Better weather and lighter evenings will offer improved conditions during the summer switch
changes to licensing and smoking laws; competing leisure opportunities; changes in immediate community de- mographics. All have contributed to a changed environment for club manag- ers and some have struggled to cope. Changing facilities: These are gen-
erally poor. Funding is not available for total renewal but a lot could be done through, for example, Sport England’s ‘Inspired Facilities’ programme to make simple improvements to club fa- cilities that would improve comfort. Access to other facilities for training
and development: This relates to a drive to move away from intensive training on club pitches, often under a single floodlight – moving towards the use of parks and other alternative training facilities – including artificial surfaces. It was however, poor natural playing
surfaces that dominated. The strategy identified a potential scenario whereby poor winter surfaces are overplayed, of- ten devoid of grass, rutted and subject to waterlogging and become equally poor summer surfaces that are bone hard. More worryingly, playing surfaces have gener- ally been getting very little in the way of regular maintenance. Too often the
Issue 4 2011 © cybertrek 2011
A SUSTAINED PROGRAMME
OVER A 10-YEAR PERIOD WILL BE REQUIRED TO IMPROVE, MAINTAIN AND SUSTAIN PLAYING SURFACES
comment was: “The grass rarely gets cut [if there is any], it is occasionally spiked and seed thrown down once a year.”
ADDRESSING THE SITUATION The RFL has acted promptly to address the situation. Under the guise of its recently established Playing Surfaces Group, which also draws on the external expertise of the Institute of Grounds- manship (IOG) and the England and Wales Cricket Board, advice to clubs has improved dramatically. RFL facilities manager Carol Doran has
lead the development of performance quality specifications for both natural turf and artificial surfaces. Advice has been issued to clubs on the
switch to summer rugby league. More than 60 community clubs have had an
expert-led pitch remediation sur- vey, resulting in the RFL potentially supporting a £5,000 improvement package by professionals at each club. Gent says: “The site assessments
have now been completed and we are ready to announce the autumn remediation programme.” In addition, more than 25 National Conference League clubs at Tier Three
have recently attended grounds mainte- nance courses organised by the RFL and the IOG. All community clubs will get the opportunity to undertake the course. Ian Lacy, head of professional servic-
es at the IOG says: “The two inaugural courses were a great success. It was a real eye-opener for some of the attend- ees who had not previously had any grounds care training. We were also able to discuss potential help to clubs through central buying of items such as seed and sand, and how essential machinery might be pooled and shared.“ Gent is optimistic about the future.
“We’ve acknowledged the issues but know that a sustained programme over a 10-year period will be required to improve, main- tain and sustain the playing surfaces. The summer switch will be the first test.” ●
Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital 55
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84