Winter Sports - Football
The Darts take on Norwich in a pre-season friendly
nailed his colours to the mast. “I only purchase Toro machines,” he confides, “those previously leased to golf courses, and try to replace them every three seasons.” His Toro Workhorse rotary and Toro
pedestrian mowers, carrying heavy rollers for tending the greens of Princes Park Golf Club, come in for regular duty on its nine holes. The synthetics are groomed and brushed
two to three times a week to ensure clubs and community groups stay loyal and keep hiring the pitches. The level of demand to date certainly suggests they will. Dartford’s first team, meanwhile, will train on the new 4G, whilst the two academy squads are scheduled to stage all their home games on it. “We’ll be staging at least four or five games a week on the pitch, so thorough maintenance is essential,” Andy stresses. Like its 3G predecessor, the 4G will be deep cleaned every eight to twelve weeks, Andy calling in specialists Replay as he does at present. “They use a brilliant piece of kit that removes the infill then re-topdresses the surface,” he enthuses. “We hold a UEFA match licence to enable us to stage European fixtures here and need to maintain standards to keep affiliated,” he adds. Although thriving in the Vanarama
National League South, Dartford is at the cutting edge of technology to ensure its facilities meet the European playing
“
standards that allow it to attract top footballing sides. Holding the UEFA licence puts Dartford in
line to attract big ticket fixtures - the England C team plays at Princes Park stadium, as did Benfica and Galatasaray recently in the International Premier League Cup, the U21 equivalent of the Champions League. “You always need a stadium pitch to stage
these games,” Andy explains “but the bigger clubs do not always want to take them on.” Understandable perhaps, given Academy and other playing commitments, but Dartford, for one, would not wish to shun lucrative gate receipts any time soon. Then there are the pre-season friendlies - another source of revenue. Millwall played Norwich here on 17th July and the Canaries, relegated from the Premiership in May, returned for more action on the 30th, this time against ‘The Darts’ themselves. With the new 4G full-size synthetic pitch
planned to replace the existing 3G surface soon, and two junior 4G playing areas to tend as well as the stadium natural turf surface, Andy Gibbins and his two trusty assistants, Michael Sheehy and Ben Francis, based full-time at the stadium, keep busy ensuring the facilities are primed for sport. That’s necessary to attract healthy
revenue from extensive community hire and match fees - income that has given the club
the cash to afford to upgrade the original 3G rubber-crumb-filled pitch to 4G status, with its longer, thicker pile. As you’d expect at a club that is a model of
sustainable football, the hierarchy at Dartford FC is as much a stickler when it comes to pitch presentation as Andy and the team. “First team manager Tony Burman likes his
lines to be pristine,” states the 45-year-old head groundsman. He uses a range of marker liquid grades available that provide a strong line for televised fixtures. “Delivering a long-lasting, super bright result that looks the business is important. We use around two tubs each fortnight to three weeks, marking out for every game, of course.” The turfcare team also find that aerosol linemarking paint comes in handy for applying a crisp white penalty spot, Andy adds. “Concentrated liquids in a can have come on leaps and bounds in recent years. We prepare a template for the penalty spot then spray on the paint for the result the manager and the players expect.” He prefers delivering the paint by spray linemarkers; “they are easier to use when making up the liquid from the tub, whilst wheel to wheel machines waste too much paint.” His current model is two years old now, typically a time to consider a replacement, which Andy has in his sights.
We hold a UEFA match licence to enable us to stage European fixtures here and need to maintain standards to keep affiliated
Footgolf at Princes Park 76 I PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016
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