Winter Sports - Football
“
I see the undersoil heating as more a grass management tool that will allow me to get the soil temperatures up quickly coming out of winter
The AFC Bournemouth groundstaff l-r: James Lathwell, Dan Sutherland, Dan Gonzalez and Rob Wilcox
the coming season. The first game is at home to Aston Villa, followed by Liverpool and West Ham away. She will be on the coach. The first couple of things one notices on
arrival are the recently landscaped and extended car parking facilities and the name Goldsands on the stadium frontage; it will, though, forever be Dean Court in the minds of the fans. It is at the south end of the stadium where occasional visitors like myself will notice the biggest change. Where once was temporary seating, there is now the Ted MacDougall Stand, a structure that not only completes the stadium, but gives recognition to ‘Supermac’ for his services to the club. He once scored nine goals in an 11-0 win over Margate in the FA Cup back in 1971, a record that, not surprisingly, still stands. Additionally, waste ground between the Goldsands and the athletics arena now houses two training pitches and two small, caged 3G pitches. Much of this work was initiated for their
james Lathwell
Surely, Premier League is what every groundsman would like to have on their CV
”
AFC Bournemouth’s Premier League pitch under germination sheets in late June
86 I PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015
promotion to the Championship at the end of the 2012/13 season, as was the purchase
of four TLS lighting rigs - three TLS160s and one TLS80 - plus the installation of a Fibresand pitch which, at the time of my visit, was under germination sheets having undergone a thorough renovation. As a prerequisite of the Premier League, undersoil heating was also installed. Bournemouth is now the most southerly of
Premier League clubs, having usurped that honour from Southampton, and James confirms that he has only had to use frost covers twice in the last couple of years. “I see the undersoil heating as more a grass management tool that will allow me to maintain soil temperature and get the grass going quicker coming out of winter. That, and the lighting rigs, will ensure that I can keep strong grass cover throughout the season.” The rigs are positioned mainly along the
West and South stands where shadows are thrown across the pitch. They are moved every twenty-four hours. All stands have perspex roofs to allow as much light as possible to get to the pitch. “I’d like to get four more rigs in due course, but what I have
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