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TOPDRESSING & LOAM
The Twickenham Stoop
Nurture’s Nick Ebelthite talks about the maintenance requirements at the home of Harlequins RFC, The Twickenham Stoop
HARLEQUINS Rugby Football Club play at Twickenham Stoop, which is situated in Twickenham in south-west London. The stadium is named after former England international Adrian Stoop who was a Harlequins player and later president of the club.
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Harlequins acquired the then athletics pitch in 1963, a ground of fourteen acres, close to the RFU’s Twickenham stadium and headquarters. It became the training pitch, and eventually, Harlequins home ground. The site provided a ground that could be developed and, since then, much has been done in terms of upgrading, with a current capacity of 14,816. The stadium was known as the Stoop Memorial Ground for many years, but it was renamed The Twickenham Stoop in 2005.
Harlequins play in the Aviva Premiership, which they won in season 2011-12 and, at the time of writing, were lying in fourth place in the current season. The team also competes in the Heineken Cup, the prestigious European tournament, and the LV= Cup, of which they are current holders.
The pitch at The Stoop is maintained by Nurture Landscapes who employ 200 employees working out of twenty-one depots across the UK. The site is overseen by their Contracts Manager, Nick Ebelthite, with Head Groundsman, Paul Sykes, looking after all day-to-day tasks.
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Telephone: 01952 898516 148 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014
Nick trained at Merrist Wood College, covering various aspects in Horticulture, whilst Paul completed an HND in Turf Science and Golf Course
Nick Ebelthite Management at Myerscough.
Paul was originally the head groundsman at the Stoop and, whilst he retains that title, he is now contracted through Nurture. Previously, he was head groundsman at AFC Wimbledon.
“I work very closely with my Director, Paul Bean, and Stadium Management at Harlequins,” explains Nick, “and we have to consider the requirements for the ground throughout the year.”
“The pitch was built on an old recreation ground, so the profile is not ideal. It’s mainly sandy loam, but we do have clay around 400mm down. We have worked very hard in recent years to help ameliorate more sand into the profile, and we are hoping to carry out major renovations in the near future, when finances allow. At the moment, there’s nothing more than basic primary and secondary drainage systems.”
“Harlequins does have to operate as a business,” continues Nick. “So we are often managing additional pitch usage, from community to corporate events to international games.”
“The maintenance regimes are fairly straightforward. We can be cutting three times a week or more, depending on growth, maintaining a height of cut of 38mm, and we’ll also verticut fortnightly in the growing season. We do have to verti- drain on a weekly basis during the wetter months as we have an issue with black layer and organic particles in the top surface which stops efficient drainage. We linemark at least once a week depending on the
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