Greenock’s £8k Pitch Revamp

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Greenock’s £8k Pitch Revamp: Life’s a beach for Morton’s groundsman after 60 tonnes of sand was spread onto the Cappielow pitch as part of an £8,000 renovation project.

The hallowed turf is undergoing an annual overhaul to ensure the playing surface is in pristine condition come the start of the new season.

Award-winning groundsman Mark Farrell, 42, is leading the two-week, intensive restoration work.

A total of 52 matches were played on the pitch last term by the Ton’s first team, development squad and Celtic’s Under-20s.

Despite still looking like a carpet come the end of another long season, Mark says it is vital to keep on top of the pitch, which is regarded as one of the best in the country.

He told the Tele: “The pitch had a lot of games and a lot of usage.

“It was getting tired and needed a rest.

“We’ve put some sand deep down to improve drainage a bit more, smoothed off the surface and put some fresh seed in.

“The surface was looking a bit tired so the key now is to make sure it’s looking healthy again.”

Around 150kg of grass seed has also been planted and Mark has been working once again with specialist contractors Campey Turf Care.

Mark said: “It’s coming along nicely and the weather has been great.

“This time last year it was a case of trying to get water off the pitch because it was so wet and this year I’m trying to get water on it.

“It will be fifteen years in September since I started here so I know the pitch inside out now.

“The club have never refused me whenever I’ve asked for anything and that’s a good thing.

“The club wants a good pitch that’s ready for matchday and that’s what I always work towards.”

The Cappielow surface is regularly praised by fans, players, managers and club officials from across the footballing world.

Morton chief executive Warren Hawke paid tribute to the hard-working grounds manager.

He said: “The pitch is one of our biggest assets and that’s why we continue to invest in it.

“We’re lucky to have an excellent person in charge of the playing surface in Mark.”

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Work Underway At Ewood Park

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Work Underway At Ewood Park: Work is underway on the pitch at Ewood Park as Rovers prepare for life back in the Championship.

Head groundsman Trevor Wilkin admits preparations for the 2018/19 campaign are well underway and will step up over the next few weeks.

The Ewood groundstaff were highly commended by the EFL for the condition of the pitch during the course of the League One season.

And Wilkins, who has worked for the club for over 35 years, explained the process which will take place over the summer.

He said: “All that’s happening is what we do every season, which is stripping the old turf off, adding some fresh root zone, freshening everything up and reseeding.

“People get it in their head that it’s a brand new pitch, but it’s not. It’s more of a make do and mend job.

“Over the next few days, the old turf will be stripped off, then we’ll get the new root zone on, mix it all together and by the end of the week it should all be levelled and seeded.

“It will then be put to bed for two weeks, then hopefully it should be totally green and ready for me to start cutting again.

“Hopefully we get a decent summer and then we’ll be ready to go from mid to late July.”

Wilkin admits there has been investment from the owners on the pitches at the club’s Senior and Academy training centres at Brockhall with that work also underway.

And he hopes that will bear fruit for the players and coaching staff during the course of the 2018/19 season.

He told the club website: “There’s lots of work going on down at Brockhall as well.

“The owners have spent money on every single pitch this summer, which is great – a good investment.

“Every single pitch at the Senior Training Centre and the Academy is having some work done on it, and that’s the bread and butter for the players.

“We’ll be doing the best we can to produce training pitches as good as Ewood for Tony (Mowbray) and his staff.”

The club were two League One clubs to be highly commended by the EFL for the condition of the pitch, with the overall honours going to Rotherham United.

The rankings are based on marks from referees and away managers, as well as detailed pitch inspections and a review of management operations.

And Wilkin added: “This is a great achievement for everyone involved after what has been a difficult season fixture and weather-wise.

“We had a tough period from late January through to the middle of February, but the winter we had, as everyone knows, was horrendous, plus this season what really hit us was the amount of fixtures we’ve had.

“I think the last league game of the season against Oxford was our 40th fixture here at Ewood, which is an unbelievable number for this stadium, so overall we’re very pleased.”

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Contractor Fined After Wall Collapse

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Contractor Fined After Wall Collapse: A landscape contractor has been fined £20,000 plus costs after a worker was seriously injured injured when a retaining wall collapsed and trapped him underneath.

Contractor Fined After Wall Collapse

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court heard that while he was excavating a trench in front of an existing blockwork wall, a section of the wall collapsed and fell on him trapping him underneath. He sustained a complex fracture to his pelvis which required surgery and he has not been able to return to work since the incident.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company failed to properly plan and manage the installation of the timber structure, and had not put sufficient control measures in place to prevent the collapse of the existing blockwork wall.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 19 (1) of The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1048.86 and a victim surcharge of £220.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Cain Mitchell said: “This case highlights the dangers of undermining a free-standing wall by excavating alongside the structure without appropriate planning and the necessary precautions in place.

“If the company had implemented reasonably practicable measures that minimised the risk to persons working next to such structures this incident could easily have been avoided.”

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Sierrablen Plus A Game Changer

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Sierrablen Plus A Game Changer: Course Superintendent at Castleknock Golf Club in Dublin, John Jennings, always used to have difficulty with achieving longevity from the fertilizers he was using – that was until he applied ICL’s Sierrablen Plus Stress Control 15-5-22 +2MgO.

Located in the leafy suburbs of Dublin, Castleknock Golf Club is one of the finest parkland courses in the country. With its undulating greens, the course is designed to test golfers while maintaining that all important element of fairness. There are a number of memorable holes on the course, most notably the 9th and 18th, and two par 3’s over water that share a double green, with the clubhouse providing a stunning backdrop.

Sierrablen Plus A Game Changer

Tasked with keeping the course in impeccable condition is John Jennings. John started his career at Castlebar Golf Club before moving to the Grange Golf Club in 1984 – where he worked for 16 years.

In 1999 John accepted the position of Assistant Superintendent at Carton House where he worked under John Plummer. During this time he undertook the responsibility of the grow-in of the O’Meara and Montgomery Courses. He spent four years in this position before taking the role of Course Superintendent at Castleknock Golf Club in 2004 – which corresponded with the opening of the course.

Now a vibrant club with a growing membership which currently stands at approximately 900 members, Castleknock can see up to 40,000 rounds of golf a year played on the course. As you would expect, to cater for this high amount of usage the course is maintained to the highest standard.

Generally, John does not encounter too many issues, which is testament to his work, but he does admit to a slightly problematic area on his fairways.

“I have used many controlled release fertilizers over the years and struggled to get longevity and colour due to the high sand content in my fairways. However, since I began using Sierrablen Plus fertilizers two years ago it has become a game changer.”

John is one of many turf managers who has benefited from using a range of products in the Sierrablen Plus portfolio. This is largely thanks to the Poly-S and PACE technologies which are contained within each analysis. They have been scientifically proven to provide consistent feeding, enhanced longevity and a low-scorch risk. Furthermore, its small-sized granules allow for even coverage and equal nutrient distribution. These fertilizer products offer a wide choice of analyses for proper nutrient input for every growth phase of the turf, and John has certainly noticed significant improvements since the product.

Featuring high potassium content to strengthen cell walls, John applied the analysis to his fairways in September 2017 and despite the incredibly harsh winter, it was still having a positive effect in March 2018. John was so impressed with the product that this year he applied Sierrablen Plus Stress Control to his tees and was pleased to see remarkable progression so soon – again in unfavourable weather conditions.

“I am extremely impressed with the early response and sward density achieved when using the product, giving uniform growth that lasts 6 – 7 months. I will continue to use it and would highly recommend it to anyone,” he said.

For further information, please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie

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Rigby Taylor Brings Swathe Of Colour

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Rigby Taylor Brings Swathe Of Colour: As part of Course Manager Matt Aplin’s plan to enhance the ecological footprint of the Goring and Streatley Golf Club, the “amazingly colourful results” of sowing Euroflor wildflowers “attracted as many complimentary comments about the outstanding display of colour as about the quality and performance of our greens”, he says.

“That was in a year when the course was magnificent – it was looking immaculate and was playing very well – so the display of wildflowers obviously made a massive impression on everyone who saw them,” he adds.

Rigby Taylor Brings Swathe Of Colour

“The news travelled fast about the swathe of colours and we even had non-playing visitors coming to see the display!”

Since Matt was appointed Course Manager at the Berkshire club in 2015 – after joining the greenkeeping team as an apprentice 20 years ago – he has constantly been looking for opportunities to improve the course’s ecological footprint and last year identified a rough area adjacent to the 14th hole that he wanted to improve.

“I was bouncing my thoughts about the possible use of wildflowers off Gareth Acteson, Rigby Taylor’s area sales director, and he suggested that the Euroflor mix (rather than native species) might work better in that spot.

“The Sarah Bouquet mix of annuals was chosen on the advice of club member Joyce Gustard, who is renowned among the membership for the quality of the floral display in her own garden, and that was definitely a wise move because a few months after sowing the area was awash with colour.”

Sarah Bouquet is a mix of 30 different species, including Anethum Graveolens, Borago Officinalis, Callistephus Chinensis, Helianthus Annuus, Helichrysum Bracteatum, Lobularia Maritima, Lupinus Nanus and Rudbeckia Gloriosa, and has a flowering height of 70-90 cms.

Adding that he uses a lot of Rigby Taylor products on the 18-hole, par 71 course, not least the R9 100% ultra-fine rye seed mix – “R9 has outstanding wear qualities, for example, and is the best seed on the market”, as well as the Propel-R wetting agent and a range of conventional and controlled-release fertilisers – Matt confirms:

“We didn’t do too much preparation for sowing the wildflower seeds and we undoubtedly over-sowed in terms of seed ratio, but the impact was tremendous from June right through to October.

“That success, and the number of favourable comments we received, has spurred us to double the overall amount of space sown with Euroflor wildflowers this year and because we have used less seed (perhaps just 65% of what we sowed last year on a similar-sized plot), we will effectively have double the amount of colour for a relatively low additional cost.”

Another way in which Matt recovered some of the cost of the outlay on seed was to re-sell small Discovery packs (also supplied by Rigby Taylor) of the wildflower seeds. “After seeing the flowers a number of members wanted the seeds for their own gardens,” says Matt.

The cost savings to the club have also been aided by the fact that at the end of last season Matt cut down the plants and left them where they fell, to encourage natural seeding. “Already now [in May] some of last year’s seeds are 45 cms high”, he adds, “and that is as a result of using an annuals mix. That equates to real value for money.”

For more information, visit: www.rigbytaylor.com

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