New App For Groundsmen

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New App For Groundsmen: The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation are ramping up efforts to improve the quality of grass pitches in England with the launch of the Football Foundation Groundskeeping Community app.

The new platform provides a resource of expert advice for grounds staff, enabling them to connect with peers, discover new tips and tricks and share advice on best industry practice. Users can seek guidance from the IOG’s Regional Pitch Advisors, who are available to answer questions and update members on changes to industry standards.

New App For Groundsmen

The system is entirely free to use and will feature regular new content, with videos from high-profile groundskeepers, such as Wembley Stadium’s Karl Standley, case studies and the latest in groundskeeping techniques.

Developed in partnership with the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) and run through Hive Learning, Europe’s leading peer learning platform, the site represents the latest step of the Football Foundation’s Grass Pitch Programme, which aims to ensure every affiliated football fixture in England is played on a quality football pitch.

Karl Standley, Wembley Stadium Head Groundsman said: “Whether it’s Wembley or your local community football pitch, groundkeepers all face the same challenges.

“I think it’s great that we can now all come together on this new platform to share these challenges and help each other find solutions. We are all aware of the importance of improving the state of pitches in this country and this is a great step to making a long-lasting difference.”

Geoff Webb, IOG CEO said: “This is the culmination of over five years of work within our partnership with both the Football Foundation and The FA via the Grounds and Natural Turf Improvement Programme and will complement the invaluable pitch-maintenance service that the Regional Pitch Advisors provide for volunteers at grassroots football clubs.

Dean Potter, Director of Grant Management at the Football Foundation, said: “The majority of community football is played on grass pitches and it’s a priority for us that we are able to sustain this.”

“We know how important football facilities are in transforming lives and bringing communities together and this platform will enable us to build a new groundskeeper community that will provide huge benefits for people across the country.”

For more information, go to http://thefa.hivelearning.com/groundskeeping.

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Trophy For Alfreton Groundsman

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Trophy For Alfreton Groundsman: Alfreton Town’s Rob Brooks picked up the third place trophy in the National League category at the FA Groundsman of the Year Awards.

Boreham Wood claimed first place with Chesterfield in second.

The Impact Arena is widely recognised up and down the country for its stunning surface and being one of the best non league surfaces outside the football league.

With the likes of Nottingham Forest, Mansfield Town and Burton Albion using the surface for their youth teams, the Impact surface was recently selected to host the England U18s as they face Korea Republic in September.

We send our huge congratulations to Rob for his amazing hard work throughout the season and during the close seasons. His commitment and dedication to his work has been recognised with a fantastic award as our pitch surface gains even more recognition!

The Groundsman of the Year awards is a nationwide competition for non-league football groundsmen.

The awards recognise the contribution of these unsung heroes, who work in all weather, often as volunteers, all year round, to make sure that thousands of matches can take place on a high standard of playing surface and with a very limited budget.

The FA has a panel of judges – professional groundsmen themselves – who look at the quality of the pitch while also taking into consideration the skills and knowledge of the groundsman, their ambitions for the pitch, the resources available, how often the pitch is used, and the amount of time they are able to work on the pitch.

Chairman Wayne Bradley on Rob’s award:

“Congratulations go out to our groundsman, who continues to provide the impact arena with a playing surface to grace the game at a testing range of both local and international levels. We are all at Alfreton Town football club, quite rightly very proud of Rob Brooks ( the groundsman) who continues to set the bar to the highest standard in playing surface presentation.”

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Tributes Paid To Gary Lewis

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Tributes Paid To Gary Lewis: Tributes have been paid to former Blackpool FC groundsman Gary Lewis, who has tragically passed away.

His son Mark has taken to Twitter to reveal the sad news, saying he and his family are “in shock”.

Lewis joined Blackpool as groundsman in May of last year, having previously spent three years with Macclesfield Town.

He left Bloomfield Road in April.

His son Mark posted on social media: “It’s with the heaviest broken heart that I have to tweet that my hero and best friend and father Gary Lewis has passed away.

“He worked for Utd, Swinton, Salford, Accy, Macclesfield and Blackpool to name a few.

“My family is in shock but so proud of our amazing man. Sleep tight Dad.”

Several Twitter users replied to the post sharing their condolences.

“We are very sad to hear this news,” the club said.

“Our thoughts and condolences go out to you and your family, Mark.

“Rest in peace, Gary.”

Robert Heys, head of partnerships at Blackpool, tweeted: “Gutted to hear the news that Gary Lewis has sadly passed away.

“It was a genuine privilege to have known and worked with him at Accrington, Macclesfield and Blackpool.

“A lovely kind-hearted man who always had a smile to share. Hope you can watch tonight. Will miss you mate.”

Paul Grimshaw replied: “Only knew him for a few months but a really top bloke.”

Simon Muggleton said: “Gary seemed a decent bloke and was always offering people to go and have a chat with him while at Blackpool. All the best to the family.”

Tom Kirk added: “Thoughts go out to you and the family he will be missed.”

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Kassam Pitch Delights Robinson

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Kassam Pitch Delights Robinson: Oxford United manager Karl Robinson has praised the work done this summer to make improvements in the pitch at the Kassam Stadium.

Oxford United’s home game with Peterborough United marks the surface’s competitive debut, following extensive refurbishment during the off-season.

A good pitch is essential for the way the U’s want to play and boss Robinson (pictured) went out of his way to praise the work commissioned by landlords Firoka.

He said: “The pitch at the Kassam is one of the best I’ve seen for a long time. The investment from Firoka and everybody at the stadium has been more than ever this year.

“I think they understood where we were at and what our complaints were.

“You have to give credit where it’s due and the pitch is magnificent.”

United have also made changes to one of the pitches at their training ground to make it as close to a carbon copy as possible.

He said: “The groundsman (at the Kassam) came to the training ground to test the ball bounce and the thickness of the grass.

“We do want one pitch here which is almost a replica of the Kassam.

“We can have the same dimensions and grass length, so the two groundsmen are working well together.

“It’s something the top teams do and it’s not always something that happens the further you come down.

“It’s little things that can add to us being a better club moving forward.”

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Pitch Damaged After Concert

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Pitch Damaged After Concert: Pundit Michael Stewart has revealed his dismay at the condition of Hearts’ pitch after the club hosted an Edinburgh Festival concert a week ago today.

The damage appears to have been done when the stadium was the venue for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra on August 3. It saw a crowd of more than 15,000 arrive in Gorgie to witness the official opening of the world renowned arts festival.

Hearts laid the state-of-the-art hybrid pitch at a cost of £1m in March and Stewart took to Twitter to register his displeasure at it’s apparent poor health.

He said: “What a crying shame the Tynecastle park looks like this.

“Have spoken with the groundsmen and thankfully they seem to be comfortable that the park will recover and quickly. Fingers crossed.

“£1million spent last year on this park and it was tremendous. The groundsmen deserved huge credit and now it looks destroyed before the league campaign has even started here.”

Hearts released a statement on Tuesday after pictures emerged on social media showing the apparent extent of damage done to the pitch by the Festival event.

The statement said: “Prior to agreeing to host the concert, we took advice from a number of expert sources, including the companies involved in laying the pitch.

“Our pitch consultants, STRI Group, were contracted to advise and manage the pitch protection process on our behalf, working throughout with our own groundstaff.

“We have always known that the event would have an impact on the aesthetics of the pitch, however, there would be no impact on its playability.

“In short, there have been no unforeseen issues relating to the pitch and the first team will train on it, as usual, on Friday.”

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