Winter Sports
“We’ve spread compost before. It doesn’t smell great, but it does the business. We have naturally very good soil and drainage here, so it makes things easier”
when seeding. Kevin uses a predominantly ryegrass mix, which he sources from a local agricultural grain merchant. “Ryegrass is hardy and establishes quickly, which is why we also use it on gallops. Likewise, with the fertilisers, we tend to apply fibrefloss, which is basically a dust compound fertiliser. We have no qualms about how ‘agricultural’ it may be. If it works, that’s good enough for us.” “We’ve spread compost before,” he
reveals. “It doesn't smell great, but it does the business. We have naturally very good soil and drainage here, so it makes things easier.” Life wasn’t always so sweet, though, and the process of turning what was, essentially, just a field into free draining sports pitches was pockmarked with problems. “Our Downs location means the surface is naturally quite flinty, and this became an issue when the pitches first had to be levelled,” says Kevin. “We were fortunate that, through our relationship with the RFU, we were able to source the support and guidance of Keith Kent, Head Groundsman at Twickenham. He was a great source of knowledge.”
Whilst flint has long been present in
the ground, it only showed itself once the soil was disturbed by the levelling process. “It takes a good four years to get the natural soil properties back, so drainage was never going to be perfect in the first year after,” he explains. “We’ve applied much more grass seed since then, as the root structure helps to keep the flint buried. The pitches are quite sandy now as well, so we have extremely well draining playing surfaces.”
First XV in training
Pulborough has had precious few issues with flint on the first and second pitch since then, but the third posed more of a problem. Kevin was forced to bring in a stone burier to bury lots of the disturbed flint, which proved just the job. “We managed a 70% success rate and now there’s no concern with stone coming through,” he says. “We also brought in a self-propelled Grasshopper - it made a huge difference. There was nothing delicate about the job, and our access to agricultural machinery was helpful as it would have cost a lot to contract in these machines.”
The cost to establish the turf and level
all three pitches was much less than expected, as much of the work was carried out by members. The only real expense was the grass seed, and the club has now reached the stage where it can continue to reduce cut height year on year. “We’ll stick to applying a bit of nitrogen and fibrefloss and let it tick over. We spread a bit of sewage cake last year. That does wonders,” Kevin enthuses. Keeping the levels true will prove a long-term challenge for the club but, if he had his way, Kevin would revert to some truly traditional practices. “If I could, I’d pen off the pitch and stick a hundred sheep in there,” he insists. “Nothing keeps the levels true like sheep. We do it frequently with the racecourse, and it works wonderfully. I’m in no doubt that some rural clubs, who don’t have the levels of fixtures we do, already use them.” “The trouble here is that there’s never a big enough gap to make it work. Rugby is played throughout the autumn, winter and spring, and summer is occupied with
training and seasonal events, so it just wouldn’t be feasible.”
Some may be open-mouthed at the
prospect of sheep running riot over their perfectly manicured playing surfaces but, since the 1st XV have joined the London South East league, Pulborough have received nothing but compliments about the quality of surface, so Kevin’s farming background hasn’t hindered progress. “It is not unrealistic to say we have the best drainage of any sports pitch in the area. We’re always one of the last to have fixtures cancelled. Often, when the land on the perimeter is sodden, the pitches are perfectly playable.” Whilst Pulborough are in the fortunate position that they can make use of Harwood’s fleet of machines, including a 24-metre Bateman agricultural sprayer, they do have a mower of their own, purchased at the start of construction. A Jacobsen front mounted mower handles most of the duties, and Kevin is fortunate that he can share the workload with colleague Ian Crouch - agricultural engineer at Harwoods - who takes over the summer mowing duties from Kevin, who is, understandably, jam-packed through the summer months with his own agricultural tasks. Ian also takes care of all maintenance
and repairs, so no cost is incurred if faults are discovered or parts needed. Kevin’s work is proof that amenity and agricultural practices can successfully overlap and bring good results to boot. The rugby club runs three senior XVs, the 1st XV newly promoted to London and South East League 3, whilst the 2nd XV plays in the Sussex West 2 and the 3rd XV ‘plough their furrow’ in Sussex
“The Biffa and Viridor grants were a vital source of revenue for us, but there was a lot of paperwork involved. You need to have an active membership, willing to help out wherever it can”
46 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2013
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