Petition Started After Southend United Groundsman Is Sacked

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Bolton Wanderers fans have been left angered at the news that long-term Southend United head groundsman Ken Hare has been sacked after the EFL League Two clash between the two sides was postponed on Saturday [January 21] due to a frozen pitch.

It was the first match to be called-off at the club’s Roots Hall Stadium since January 2013, but despite the ground staff’s best efforts to beat the plummeting temperatures with covers and heaters, the referee deemed the surface unplayable shortly before 11am on match-day.

After that decision, Southend United’s head groundsman of 27 years, Mr Hare, was informed that he had been dismissed from his position.

A Southend United club statement about Mr Hare’s sacking stated that: “People generally lose their position as a result of not doing their job. The necessary decision surrounding Mr Hare was a disappointment and of course not taken lightly.

“Very FEW people have been dismissed at this football club over the past 20 years and that even extends to Managers”

Now, the Bolton fans that made the wasted 500 mile round-trip from Greater Manchester to Essex have started an online petition to try and help Mr Hare to be reinstated by the the Shrimpers – claiming that it was a disappointing outcome but Mr Hare did not deserve to lose his job.

The introduction of the petition reads: “On Saturday 21st January 2017, the football pitch at Roots hall, home of Southend United FC was deemed unplayable and the match against Bolton Wanderers was postponed leaving hundreds of Bolton fans having to travel back home.

“Head groundsman for Southend United, Ken Hare, has since been sacked after 27 years in the job for what was probably a simple error of judgement.

“We Bolton fans are disgusted with this and want to work together to get him his job back. It is always disappointing when a match is postponed but he does not deserve to lose his job which we are all sure he was very good at just for this.

“Stand up for Ken and let’s show what a fantastic fan base we can be.”

The petition currently has over 600 supporters as it chases a target of 1000 signatures before sending it directly to Southend United.

Club Car Drives Dubai Golf’s Customer Service

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Dubai Golf, a leisure subsidiary owned by wasl Asset Management Group, has further underlined its commitment to proactive, five-star customer service by investing in a new fleet of electric utility vehicles from Club Car, an official supplier of The European Tour.

Delivered by Club Car’s distributor and partner in the Middle East, Hydroturf International, the emission-free Carryall® and Villager® electric utility vehicles will be used at two of the most established and internationally-renowned golf resorts in the UAE.

The fleet will operate at both Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, situated on the shores of the creek and host venue of The European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic on two occasions, as well as Emirates Golf Club, home to the Majilis Course, the first all-grass championship golf course in the Middle East, which hosts The European Tour’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic and the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters on the Ladies European Tour.

Craig Haldane, Director of Golf Course Maintenance at Dubai Golf, said: “We use our utility vehicles on a daily basis and for a variety of purposes, from assisting the course operations team with morning set up and year-round turf care, which is essential in this part of the world, to ensuring our guests have access to refreshments while on the course.

“Given such requirements and regular usage, we needed vehicles that can cope, and with the brand reputation, reliability and performance offered by Club Car, particularly with its Carryall® vehicles, it made the choice of adopting them a really easy one to make.”

Dubai Golf’s new electric fleet utilises Club Car’s industry-leading on-board charger. Its integrated cord retractor, which comes as standard, is designed to reach efficiency levels of 91% as a result of its intelligent algorithm that modifies the charge cycles depending on the vehicles’ needs, ensuring golf courses minimise environmental impact.

“From an operator’s perspective, the advanced technology within Club Car’s electric engine is an absolute necessity,” continued Craig.

“It not only enables us to use the vehicles throughout the day, it also ensures we are able to move around the site quickly, quietly and efficiently, minimising disruption to our members and guests, ultimately enabling us to provide the service that is expected from a world-class golf course.”

In addition to supplying the vehicle fleet, Club Car and Hydroturf International also provide Dubai Golf with after-care maintenance and periodic service support, including regular brake and battery checks, and charging station inspections.

The order with Dubai Golf further confirms Club Car’s leading position in the Middle East with additional prestigious clients in the region including Jumeirah Golf Estates and The Address Montgomerie in Dubai, as well as Yas Links, Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in Abu Dhabi.

Otterbine Soaring High at Eagle Resorts

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Thanks to the Otterbine Gemini proving itself reliable as a water aerator and display fountain in lakes at Tracy Park Golf and Country Hotel, Old Thorns Golf Club and Lythe Hill Hotel, estates manager Kevin Boxall says Otterbine is a firm part of Eagle Resorts, the parent company’s, future plans as it looks to increase its portfolio from 12 golf courses and hotels to 20 within the next three years.

“We are a rapidly growing company with plans for group expansion and investment in our existing venues,” says Kevin. “I am responsible for overseeing the works on all our sites and for specifically managing a £2 million investment in Tracy Park in Wick, near Bath, as we develop it into one of the nicest golfing destinations in the UK.”

With such a big job it is important for Kevin, who has been estates manager with the Eagle Resorts, which also owns Castlemarty in Cork, Ireland and Chart Hills in Kent for two years, to have trustworthy and reliable suppliers and products. Otterbine contractor TopTurf Irrigation has been working with Kevin for many years providing “excellent service and installation and only providing us with a product suitable for our requirements,” says Kevin.

The product concerned is of course Otterbine: “We have used Otterbines on all our courses for many years and we’re very happy with the product, quality of workmanship and after-sales care. Otterbine comes highly recommended by our irrigation company TopTurf and over the years it has proved itself to be reliable, providing the display we require and keeping the water in our multiple venues clean and clear.”

Designed to give the best of both worlds by offering function and beauty, the Gemini surface spray aerator can operate in as little as 75cm of water and can move over three times as much water than decorative patterns, thanks to its open-throat propellor design. It is particularly popular with golf courses and commercial complexes thanks to its ability to provide an attractive display, including three pattern options including the Sunburst and Saturn displays alongside the Gemini, with the capability to easily manage aquatic environments.

With short-term plans for “a few more Otterbine installations at Tracy Park” and long-term plans extending to Otterbines for the “other golf courses we will be buying in the coming years”, one thing Kevin can be sure about over the major development and investment work and expansion on the cards it’s reliability and quality, plus clean, clear, healthy water and a fountain display to appeal to all wherever he chooses to install an Otterbine Gemini.

Winter a thing of the past at Wembley, thanks to Bernhard

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Achieving optimum spring and summer growing conditions year round can now be achieved at Wembley Stadium thanks to Bernhard’s innovative SubAir aeration and moisture control system. Wembley’s hectic fixture and events schedule creates a unique set of issues for FA Head of Grounds and Estates, Alan Ferguson. The grass is often covered for events, effectively starving the plant of essential nutrients, sometimes giving Alan and his team just three weeks to complete renovations and grow-in new turf to get the pitch match ready. 

Whilst grow lights and Bernhard’s TurfBreeze fans play their part in this remarkable turnaround, the award winning groundsman believes SubAir to be the biggest contributing factor in promoting a healthier root zone and a stronger plant, enabling Alan and his team to rapidly grow-in a new pitch, especially during the winter months.

“My first time seeing surfaces that used SubAir Systems was at Augusta National Golf Course and New York Mets’ City Field,” Alan begins.

“I was impressed by the cleanliness of the root zone because there were no disorders or black layer in them. They had very little or no fungal activity, the oxygen levels were high and it seemed to be a whole new way to aerate the root zone without having to use a machine on the surface. 

“Without disrupting the surface we can deliver one of the most effective aeration programmes in the country because we’re not going to put machines on the pitch. I had a desire to keep a spring/summer feel to the root zone all year-round to help deal with the recovery from the intensity of the programme the pitch has to endure. 

“Now we have great growing conditions all year-round, we’ve essentially eliminated winter. We’re producing more grass now than we were in July and August, consequently we only use Spring and Summer products on the pitch because we don’t have the issues you’d associate with winter. We are effectively producing the pitch 100% artificially

“We wanted to hold the root zone temperature at 16-17 Celsius, and by doing that we can germinate grass seed within 4 to 5 days compared to the normal 10-14 days, so that gives us quite an advantage in germination times.”

The Sub Air System brings many benefits including the ability to control the temperature of the root zone. It allows users to easily manage water usage whilst controlling the water delivery to the root system. Excessive rainfall can also be dealt with by using the system to take the water down through the root zone 36x faster than any other method.

Being able to provide the optimum balance of oxygen and moisture to the root zone is integral when growing and maintaining world class playing surfaces such as Wembley.  Alan’s initial desire to quickly grow-in a new pitch, even during the winter months, has been realised. 

He explains: “We are here at the darkest, coldest time of the year [November to January] and we have a standard of pitch that you would expect in July and August. It’s put us in such a different place, to the point that we’re considering taking on additional events, and we’re confident we can manage that now.

“We had comments from CSKA Moscow before they played Tottenham in November saying they thought the pitch was as good as first day of season. We wouldn’t have been able to do that if we couldn’t manipulate and control the root zone, thanks to SubAir we now have optimal growing conditions year round.”