rooting, attention to the daily maintenance includes monitoring irrigation, aeration and nutrition. The lighting rigs enable us to energise the plant. Concentrate on the roots and the grass will thrive. We are trying to grow it down not up. Ideally, a period for growing-in the surface is advised, with a minimum of fourteen days. Turf selection includes stadia and farm visits. Assessing the turf on the farm is required. Assessing the turf in a stadium environment offers a greater understanding of the turf ’s suitability. The time taken to transport the turf is a consideration, and the option to cool it, in transit, is considered in the warmer months when working in Scandinavia. Assessments of the turf are carried out at the turf farm including:
Turf strength
Grass species composition (Poa pratensis providing lateral strength, Lollium perenne good wear and recovery)
Pest and diseases
Rootzone - particle size distribution and compatibility Turf maturity
Turf maintenance prior to harvesting (nutrition, dressing, cutting height) Moving On Up
Managing stadiums as a business enables development of the turf manager’s role. Economic responsibilities and understanding are a part of our daily work.
There are currently four full-time
grounds persons managing the stadium and three at the training ground pitches. The standard produced in recent years is a credit to the team effort of Daniel, Matt, Pete and Thomas, the “green team” as we are collectively known in Parken
The operations department are also
key to the success of the pitch. With the resources and challenges we face, it is vital that all involved are working together. My role is somewhere between the green team and the operations. Developing a positive approach, and
appreciating the commercial responsibilities of our business, is important to progress the turf industry. When proposals are discussed concerning usage of a pitch, educating the planners will enable us to become part of the plan.
Stadiums will continue to stage non sporting events. Investing in stadiums and pitch systems is expensive and clubs/companies are required to recover their costs. There are solutions to all the challenges. Pitch protection systems allow the pitch to survive, lighting rigs encourage growth in shaded areas, turf installations offer full pitch recovery. Managing the numerous events on the pitch offers the opportunity to learn and progress as a turf manager
It’s Only Rock and Roll but we like it!
The modern stadium pitch manager...
By Carl Pass, Director of Premier Pitches Ltd
P
rofessional football pitch management is no longer about providing a surface which will withstand the rigours of 90 minutes of football, any league groundsman will testify to this. Groundsmen now have the additional
pressure of providing a surface that will be used for a pre-match warm-up which can last up to 30 minutes. There are also half time activities, including penalty shootouts, marching bands, dancers and junior matches played across the pitch. In addition, many teams now insist on a warm-down after the match which, in some cases, becomes a full-blown training session for squad players not involved in the 90 minutes of action which has just unfolded.
Success in European competitions brings additional burdens as visiting teams have access to the match pitch for training sessions on the day prior to the tie being played. Other events, such as music concerts, bring in much needed revenue to clubs who are in the business of making money by what ever means to support their main objective, which is to be successful on the pitch. All these activities are often undertaken
in grounds which have either evolved into multi-use venues or, worse still, have been designed with little or no thought to the well being of the pitch. The consequence of such relentless use is a degenerated surface which may suffer from compaction, poor drainage, little or no grass cover and uneven levels.
So, where does this leave the person entrusted with producing a surface which will cater for all the needs of a professional football club?
Clubs will not reduce the height of stands to reduce the impact of shade, nor will they open up corners of the stadium to allow increased air movement or reduce the amount of additional activity on the pitch during match days and in the close
season. It is my view that we must take a positive stance to the situation by adopting a new philosophy of preparing new pitches rather than repairing old ones.
Come the end of the season, clubs who wish to maintain a high standard of playing surface, whilst maximising revenue from other opportunities, must accept that the pitch has done its job and replace it. Particularly in a stadium environment where the groundsman is, essentially, growing grass indoors, beginning the season with a new pitch offers the greatest opportunity for the surface to withstand the difficult environment it is expected to perform within.
Stadium pitches, in general, have
improved tremendously over the past ten years, which is a credit to all involved including groundsmen, researchers and manufacturers of specialist turf
“Clubs will not reduce the height of stands to reduce the impact of shade, nor will they open up corners of the stadium to allow increased air movement”
...continued over
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