Sports & Recreation Clubs
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The international standard water based hockey pitch is FIH certified and has been designed specifically for elite level hockey
Both hockey pitches are FIH certified “The bowling green renovations include a
light scarify in three directions, with a final, more severe pass with the Rotorake, then two passes with seeding heads and two bags of bent fescue mix brushed in and four tonnes of local sand dragmatted in.” However, when it comes to the rugby
pitches and the transformation required to the cricket outfield, this provides the biggest challenge for Philip and his team. “This is one of the hardest parts of the job, as there is usually only one or two weeks between the end of the rugby season and the start of the cricket preseason games around the second Saturday in April.” “Normally, we would spread about twenty bags of 16:16:16 fertiliser onto the rugby/cricket outfield in mid March. This is followed by Primo Maxx growth retardant.” “We would start cutting and rolling the rugby pitches with a Major 8400 roller mower cutting deck at the start of April, depending on ground conditions. The deck has two rollers and plenty of weight, so does a good job of levelling, before we would vertidrain to a depth of 8-10 inches.” “Contractors then apply 120 tonnes of sand and direct seed with ten bags of a rye
Changing weather patterns do not really affect our work. There’s no global warming in Northern Ireland, I can assure you
” The Pavilion clubhouse 50 I PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015
blend seed. We then spend a day brushing and dragmatting the sand to try and disperse it into the profile.” "I have found, over the last three years,
that the Primo Maxx works well at this time of year by controlling the amount of cutting required while the sand is still on the surface, thus reducing wear on the machines.” “Obviously, with finances being stretched, finding other products is a constant dilemma but, so far, the standards have not dropped, which is something we are very pleased about.”
But all the team’s good work faces its own challenges with some of the events that are held on the pitches throughout the year. “We have a few events each summer, such as the UK and European pipe band championships, which take place on the main cricket outfield. If they aren’t monitored properly, the machinery used to set up can damage the turf, as we have found out to our cost on a few occasions!” Changing weather patterns do not really
affect the team and their work. “There’s no global warming in Northern Ireland, I can assure you,” Philip laughed.
Philip takes cores of all grass surfaces twice a year to check on root depth as part of his maintenance regime. However, on the artificial surfaces there is,
of course, a different programme in place. “We operate a weekly brushing programme of the 3G pitches all year round using a drag brush, and use a Wiedenmann sweeper to lift debris - on a two week basis in summer and weekly in winter.” “We also top up the levels of rubber crumb in the autumn and spring seasons. However, the most difficult time is in autumn, when the leaves are falling. The playball facility (hockey and 3G pitches) are surrounded by trees and hedges, so it’s a constant battle to keep the surfaces clean and tidy.” There are some projects ongoing at The
Pavilion, including work on the cricket square. “Relaying of the cricket square has been going on for five years, with two club wickets being relayed per year to a depth of 3.5 inches using GOSTD 125 and Supernatural loams. “I started this on the club wickets with no
experience of relaying wickets. I was just going on some information from Tom
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