Cromer Courts Among The Best

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Cromer Courts Among The Best: Cromer’s tennis players have always boasted that their 10 grass courts are amongst the best in the country – and now it is official.

Following a visit and inspection by an official from the LTA, the sport’s governing body, and an inspector from the Sports Turf Research Institute they have produced their official report which concludes that: “The grass courts at Cromer are some of the best grass courts in the UK. They are well managed, dominated by perennial ryegrass and are open for play for six months of the year. The courts and surrounds are always beautifully presented and are a credit to the grounds team.”

The LTA consider grass court venues such as Cromer to be very important for British tennis and believe it to be vital that events are played on grass throughout the summer and that all players, but especially juniors, have the opportunity to play on grass.

The objective of the Cromer site visit was to assess the quality of the playing surfaces and suitability for holding grass court tennis competitions. The inspectors conducted agronomic assessments of the playing surfaces as well as evaluating the maintenance regimes, staff levels and available machinery and equipment. They carried out a botanical analysis, a soil analysis, which involved soil samples being analysed in the Institute’s soils laboratory, and measured both the surface hardness and the soil moisture.

Amongst the many positive comments were that “live grass cover on courts at Cromer was excellent” and they were very complimentary on the work that is done out of season by way of scarifying, over seeding and top dressing.

The association’s treasurer Martin Braybrook said: “This was a very thorough inspection and the results reflect great credit on our groundsman, Matthew Jordan and his assistant, Peter Cooper. Over the years we have had a succession of excellent groundsmen and we are delighted for Matthew to have received such a positive report.”

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Groundsman Wins Volunteer Award

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Groundsman Wins Volunteer Award: Birmingham Exiles’ Andy Harris was honoured at the annual North Midlands Volunteer Awards recently.

The awards, now in their 13th year, celebrate outstanding voluntary service to rugby sides in the region, with the hard work and generosity of volunteers often proving the difference in keeping rugby clubs running.

Harris was named the Groundsman of the Year, providing him with recognition for his attentive work of maintaining the pitches at Old Damson Lane.

He has learnt from one of the best in the business, after being passed on extensive knowledge by RFU head groundsman Keith Kent, and has since allowed for the Exiles to attract higher profile fixtures thanks to the quality of the pitches at the club.

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Groundsman ‘Tweaks’ Pitch Plans

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Groundsman ‘Tweaks’ Pitch Plans: Fleetwood Town’s head groundsman Nick Hyndman has revealed that feedback from keeper Alex Cairns has resulted in a different approach to relaying the Highbury pitch this summer.

Hyndman is hopeful the pitch will be in “brilliant” condition by the time Premier League side Burnley arrive for a friendly on July 23.

 

The groundstaff’s normal summer schedule was altered last year, when Highbury staged Alfie Boe’s Homecoming concert in June and all Town’s pre-season fixtures were away.

This year Town will host the Clarets and Preston in their final warm-up games and Hyndman told the club website how preparations are going ahead of the players’ return to the revamped Poolfoot Farm pitches for training on June 26.

He said: “We are under tight deadlines to produce a surface, so we are trying to make it grow as quick as possible. It’s all guns blazing to get the pitches ready.

“We have the stadium but ultimately we have everything that is happening at the training ground, and that is where we are day-to-day.

“It’s a very similar process to what we do each year, even though there have been some slight tweaks due to how we feel the pitch performed.

“We stripped the turf and added over 150 tonnes of new material. We’ve added synthetic goalmouths – called hybrid carpets – like last season. We got some feedback from the keepers that they weren’t getting stability throughout the season.

“The hybrid carpet almost looks like astroturf. It’s five per cent artificial fibres. Your seeds and grass grow into the fibres to create a strong rooting system that gives instant stability.

“We’ve been able to get the surface up earlier than last season, so our main aim is to get it ready for Burnley and keep it up for the game against Preston North End on July 27.

“I’m fully confident that we have more than enough time to present a brilliant surface for both games.”

As for Poolfoot, he added: “We are just over two weeks from seed now and we’ve had a brilliant uptake.

“The weather has been brilliant for it – a mix of sun and rain – which has enabled us to get on with it earlier this year.

“We were cutting it after 10 days, which I would say is the best I’ve ever seen it.

“The contractors have done a really good job. My guys have been keen to get on there to start doing what we need to do to get it ready for the start of the season.

“We normally need eight weeks to grow a pitch. Each year the players seem to be coming back earlier and earlier, which has an effect on us.

“They go on the development pitches, which we take up early so the first team can come straight back on to the grass.”

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Dover’s Pitch Makeover

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Dover’s Pitch Makeover: The new football season might be two months away but preparations have already started on Crabble’s turf ahead of Dover’s 2019/20 National League campaign.

Following the installation of the fibre sand pitch last year, Head Groundsman Sid Fletcher is now performing the necessary maintenance work to ensure the ground is in top condition ahead of Whites’ first pre-season match at Crabble, against Maidstone United on Tuesday 16th July.

“It was a big job last year,” said Sid, “however, it’s a smaller in-house renovation this summer and we have a lot more time to get the pitch how we want it.

“There were a few bald spots towards the end of last season, so we have overseeded and implemented the fertilising regime to allow the grass to grow all over the pitch.

“The plastic fibres in the sand will give the turf the necessary strength needed to withstand the rigours of a football season and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

“My aim is for it to look the same at the end of the season as it will at the start!”

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Thief Steals Football Lawnmower

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Thief Steals Football Lawnmower: A local football club that has had to endure a traumatic season off this pitch has been dealt another blow.

Boston Town FC have been dealt a huge blow off the pitch as their Ransom 2 wheeled lawnmower was stolen from the ground on Tuesday May 28.

Other equipment used to maintain the pitch – a strimmer and a cutter were also taken.

Chairman Mick Vines has spoken of his frustration after a traumatic season off the pitch for the United Counties Premier Division side.

He told Lincolnshire Live: “It’s a massive kick in the teeth for a club the size of ours.

“We’ve had a difficult season off the pitch, we had to pay £32,000 to our landlord.

“We’ve also had to raise £15,000 to spend on floodlights.

“The amount of money we’ve raised over the past season was amazing and to be hit with another problem it really is hard to take.

“We’re at the part of the year where we should be looking forward to next season and looking to improve.

“The lawnmower weighs in the region of three quarters of a tonne, I find it hard to believe that nobody has seen anything.”

Mick said that the police are involved and they’re hoping that someone knows what happened.

He said: “Our groundsman was at the ground at 7.30am and shuts the main gates every night.

“When he got there this morning the main gates were swinging open and when he got closer he noticed the container doors were wide open.

“Someone must have seen something.”

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