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NEWS ARTICLES

Foley Becomes BIGGA Education Supporter

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Foley Becomes BIGGA Education Supporter: Foley United is proud to announce a new relationship with the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) as Education Supporters.

In becoming the latest BIGGA Education Supporter, Foley United will support the members of the association and the wider greenkeeping industry and provide a number of educational opportunities through the BIGGA framework. These opportunities will include seminars and workshops to outline grinding best practice, while giving a full explanation of the different options available when it comes to all aspects of grinding.

Foley Becomes BIGGA Education Supporter

This information will also be made available through articles and e-newsletters to provide easy access to all BIGGA members, with a particular focus on ensuring educational material is always available on request whenever required. Foley will be working closely with the BIGGA regional team to address any concerns or questions on grinding and to bring knowledge of new products and techniques directly to greenkeepers, making it easier to offer tailored solutions.

BIGGA Chief Executive Jim Croxton said: “We’re delighted that Foley United has joined with BIGGA as our latest education supporter. Working closely with the biggest names in the industries allows our members to benefit from their expertise and knowledge, which can only help to raise standards across the industry.

“The team at Foley United is renowned for its innovation in technology and design and its constant desire to strive forwards. This is an ethos shared by BIGGA members everywhere, and so I’m looking forward to working closer with the Foley United team going forwards and creating further education opportunities across the association.”

Brad Kautzer, CEO of Foley Grinders, said: “As an acknowledged technology leader in grinding best practices designed to maintain mowing equipment to optimal OEM specification, Foley United is excited to team with BIGGA’s educational arm to share global best practices to improve results for BIGGA members. We strongly believe education and keeping abreast of the latest developments, whether safety, performance or productivity tips, will raise knowledge levels while reducing costs for course operators.”

Foley United appreciates that budgets vary across the wide range of courses where  BIGGA members are employed and to address that Foley United is offering a broad range of options to suit all levels of expectation. This will guarantee that in-house grinding is a financially sound investment, with a range of products that can be upgraded over time while always delivering a top quality grinding experience.

For further information on Foley United visit www.foleyunited.com or for Foley product information for the UK and Ireland visit www.prosportukltd.com

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Vandals Tear Up Football Pitch

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Vandals Tear Up Football Pitch: The Gibbons soccer field recently suffered from vandalism.

Sometime between Sunday (Jun.11) and Monday, the soccer pitch was driven on while wet, causing significant damage to the grass.

“I feel for the kids who use that field because the local groups they’re really all we have for our entertainment,” said Gibbons councillor Amber Harris. “And then I felt bad for the tireless volunteers who work with the minor soccer folks because they put their heart and soul into developing those fields and making sure they’re playable.”
This isn’t the first time this has happened in the town.  A similar incident happened at the same time last year.
“It ticks me off that some people don’t have any respect for property,” added Harris.

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Bothams Renovate With Koro FTM

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Bothams Renovate With Koro FTM: Bothams Prestige Sports Turf & Amenity,  a long-term Campey Turf Care Systems customer has refined their renovations with the new and improved Koro FTM 2000.

The Yorkshire company has been buying Campey’s products for 15 years and in that time, they have seen consistent upgrades to machines that maintain their status as the most innovative on the market, with the Koro FTM and new UNIVERSE patented rotor the perfect example.

Bothams Renovate With Koro FTM

The new two metre machine provides the cleanest Universe® fraise mow possible with the enhanced rotor through a number of improvements, and the co-owner of Bothams Prestige, Josh Botham, has praised Campey and Imants for listening to their customers.

“Campey listen to the contractors/customers and improve the machines year on year and that’s why we always buy new machines from them,” Josh said.

“The improvements to the new Koro are massive. It’s so much cleaner and more efficient because of the changes they’ve made to the balance and other areas. The scraper bars on the front and rear roller help prevent any build-up of waste and clean it to 1mm, which helps to keep the operation a lot cleaner. They’ve also angled the conveyor, so it carries the material in a more even way compared to the older model.

“We use the machine with the new Universe rotor for renovating hybrid pitches but it’s so versatile we use it from DESSO GrassMaster to natural pitches for light fraize mowing right up to complete removal.

“Our customers are so much happier when we use the new Koro FTM. Every customer we have done work for this year have commented how much better it is and that’s due to the improvements Campey have made”

The redesign of the KORO FTM was done to make the machine more user-friendly with every aspect of performance analysed. The redistribution of weight means a much smaller tractor can be used to run the Koro FTM, because the centre of gravity has been shifted towards the tractor making it easier to lift. Even when the removeable weight is taken off the machine still has improved balanced against previous models.

Maintaining the new range of machines has also been enhanced to improve working reliability, with the modular set-up allowing the machine to run without belts with a strong state of the art driveline that is maintenance free, something that is important for contractors who often have very tight schedules.

“We got our new Koro  FTM at the end of March 2018 and we’ve already used it on excess of 10 pitches with no issues,” Josh said.

“Being a contractor means that time is of the essence and with football renovations, everybody wants you at the same time. We work seven days a week from 6am until 10pm for at least two months, but we can always rely on Campey’s products to allow us to keep up with the pace.

“You get the aftercare with Campey and that’s what we look for. You can guarantee them to be with you the same day if you hit any problems.”

For more information, visit: www.campeyturfcare.com

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All Eyes On Luzhniki Stadium

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All Eyes On Luzhniki Stadium: A team from global pitch specialists SIS Pitches is on hand at Luzhniki Stadium as the World Cup tournament kicks off in Russia today on a SIS Pitches surface.

Throughout the tournament, a team of 12 people from SIS Pitches will maintain the surface of the Luzhniki Stadium – where the opening ceremony and opening game (Russia v Saudi Arabia) is taking place today, and where the World Cup Final will be held.

All Eyes On Luzhniki Stadium

Over the four weeks of the tournament, the main pitch at Luzhniki will host the equivalent of nearly the full number of matches that would be played on a Premiership pitch during a whole football season.

The company will also maintain the three training pitches at the stadium, which will be used by all the national teams who are playing at the venue.

CEO of Cumbria-based SIS Pitches, George Mullan said: “Luzhniki will have the heaviest programme of games and training sessions as well as hosting the opening ceremony and the rehearsals for the opening ceremony. We have already had six rehearsals for the opening ceremony, 15 training sessions and seven matches on the pitch; this is as well as the activity on the training pitches.

“Maintaining a pitch under these circumstances can be challenging as the opening ceremony is taking place on the pitch just half an hour before the first game kicks off. Some 80,000 football fans will be in the stadium and millions of people will be watching from around the world. However, our team will be pitch-side to make sure that the surface is maintained to the highest standards.

“We will have 12 people at the stadium throughout the tournament, making sure that the surface is perfect before every game. They will then repair the pitch if any damage has been caused during the game. I will be there personally at some of the games – but I won’t be watching the football; I will be concentrating on the surface!”

The use of the company’s sophisticated reinforced natural turf system, called SISGrass, as well as its revolutionary aeration technology, SISAir, will make the Luzhniki Stadium the most technologically advanced pitch in World Cup history. The use of SISAir will also mean that the pitch can be drained off in a matter of seconds.

SIS Pitches was selected to design, construct and install six of the 12 stadium pitches for Russia 2018, including the Kaliningrad Stadium, where the highly anticipated match of England v Belgium will take place on Thursday 28 June. It is also the first time that a World Cup Final has been played on anything but all-natural grass.

SIS Pitches also installed three training pitches at Luzhniki, four training pitches at Otkritie Arena – the home of Spartak Moscow, and one at Tolyatti, which is being used as a base by the Swiss national team.

SIS Pitches will be maintaining Luzhniki Stadium throughout the World Cup but the other five pitches – Otkritie Arena, Rostov Arena, Kaliningrad Stadium, Samara Arena and Saransk Arena, have already been formally handed over to stadium management, who will handle their maintenance. Each pitch was independently tested to meet international quality standards before SIS Pitches formally handed them over.

SIS Pitches is a world leader in synthetic and natural sports surfacing and is one of the world’s largest sports pitch companies. The global pitch specialists lay grass and synthetic pitches and sports surfaces at world-class stadiums around the globe.

Outside of the World Cup, the company continues to deliver exceptional sports surfaces for schools, colleges, universities, sports clubs and local authorities in the UK and around the world.

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Greenfingers’ New Etesia Fleet

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Greenfingers’ New Etesia Fleet: Based in Midlothian, Scotland, Greenfingers have renewed their fleet of Etesia groundcare equipment by purchasing 14 Pro 46 PHCS pedestrian mowers and a Buffalo 100 BPHP ride-on mower.

Established in 1991, Greenfingers offers professional garden and grounds maintenance and commercial soft landscaping throughout the Lothians, Borders and Fife.

Greenfingers' New Etesia Fleet

The contractor has been relying on a wide range of Etesia equipment for a number of years, and proprietor Jason McCran revealed how it all started.

“I had initially heard of Etesia through press articles in trade magazines – there were always good reviews and people seemed to rate them highly. That was a long time ago now and we’ve been buying the machines for as long as I can remember and every member of the team feels confident using them.”

As part of his fleet renewal, Jason purchased 14 Etesia Pro 46 PHCS pedestrian mowers and a Buffalo 100 BPHP ride-on mower.

Jason’s team use the Buffalo BPHP for the larger green space areas that the company maintains. Featuring a 100cm cutting deck and a 20.5HP diesel Perkins engine, up to 12,000sq.m. of grass can be cut and collected per hour. The efficiency of the unique cutting system allows professionals to work faster and operators see increased productivity as the Buffalo 100 excels when used on wet grass or in the rain. This machine is also fitted with a built-in grass collector with a capacity of 600 litres, and the hydraulic emptying system is controlled from the driver’s seat.

The Etesia Pro 46 PHCS offers extreme versatility with the ability to cut, collect and mulch without the need for an accessory. Built upon the DUOCUT concept of combining 100% collection and 100% mulching decks together, the Pro 46 PHCS delivers high performance without compromising the results of either of the functions. By crushing the grass finely, even if it is long and wet, it excels in its collection abilities. Fitted with a powerful 5HP Honda engine, the PHCS offers low vibrations with ‘soft grip’ handle bars which can fold for easy transportation.

“We predominately use the pedestrian mowers on small grass areas on grounds where we work with property managers, or around sheltered complexes for housing associations,” says Jason. “We find that by using the PHCS, we can govern the speed better because you can cut with it as quick as the operator can move”.

“The majority of our work is cut and collect and the Etesia mowers do this in wet weather better than any other mower that we’ve tried. This is what particularly drew us to them because in Scotland we are prone to rain throughout the summer months. We’ve never had any issues with Etesia equipment; they do the job to an extremely high standard and we have no reason at all to change.”

For further information, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit www.etesia.co.uk

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