Volunteers ‘Disheartened’ After Pitch Vandalism

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Volunteers ‘Disheartened’ After Pitch Vandalism: Volunteers at an amateur football club have been left “disheartened” after vandals rode across their pitch on off-road motorcycles.

After going to check the pitch at Breightmet Wanderers’ Dolan Park on Sunday morning, a member of the club spotted long tyre trails across the turf.

The pitches, off Newby Road, have been left open to the public since the team took ownership of them around two years ago but club secretary Andy Fearnley said they might have to be closed off following the “frustrating” vandalism.

He said: “It’s something I don’t want to do because it’s there for the community to use but it’s just a shame when something like this happens. We’re looking at closing it to the public if we have to.”

The pitch is used by nine teams, with age groups from under 8s to 17s playing games at Dolan Park. It is kept in shape by a team of volunteers from the club.

Mr Fearnley explained that, while the damage to the pitch was not extensive, it has caused concern.

He said: “On Saturday we had three sets of teams playing there, the under 8s, 9s and 10s, so if this had happened a day before then all of the games could’ve been cancelled.

” It’s not a major amount to fix depending on the weather but it’s all voluntary so when you turn up and see this it’s awful.”

He added: “There’s a difficult balance between providing a maintained pitch for our players and appreciating the need for a local community outside area but this makes me want to put barriers up.”

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Vandals Rip Up Furness GC

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Vandals Rip Up Furness GC: Golfers have called on the community to ‘grass up’ the mindless vandals who caused a ‘hole’ lot of damage on their course.

Over the last two decades officials at Furness Golf Club on Walney have had to contend with regular incidents of criminal damage on the greens.

These have ranged from someone using a pitchfork to leave a trail of holes across the course to fires being started in the gorse.

As a result the club has had to fork out thousands of pounds on repairs with the greenkeeper’s time spent painstakingly fixing the divots.

Greens chairman Jon Clarke said the club hopes the community will keep a close eye out for any culprits after the latest incident this week where wedges of turf had been pulled from the green.

“I can’t see what anyone would get out of it; it’s completely mindless and senseless,” he said.

“It’s been going on for the last 15 or 20 years; every year there’s been at least 10 examples of vandalism.

“We had one where it looked like somebody had gone across the green and used a pitchfork to put holes all over the place.

“Just four weeks ago the gorse was set on fire and it took 48 hours to put out. That’s not just a drain on our resources but also for the police and fire.”

Club members have spent hundreds of hours repairing the damage which also impacts on them indirectly through increased membership fees.

“It’s incredibly frustrating because all golf courses now are struggling to keep going and it is our members who end up having to pay for the repairs because we need to recoup the costs somehow,” Mr Clarke added.

Over the years club officials estimate they have spent half a million pounds repairing damage caused by vandals.

Every year maintenance of the course costs around £250,000.

Barrow Police have confirmed they are investigating reports of vandalism to the golf course.

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Gordon Moir To Take Top Post

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Gordon Moir To Take Top Post: Former St Andrews Links Trust director of greenkeeping Gordon Moir is in line to land a prestigious post in the industry where he made his mark.

The 60-year-old has accepted the nomination to become vice president of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association in 2020, with a view to becoming president the following year.

“I was absolutely delighted to be asked to be president of BIGGA,” said Moir, who retired from his position at St Andrews Links last December after a career that saw him involved with the hosting of more than 37 championships, including five Opens.

“To be honest, it was something that I really hoped would happen and I’m glad that my retirement has enabled me to accept this opportunity.

“I’ve tried to stay involved with the greenkeeping industry since retiring and so I’m really proud to be offered the chance to represent the association in this way and meet people from all over the country who I haven’t seen for a year or who I wouldn’t have met otherwise.”

Moir has previously served on the BIGGA National Board and is a former chairman of the association’s Scottish Region.

“There is so much available to members of BIGGA, such as getting involved with the various support teams or the numerous networking opportunities, and it can open up so many doors in your career,” he added.

“The association has done so much for me and I look forward to being the one talking to members and spreading that message.”

l Scotland are joint second after the opening round of the European Senior Men’s Team Championship at Rungsted Golfklub in Denmark.

Ronnie Clark led the way for the Scots with a two-under-par 70, the best round of the day along with Dane Bjorn Norgaard, and was backed up by an equally impressive 71 from Stewart Henderson.

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Tributes To Stalwart Willie Duffy

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Tributes To Stalwart Willie Duffy: Stenhousemuir Cricket Club paid tribute to one of its greatest stalwarts Willie Duffy, who died last Friday, aged 83.

Willie joined the club in 1952. He was a steady medium paced swing bowler. He had some spectacular success such as the occasion when he took six wickets against Watsonians at Myreside and when he accounted for Scottish batsman Hamish More in the Masterton Trophy Final.

He became 2nd XI captain in 1972. He later became a dominant president of the club until his retirement in 2001 and was very proud of the club’s successes. He looked after the ground so well that he was honoured by Cricket Scotland as Groundsman of the Year.

Willie Duffy was the heart and soul of the club. He was just always there. Nothing gave him greater pleasure than to see young players doing well, unless it was enjoying a convivial afternoon in the bar with all the regulars.

It is difficult to put Willie Duffy into words. He simply was Stenhousemuir Cricket Club and will be really sadly missed. Our thoughts go out to his widow, Molly, so long Captain of the Tea Ladies, and all other family at this time.

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Twickenham’s New Head Groundsperson

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Twickenham’s New Head Groundsperson: The RFU has appointed Jim Buttar as Twickenham Stadium’s head groundsperson, a role he began on 2nd September. 

Jim has over 20 years’ experience in grounds maintenance. He was head groundsman at Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane for 11 years and deputy head for three years during which time he was awarded the Institute of Groundmanship (IOG) Premier League Groundsman of the Year two years in a row.

He more recently worked as an International Sports Turf Development Manager for Pro Pitch. This role saw Jim provide consultancy to leading sports associations and organisations in the delivery of major events and tournaments including the UEFA Champions League Final in 2018 and 2019, the Euro 2020 host venue in Budapest plus the FIFA Club World Cup and Asian Cup 2019.

Jim brings a wealth of experience, particularly around new technologies and the effect of pitch surfaces on player performance and recovery.  Jim will use his extensive knowledge of pitch maintenance to support grassroots rugby clubs via the Rugby Groundsmen Connected network.

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