Winter Sports The Madjeski pitch looking good towards the end of the season
continue to water an hour before kick off to provide some surface pace.” The most problems tend to come from having both sports on the same weekend, as any damage caused by the football on a Saturday doesn’t get a chance to recover before the rugby on Sunday. “For example, last October we played Derby on a Tuesday evening, Southampton the following Saturday and London Irish had a home game on the Sunday. It was a long working week, fitting in all the preparation and repairs in between the matches. But, we’ve got the changeover’s down to a fine art.” “As soon as a football match has finished, we remove the goalposts, clean the pitch up, green out the lines, mow, mark out for rugby and put up the rugby posts. We us very light, telescopic ones that are easy to handle. Two post sockets are set on the six yard line, and it’s simply a case of removing the turf plug and socket cap and placing the posts into the sockets. Both sets of posts can be put up within an hour. Both white and green line marking is done using a transfer wheel line marker.”
“I’m confident that I can provide a playing surface worthy of the best football league in the world”
End of season renovations took place in early June, when contractors, Mallinsons, arrived on site to Koro the surface to a depth of 15mm to remove the existing vegetation and organic layer. This exposed 20mm of the Desso fibres which had become embedded in the surface. The next task was to pull a meadow
rake through the surface in numerous directions to remove any remaining vegetation/organic layer, and to stand up the Desso fibres. This was closely followed by a tractor mounted sweeper to remove any loose debris. “The pitch was then verti-drained to
relieve any compaction, and topdressed with 80 tonnes of new rootzone, along with some mustard bran to suppress the nematodes. It was then oversown with twenty bags of Johnsons Premier Pitch seed in three passes, assisted by a pre- seeding fertiliser.”
“Germination sheets will be laid over the whole pitch and left on for several days until the seed has germinated. The first cut will be carried out with our Honda rotaries followed, after a couple
TWENTY Questions
Greg Bolton - we had to ‘google’ to find out who Mila Kunis was ... and we’re glad we did!
Who are you? Greg Bolton, Head Groundsman at the Madejski Stadium.
Family status? Single.
Who’s your hero and why? Phil Parkinson. I grew up watching him play for and captain Reading, he never shirked a challenge.
What is your dream holiday? New York at Christmas time.
What annoys you the most? Rubbish motorists.
What would you change about yourself? I need to learn not to dwell on criticism.
Who wouldn’t you like to be? Kevin Nolan.
Favourite record, and why? Meatloaf - Paradise By The Dashboard Light. A rollercoaster of a story.
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? Mila Kunis, the Ukranian born, American actress.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Go around surprising family and friends with some presents.
If you were to describe yourself as a musical instrument, what would you be and why? A triangle. I like to keep things simple!
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? Believe in yourself, and then, to have belief in all the decisions you make.
What’s your favourite smell? Christmas trees!
What do you do in your spare time? Watch loads of sports and I enjoy going out for a drink with mates.
What’s the daftest work related question you have ever been asked? Are you part time? Like I just stick the posts up on a Saturday or something!
What’s your favourite piece of kit? My two Mu360 light units.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Fun, reliable, sporty.
What talent would you like to have? I would love to be able to play the electric guitar.
What makes you angry? Arrogant people.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? Goal line technology.
of weeks, with the cylinder mowers,” explains Greg. “The club are hosting an Olympic
Torch Event on the 10th July which will require the pitch to be covered for four days with Supatrack to protect it. We’ll put on some PrimoMaxx and additional growth promoters to help protect the grass and aid rapid recovery after the event. We need to be ready for our first friendly on 11th August.” “I’m really looking forward to being back in the Premiership with all that entails. It has been six years since we were last in the top flight. I appreciate that our pitch will come under much closer scrutiny next season as we will, no doubt, be involved in many more televised games. But, I’m confident that I can provide a playing surface worthy of the best football league in the world.”
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