of Dreams


maintenance. In that time, he has taken on many roles and seen many changes in the way the stadium has been run to meet the demands of a modern facility. “Typical of most international stadiums, Murrayfield is a multi use facility,” says John, “being used for entertainment and corporate events alongside the sporting activity. Two concerts are already planned for June next year.” “However, Murrayfield is untypical in that it has a large area of land adjacent to the stadium that provides both natural and artificial grass pitches for various teams to play and train on.” Currently, these are used by Scottish national sides at all levels, Murrayfield Wanderers RFC and women’s rugby teams, along with many school and college sides. The area is also used for car parking during international matches.


The SRU has, in the past two years, gone through a period of change replacing the old soil based pitches with three new ones, along with an IRB standard, third generation (3G), Lano artificial pitch. All the pitches are floodlit, fully drained and have ameliorated sand soil rootzone and pop up automated watering systems


installed.


“Due to the heavy demand, the management of these pitches is crucial for their success,” says John. “We restrict the natural turf pitches to ten hours use per pitch, per week, the aim being to ensure they remain in the best possible condition all year round.” The SRU has invested heavily in stadium improvements, which has seen upgraded turnstiles, new state of the art television screens and the purchasing of six MU360 lighting rigs from SGL (Stadium Lighting Growth). “The SGL systems have, without a doubt, been the most important technology the stadium has ever invested in,” he says, “which has helped to improve the condition of the pitch dramatically.” “The six units cover a third of the pitch at any one time, and three passes will cover the whole pitch. It took some time to understand how to get the best out of the system, but we can now stimulate grass growth during the winter months - a rarity in Scotland.” The lights remain on 24/7 and are moved on a three day cycle. An E-Z-GO utility vehicle is used to tow the rigs into position and, John says, care has to be taken to ensure that the wheels of the rigs are set in different locations to


reduce wear and compaction. Two additional MU360 single units


were also purchased for areas of heavy wear, for example, where logos have been painted. “Before we had the lights, the combination of a heavy fixture list - over fifty a year - poor weather and low temperatures meant that the grass was always under stress and prone to damage, especially during the depths of winter in January and February.” Even with SGL’s training, John says that the vagaries of the Murrayfield stadium presented a steep learning curve for the groundstaff, but now they have everything down to a fine art, being able to move all six rigs in under thirty minutes. The pitch profile is a modern, free draining fibresand, with undersoil heating that is often on for long periods during the winter months. “Soil and air temperatures in the stadium can often be 10-15 degrees lower than other national stadiums in the UK,” John states.


The stadium is always a busy place for John and his staff. “We have recently gone back to doing all the work in house,” says John. “In the past, we were sharing the workload with


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