FOOTBALL


Due to the current


conditions, sourcing a pump wasn’t easy, as demand outstripped supply and Jon Jinks had to prove his worth to get one and repair our system double quick


” Spaying our concotions


bare of any irrigating products! I called in Osprey to investigate the irrigation issues we had, and they found that the pump was knackered, operating at less than 50%, so was only putting out 4 bar pressure instead of the required 8 bar for the effective use of the pop-up system. Whilst old, the pump had probably been damaged with the two icy bouts endured during the Beast from the East days in the winter.


Again, due to the current conditions, sourcing a pump wasn’t easy, as demand outstripped supply and Jon Jinks had to prove his worth to get one and repair our system double quick. However, the new pump also highlighted issues with some of our pipework and valve boxes, so these then needed to be excavated and replaced. We also had to change the nozzles on the pop-ups to reach the optimum flow rates that the new pump was able to provide. All of this was going on as the clock ticked down to the first game.


Another few days of all-day watering, and with daytime temperatures in the 30s, there


We had started mowing, first with rotary mowers and then cylinders, to thicken up the grass. Any small patches were seeded by hand and we literally drained our irrigation tank dry every single day trying to keep enough moisture in the surface


” Regular mowing and pitch thickening up early July 86 PC October/November 2018


was little germination in these areas, so we decided to over sow with a further 100kgs of seed.


By the time this grass started to come through, we were now less than three weeks from the first game. We had started mowing, first with rotary mowers and then cylinders, to thicken up the grass. Any small patches were seeded by hand and we literally drained our irrigation tank dry every single day trying to keep enough moisture in the surface. Our problems worsened at the training ground; the sustained hot, dry weather, was making it impossible to keep enough water on and near the surface, we have the same size water tank to irrigate nearly three times as much ground. The gravel bands were working against us and, despite continually filling and overseeding these lines, they just kept sinking and needing redoing. Following the team’s defeat at the


Wembley play off final, the manager had decided to up anchor and sail to the new surroundings of Championship Ipswich Town. Our new manager, John Askey, was in


place ready for the start of pre-season training, but clearly was not happy with the training ground, as indeed were we. Trying to explain to him that the installation of necessary additional secondary drainage, coincided with one of the longest periods of drought, didn’t seem to wash, so we weren’t off to the best of starts. With a finite amount of water and ground that sucked up any moisture that wasn’t evaporating immediately, made our life impossible. We took the decision to concentrate our efforts on the first team pitch only, but even doing this didn’t soften the ground up sufficiently to warrant us getting a verti-drain on to improve the levels. Topdressing the area again would have helped, but the funds were not availaible. We reverted to getting water across the whole ground, ensuring we could keep the grass alive. All I could offer was to verti-drain once the weather broke and the ground softened up somewhat. We were throwing everything we could at the stadium surface; in addition to daily mowing and irrigation, we were spraying a weekly concoction of Sea Action Seaweed,


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