallydale) November 28, 2025

CLUB STATEMENT:

Rochdale Football Club can provide the following update on the Crown Oil Arena pitch.

As all of our supporters will be acutely aware, the playing surface continues to suffer from waterlogging, which has resulted in two postponements so far this season. The pitch has performed worse than expected, sooner than expected, to such a degree that the Club has no confidence that we would be able to complete our scheduled fixtures this season without taking immediate action.

We have been deploying the inflatable MacLeod Cover system for recent fixtures, which has proved invaluable. However, it is not, in our view, a viable solution for a sustained period of time and will ultimately not prevent the continued deterioration of the playing surface over the winter months.

Faced with this situation, the Club has sought, and received, permission from the National League to undertake a mid-season full rebuild of the pitch at the Crown Oil Arena.

With advice from our technical consultants, OBI, this rebuild will involve removing the entire profile of the pitch down to the drains. We will install new drainage and a gravel bed, which will be crucial in ensuring adequate drainage for years to come. The new pitch profiles will then be laid, and finally, a HERO hybrid carpet will form the playing surface, which will then be immediately playable.

Undertaking a pitch rebuild mid-season is not a straightforward process and does place an unwelcome financial burden on the club. We would like to thank all of the third parties involved who have enabled us to get to a position where we can even contemplate carrying this work out.

The build process will take approximately 4-5 weeks. Works are scheduled to commence on Sunday 7th December, immediately after the rescheduled match against Southend United. There are two matches which will be affected by the rebuild, against Hartlepool United (Tuesday 30th December) and Brackley Town (Saturday 3rd January).

The Club is in advanced discussions regarding an alternative location for these games to be played. We intend to update supporters with details of the alternative arrangements prior to the pitch works commencing.

Our planned return to the Crown Oil Arena is for the match against Truro City on Saturday 24th January.

We appreciate that there will be some inconvenience for fans and other stakeholders resulting from these fixtures being played away from the Crown Oil Arena. However, we are faced with little choice but to take action now. The action we are taking will give our team the best chance of playing out the remainder of the season on a suitable playing surface and will benefit the Club for years to come with a pitch that we can be proud of.

Fans gave their reaction as Rochdale confirm they are to play two home games at alternative grounds as they undergo a full mid-season rebuild…

@Ben_m_1234: To simply put it… A massive thank you to Ogden family and everyone else involved! Superb 👏

@NickyHanshaw: Translation of the statement in full… The club can reveal after a Bollocking from the league and a threat of a points deduction for further postponements we have decided to do what we set out to do in the summer but couldn’t be arsed to do because of soaring Costs.

@ArronBennett10: Perfect not in the country for the 2 games affected love it. Fair play to the ogdens once again proving to be absolute saviours.

@JohnBar28691234: It’s the only answer unfortunately. Two games at an alternative venue (FC United?) is a small price to pay to have a pitch that won’t destroy our season. Well done to the board.

@ShaymenHXFC: It’ll be Accrington if they’re not at home the dates of your 2 games, they did us a favour and let us ground share for a few matches a couple of seasons ago

@bayleeM9_: Accrington would probably be the best bet

@joembeebam: Unfortunate but had to be done. It’s a massive investment so fair play to the club for getting it done

@Darth_Moomin: The Ogden’s really are taking away all the things we like to moan about 🤣 This isn’t a cheap move by any stretch, I think it helps the players and the manager to know the owners are as committed as they are to long term success.

@GemmasMate: If it turns out as well as it has @FCHTOnline you will be very happy. Yes, it’s incovenient in the immediate future but later you’ll be glad it happened.

@griffin386: Wow , how lucky are we to have the Ogden’s as owners. Phenomenal commitment. Totally transformed the club with not only massive investment but total professionalism. I doff my cap.

@FuManChuCaChu: Fair play to your owners for getting it done asap. A little bit of short term pain is worth it in the long run.

@fitzochris: We needed a HERO when it came to the pitch and we now have two – the Ogden family and a forthcoming hybrid carpet playing surface.

@DaleyBlindFC: Love football fans in this country. Club finally addresses a long-term problem which has hampered fixtures for years. They’re “tinpot” for it, as it’s being done in December 😂😂😂

@elliott_h99: Absolutely brilliant read. Immediate, extensive action taken which will undoubtedly benefit us hugely in the long run. Probably gives us the best chance to win the league we may ever have. We are so lucky to have the Ogdens. #RAFC

@MattTurner_WG: At a time when football is riddled with incompetent, crackpot owners, we are so very lucky the Ogden family came along. A massive commitment that gives us the best chance of securing the promotion this group of players is clearly capable of 💙