Winter Sports - Football
much of the harder snowy weather as they get on some of Telford’s higher ground, thankfully. That’s the benefit of being in the sort of dip in which Wellington [AFC Telford’s village, at the northern edge of the town] rests.
Could you talk us through your general maintenance regimes?
I like to do some form of aeration at least twice per month. The cutting season is just starting, but over the winter I very rarely cut it, as even when it does grow, we like that extra length for protection. Through the summer, we’re cutting seven days per week with a Ransomes 36” walk‐behind, and a Kubota Cut and Collect. We don’t do any scarification, because the clippings come off the pitch and is frequently brushed, so nothing lies atop, and the thatch starts off low anyway.
Are there any projects you’ve got planned besides fixing the pipes?
We’ve got a bit of work ahead of us, because we’re wanting to move the irrigation into the centre of the pitch. We’ll have some pop‐ups installed there. After those two days, we’ll be redoing the pitch, and it has to be ready after a turnaround of about seven weeks, so that doesn’t give us very long on a tighter budget. After that, we’ll go through an intense period of fertilisation in June/July, maybe three times per month.
How do you deal with weeds and pests?
If there are any major problems with weeds in the pitch, plantain or anything like that, ALS is called in. They spray for it. I’ve got no storage for chemicals or sprayers, as we run on limited
storage, so it’s worth the little investment to just
50 I PC APRIL/MAY 2018
ask for a hand in that. We don’t have to worry about everything that comes with the materials, then.
And what do you use when you mark out?
I mark out, depending on the number of games, up to twice per week, with a transfer wheel on strings. That’s usually white, but we use a blue one when we mark out the little pitch on which the youth teams can play.
Do you prefer it to look good or play well?
I like it to look great, but that’s not the most important thing. If the players enjoy the pitch and play well on it, that’s an investment and it’ll only be good for everyone, including me in the long run.
Is the pitch used for any other purpose?
Those junior games are every now and then, and of course there are the Wolves U‐23s games, but we also have the reserve and youth Telford teams playing here. We haven’t got any concerts lined up at the moment, but we’ve had to deal with a few in the past. It’s been spoken about taking up again.
Do you approve?
No [laughing]. If they want it
financially, though, it will happen and rightly so. Believe it or not, about eight years ago, we had a kabaddi tournament in June, right after we’d redone the pitch at the end of the season. The oils from their feet wrecked the place, because they don’t wear anything on their feet. Anyway, if
they book in some concerts or whatever, that will help the funds. The one thing is that you have to be careful with how you organise the infrastructure. Last time was just after the drainage had gone in and, clearly undertaking the two jobs the wrong way around, they then brought huge cherry pickers onto the pitch. That’s our lead culprit for how the drainage got cracked. Simple things like planning in which order you get jobs done can make all the difference to whether they’re successful.
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