Winter Sports - Football
Five months of unpredictable weather and dual use at the DW Stadium has meant that Dave Saltman and the Wigan team have had to pull out all the stops to get the pitch through the winter.
In this article, he details the products used and the work undertaken to ensure that the Warriors and Latics both have the best possible playing surface for the return of rugby league’s Super League in February and the final weeks of the EFL Championship respectively
M
y first article this season at the DW Stadium in Wigan took us up to the end of August, but didn’t include an application of 150kg Maxwell
Advanced 14:2:7 which went on to the pitch 30th August. The lads then prepped the surface, double mowing and marking out ready for the Wigan Warriors vs Widnes Rugby League game on the 1st September, the 11th fixture of the season. After repairs on the Monday, the pitch was
sprayed with 40kg of Sol Control 26:0:26 and 2.5 litres of Primo Maxx. On the 5th, the Latics decided to have
their training session at the stadium after team photos to save the players travelling too much.
On the 7th, Rob Woods applied 2.5 litres
of Heritage Maxx; disease had just started to creep into the sward again and it wasn’t taking up nutrients as it should. After the chemical had dried, the verti-drain was
hitched up and we aerated on a tight pattern in first gear with 80 degree heave. On the 8th, the verti-draining was finished
off, alongside a ProCore spiking operation at 65mm centres which was perfect timing as heavy showers started to blow in with 5mm of rain later that day. More rain continued for the next few days, so we got an application of 180kg Maxwell Premier 12:0:6 spread.
On the 14th, thunder and lightning and another 6.5mm of rain descended. On the 15th, we applied 40 litres of Biomass Sugar and 20 litres of Sea Action seaweed. The pitch was taking the rainfall well and the lads prepared the pitch up to the 17th for the Latics vs. Fulham game. After games, any major divoting was done and the pitch rotary mowed. Any sand/seed divot repairs were carried out the next day and, on the 19th, the lads worked on all the surrounding pitch side storm drains, clearing out debris, while Rob verti-drained the pitch again. On the 21st, we applied a half rate 140kg
PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 I 49
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