FOOTBALL
As soon as people realise
it’s not just sitting on your jacksie on a ride-on mower, and that it is a profession which involves a lot of thought, planning and skill, we will all be better off
Construction of the site in July 2018
system on a timer, with forty-eight sprinkler heads giving us twenty-four per pitch. The bowser was fed from the mains hydrant on the road, which we gained permission for from the water board. We set the sprinklers on a timed programme, but we had to move them every other day or they would kill the grass. It was a seven-day operation once the grass came through, with so much time spent moving the hoses and sprinklers off just so we could cut the pitch - and then we had to put them all back on again. It was a relentless task. And we also had the academy pitches to think about. If we had pop-up irrigation, the time and money saved in working hours and the hiring of the equipment would have seen the club well on the way to getting their money back by now. It’s a no brainer.”
Aerial of new ground
Scott, alongside his apprentice and two part-time staff working sixteen hours per week, must maintain two old cricket outfields (which are used for warm-ups), five full-sized pitches, two smaller 9 v 9 and 7 v 7 pitches. The club is also looking to extend the site by installing three more full-size
pitches in the next twelve months. “We have already got the land, and the chairman’s vision is to put a state of the art pitch in where one of the cricket outfields is situated so that they can play under-23 games.” So how will the new pitches be constructed? “That’s the argument we are having now. We are looking at Desso, SIS, Hero and a few other options but, in the end, it all comes down to money. If you don’t spend it, you don’t get the pitch. I believe if we don’t get it right at the beginning, it will just come back and bite us. If we can’t afford to do it right this year, save the money for next year. Do it once and do it right.”
There are no frost covers available to Scott, but it is rare that training won’t go ahead on a frosty morning. “We are pretty lucky here, to be honest. It’s not very often the frost will stay in the ground; most of the time it is gone by ten o’clock.” Scott took the brave step to carry out a substantial renovation on the first team pitches this season to try and alleviate some of the problems they were having.
Apprentice Toby (18) with Alan (63) who works part-time
72 PC December/January 2020
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