Educational Establishments
“The results of our labours can be judged by the extensive use now being made of the sports centre and the surrounding playing fields by students and local people”
“Standards range from international football and rugby players using the pitches for high-level training sessions, to enthusiastic amateurs who run a few circuits of our athletics track every week,” explained John. “In all cases, every surface is maintained and presented to the same high standard, irrespective of the age or ability of those using them.” Sport Swansea has three grass pitches covering a total area of almost 3.5ha. One of the pitches is dedicated primarily to rugby, whilst the other two are ear- marked for football, although they can be used for other purposes, if required, said John.
This is particularly true of the pitch inside the athletics track which benefits from powerful floodlighting, making the entire area suitable for winter evening training sessions. “We can provide a pitch marked out for just about any sport that students wish to pursue,” commented John. “Since I first joined the University, students have asked for turf and all- weather surfaces to be prepared for sports and games ranging from lacrosse, five-a-side football and Frisbee competitions to rounders, volleyball and Australian Rules Football. If students want it, where we can, we’ll provide it.” Evidence of the diversity of sports that are played on the indoor and outdoor
Grounds manager, John Courtney (left), and his two groundstaff, Leighton Williams (centre) and Ross Davies
surfaces can be found in a drawer in John’s desk, which contains a well- thumbed pocket book detailing the full range of pitch dimensions and regulation line markings. “We apply a lot of paint through our two line-marking machines each year, normally marking-up once a week in dry weather for games taking place on a Wednesday and Saturday,” he explained. “If the weather is wet, as in the past two seasons, we will mark twice a week on the day before a game.”
John pointed out that a Vitax Supaturf
Arrow Briteliner transfer wheel unit is the team’s preferred choice on turf, as the paint coats solely the blades of grass and does not penetrate the sward too deeply. “This means that the same surface can be freshly marked-up for a completely different sport the following week, and there is little chance of confusion as the older line is not so prominent, having started to fade,” he said. For more permanent line marks on turf, and when touching-up the two water-based Astroturf pitches and six tarmacadam tennis courts, the groundstaff use a pedestrian-controlled Bowcom spray marker. Annual re-marking of all synthetic surfaces, which include both indoor and outdoor running tracks, is carried out
under contract by White Line Services International.
When John first arrived at Swansea University, team sports did not have as high a profile as they do now. Limitations on the use of the grass playing fields, caused principally by poor drainage, meant that the Sketty Lane ground hosted solely the University’s first teams’ fixtures, consisting of six games of football and six games of rugby a year. Steady improvements made to the turf pitches over the past seven years have seen a dramatic rise in their utilisation, highlighted by the fact that 353 sporting fixtures took place on the playing fields in 2011.
This increase in use has been accompanied by a corresponding rise in the grounds maintenance budget, as John explained.
“I started off in November 2005 with no budget whatsoever,” he recalled. “I told the department that investment was needed to improve the grass pitches and that the expenditure would be repaid by increased utilisation of the facilities.” In his first year, John was given £1,000 to spend on topdressings, fertilisers and grass seed. The resulting improvements brought-in additional income of £4,000 over the next twelve months. The following year, a rise in the
grounds maintenance budget enabled
All pitches are mown weekly with a three-cylinder ride-on mower set to cut at a consistent height of 30mm
96 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013
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