Stihl reveals impressive range

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Stihl reveals impressive range: Stihl invited the industry press to their new Camberley-based headquarters to demonstrate some of their new battery powered equipment and showcase their Master Technician Course.

The equipment on show included chainsaws; hedge trimmers; a single sided hedge trimmer and both conventional battery power mower and robot mowers.

Stihl reveals impressive range

Stihl reveals impressive range

With a high power output of 2.0 kW, equivalent to the petrol FS 411 C-EM, the new STIHL FSA 400 is the most powerful battery powered clearing saw available in the market.

Thanks to its impressive performance, the FSA 400 is the first STIHL AP System tool to be compatible with shredder and circular saw blades, allowing professionals to clear tough areas of dense and woody growth.

Like all AP System tools, the FSA 400 has been built to withstand tough working conditions. The sturdy battery housing with stainless steel air filter ensures optimum battery and motor protection, while the 28mm aluminium drive shaft and gearbox are identical to those found on the professional petrol range.

Designed for professional landscapers, the HSA 140 R and HSA 140 T are the most powerful battery powered hedge trimmers in the STIHL AP System.

The HSA 140 also offers high levels of operator comfort. The new hedge trimmer weighs just 4.3-4.6 kg (without battery) and is comfortable to hold, balanced in operation, and features a rotating rear handle that locks into three positions across a 180-degree range.

The HSA 140 is quiet in operation, and thanks to the highly effective anti vibration system, is suitable for long periods of use too.

Designed for professional landscapers, the HSA 150 R and HSA 150 T are the first single-sided hedge trimmers in the Stihl AP System, comparable in performance to the popular petrol HS 87.

Available in lengths of 75cm or 100cm, the HSA 150 comes equipped with a catcher plate as standard, increasing the speed at which the top of hedges can be cut.

Stihl reveals impressive range

Stihl reveals impressive range

Stihl has expanded its range of robotic lawn mowers with the introduction of the professional iMOW 7 PRO. Thanks to the new Teams Function, up to three iMOW 7 PRO machines can work in one mowing area to rapidly maintain lawns and sports pitches up to 8,000m2 in size, with minimal disruption to day-to-day operations.

The iMOW 7 PRO offers professionals and businesses a cost effective and reliable way of ensuring a high-quality finish to their grounds, while allowing operatives more time to focus on other value adding tasks.

The Teams Function, combined with the fast drive speed and short mowing times, ensures that the iMOW 7 PRO cuts the grass quickly with minimal disruption. The mowing timetable can be customised easily in the My iMOW App, allowing mowing periods to work seamlessly alongside the activities taking place on the sports pitch.

Stihl is also launching three new powerful and rugged professional battery-powered lawnmowers, perfectly suited to demanding lawn care in noise-sensitive areas. An extension to the AP System, the new lawnmowers are equivalent in performance to the well-respected 7 series petrol models.

With a 48cm cutting width, the RMA 750 V is the smallest of the three new models. The RMA 756 V has a larger 54cm cutting width for faster working, while the RMA 7 RV is a dedicated mulching mower with no collection bag and a cutting width of 51cm.

Stihl’s Master Technician Course, has been designed to provide expert level servicing and diagnostics across the full Stihl product range.

Following extensive development and a successful pilot earlier this year, the Master Technician Course is now available to Approved dealers who have completed the full training pathway, comprising Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced Servicing courses.

The final stage of the programme includes an online entry exam and pre-requisite modules, followed by an intensive three-day face-to face training experience at Stihl’s headquarters, Contra House.

The hands-on course offers participants an in-depth technical deep dive, featuring:

• Eight specialist assessments
• Extensive product usage training
• A guided Contra House tour
• A structured recertification process, including an annual online exam. Since launching the Master

Technician learning pathway in 2023, nearly 100 face-to-face training courses have taken place across all four levels, reinforcing the company’s commitment to dealer training and technical excellence.

The first Master Technician Course officially launched online in February, with nine further face-to-face sessions planned throughout 2025.

Combined with a tour of the HQ which was officially opened last spring, the day was extremely informative and, as usual, Stihl were perfect hosts.

Where there’s a Will

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Where there’s a Will: Think of Ilkley and the first thing that comes to mind is probably the famous old song ,“On Ilkley Moor Bah’t ’At” and the fact that Ilkley, of the many lovely towns and villages in Yorkshire, is perhaps the most archetypal of them all.

Incidentally, did you know that the “translation” of “On Ilkley Moor Bah’t ’At” is “On Ilkley Moor Without a Hat”? I didn’t know that either.

Where there’s a Will

Where there’s a Will

Anyhow I digress. Ilkley has been in the news a couple of times lately. It was named as the best place to live in the north of England and secondly, Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club is where you can now find not only the GMA Professional Tennis Courts Grounds Team of the Year, but also the GMA Grounds Manager of the Year.

Now it may be that you are in the market for a new pad in the north of England, but I’m reckoning that given that you are reading Turf Matters, you will be more interested in the achievements at the tennis club.

For first time GMA Award entrants, the team, which was entered by General Manager Chris Harrison, achieving the two accolades, especially as they were pitted against the most famous tennis club the world, is quite remarkable. Particularly so for the unassuming 31-year-old Head Groundsman, Will Rigg, who joins a very exclusive club of top Grounds Managers who have collected the award.

It would be fair to say that the Ilkley delegation arrived at Anfield Stadium for the Awards Dinner more in hope than in expectation. I know this because when I arrived at the stadium and exited my Uber they were the first people I bumped into and we chatted all the way to the fifth-floor function room.

Having established who they were, and that they were up against Wimbledon for their award, Will told me that he hoped that it might come down to how they managed their budget rather than simply judging Ilkley against the iconic All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.

We finished off by my saying, “Well, if you do win, I’ll come down and visit.” Three hours later I was checking how long it would take me to drive to Ilkley.

“As we got closer to our award being announced I started to get a little more confident, but then I noticed the Wimbledon guys and they’d brought a full table, and come a long way, so maybe they knew something!” recalled Will.

Where there’s a Will

Where there’s a Will

“When our name was read out we all went crazy. It had been a good team night already, but to have won was just fantastic.”

Having accepted their award, they all returned to their table to relax and enjoy the moment.

“Not having been at the Awards before I didn’t know about the Grounds Manager of the Year, as there are no names released in advance. When it came to the announcement someone at our table joked and said that they’d be saying my name. Ten seconds later my name was read out.

“I’d say my heart dropped a little bit. It was a huge shock and a complete surprise. Then when I looked at the trophy – which had already been engraved – and saw those who had won it before, I just couldn’t believe that my name was right there beside them.”

Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club may have been an outsider going into the competition but having visited the club, you can easily see why the work of Will and the other two full-time members of the team, Peter Crowther and Jamie Teale, found favour.

Surrounded by a host of wonderful houses that make Ilkley such a sought-after place to live, the club has facilities the envy of most clubs in the country. There’s a gym open from 6am to 10pm coupled with fitness studios and there is a regular flow of its 1,800 gym members throughout the day.

There are 13 grass tennis courts, three outdoor acrylic and five indoor acrylic courts, two astro courts, squash courts and a padel court to accommodate the 1,000 racquet sport members.

There is also a café on the first floor looking over the site. Overall, there are around 3,000 members. When I was there it was during the Easter Holidays and there were dozens of young children, some trying a sport for the first time, all excited and enthusiastically taking in the experience.

Will studied Sports Business Management at Leeds Metropolitan University – now Leeds Beckett – but like many before, and after him, discovered that a degree doesn’t necessarily open the particular door that you’d like it to. The door that did open was that of Waitrose and post uni he was working at the Otley store stacking shelves.

Will was, and probably still is, a decent semi-professional loose head prop and a previous General Manager of the tennis club, who he knew from his time at Otley Rugby Club, asked if he fancied the job as Assistant Groundsman. So, nine years ago, he arrived at the club and started learning the ropes from his old boss, Richard “Lordy” Lord who sadly died suddenly just over three years ago.

“He was my boss and became a friend for six years, I learned a lot off him about grass, managing courts and life!”

Where there’s a Will

Where there’s a Will

When “Lordy” died, Will moved from Assistant to Head Groundsman.

“I’ve continued to build up my knowledge base while on the job really. I’ve got my spraying certificates, but I’ve just learned the agronomy side of things through working on site and getting advice from people in the industry, including Mark Ferguson when was at the STRI,” said Will, name checking Mark, who, ironically, is now on the Wimbledon staff.

He has also attended grass court seminars at Wimbledon while, amazingly, he is currently taking his Level 2 in Sports Turf Management.

Level 2 in Sports Turf Management. However, Chris Hunter, of the GMA, who came in to judge the club for the Awards, said that he is actually operating at Level 3 or 4 levels, which is less surprising.

So what was it about Will that marked him out as a potential Grounds Manager of the Year leading a Tennis Grounds Team of the Year? Let’s ask the man himself.

“I’m organised, I like to be on top of everything. If our tournament is in eight- or nine-weeks’ time, we don’t want to wait until three weeks out to get a job done. The guys know what they need to do and what is expected of them. They are like me, they want to get things done and we don’t like to be sitting around doing nothing. We want to do the best job we can and if that means staying an hour or two later, they have a pride in their work and are happy to do it, even though they don’t get paid any more.”

Being such a northerly lawn tennis club has its obvious issues, but there is one challenge that presents itself at Ilkley which doesn’t necessarily come because it is so far up from the Watford Gap. It’s the River Wharfe.

“The river is just 10 metres behind us and can flood. We actually flooded on New Year’s Day and we got two feet of water on the grass courts and the grounds resulting in major clean ups. It was the first time in three or four years,” said Will, adding that the upside of being close to the river is that they can take irrigation water from it during dry spells.

The highlight of the year for the club, its members and Will and his team is the annual Challenger Tour event, the Lexus Ilkley Tournament which, as a pre-Wimbledon warm up event for men and women, always attracts a strong field. Last year’s winner, for example, was Belgian, David Goffin, who was an established figure in the world’s top 10 for a number of years. The 2017 women’s champion, Magdaléna Rybáriková, followed up with by reaching the semi finals at Wimbledon a short time later.

Where there’s a Will

Where there’s a Will

“We erect 1,800 temporary seats around our Centre Court and have six match courts and five practice courts in play.

“It is a fantastic week and we have marquees up and our café is for the sole use of the players,” said Will, who augments the team with four temporary staff over the period.

The set up is retained for a period after the tournament for a series of outdoor concerts. This year, for example, Scouting For Girls and DJ Chris Moyles will be appearing at the club.

For general agronomic advice and, in particular, in the lead up to the tournament Will works with Tom Wood, of Agrovista, on putting a programme in place and it is the MM50 seed which is now used on the courts.

While maintained to the highest of standards, Will does try and bring them to a peak for the tournament.

“I’d say they are at their best for that week. You want them to be the right hardness, looking the right colour and playing as they should and we do keep the members of Centre Court for a period in the run up to the tournament.”

With the trophies sitting proudly in the club trophy cabinet and congratulations from members coming on a regular basis, Will and his team are in the fortunate position of being appreciated in roles which often come unsung and unrewarded.

But what dreams and aspirations did Will have when, just recently graduated, he was turning up every day at Waitrose to work?

“I’d have hoped to have been doing something with my degree but, looking back on it, I probably didn’t know what I wanted to do even then,” he said.

But nine years on, the new GMA Grounds Manager of the Year is well established in an industry that he enjoys, in a job that he loves and with a CV which will always stand out in a crowd.

Dream becomes a fantastic reality

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Dream becomes a fantastic reality: Scott MacCallum chats with Ross Ovens, who has seen Schloss Roxburghe, in the Scottish Borders, mature into one of the finest inland golf courses in the country.

When the Roxburghe opened in 1999 it immediately became a welcome addition to Scotland’s already burgeoning portfolio of outstanding golf courses.

Dream becomes a fantastic reality

Dream becomes a fantastic reality

You can well imagine the 10th Duke of Roxburghe, back in the mid-1990s, walking across his land, swinging an invisible 7-iron and dreaming about just how wonderful a golf course could be created from just a small portion of his vast 50,000 acre Roxburghe Estate.

You can also understand the fanatical 4-handicap golfer wrestling with whether to go ahead and make it happen – his heart playing the holes he had already designed in his mind, while his head weighed up the financials.

It was heart that won the day because the Duke enlisted world renowned golf course architect, Dave Thomas, to draw up a layout on 200 of those Roxburghe Estate acres.

When The Roxburghe opened in 1999 it immediately became a very welcome addition to Scotland’s already burgeoning portfolio of outstanding golf courses. It also complemented an Estate which already boasted some of the finest shooting and fishing to be found anywhere in the world.

What Dave created stands as the best test of golf in the Scottish Borders and for many years it was the playground for the Duke, guests of the 22 room hotel, and the lucky golf club members who were able to call it their golfing home.

The Duke’s death in 2019 coincided with the sale of The Roxburghe to German luxury hotel group, Schloss, who looked at what they had purchased and felt that it could be taken to another level.

We all know what happened the following year and the development and massive expansion of the hotel was delayed. However, five years on, Schloss Roxburghe is a thriving “resort” with a ultra-modern extension and spa, nestling behind the original hotel.

Now boasting 78 bedrooms and suites, as well as 51 self-catering cottages scattered around the golf course, it operates under the Hyatt Destination banner.

One man who has seen it all, if notexactly from the very very beginning, is Course & Estates Manager, Ross Ovens, who joined the club as a fresh faced teenager 25 years ago. He has seen his job change markedly since he started and not just in his rise to his current position.

“When I joined in 2000 the course was still extremely young and it did look very new. Now, 25 years later, it really has matured, the trees are up and it certainly doesn’t look like the new golf course,” said Ross, as we sat in the first floor Board Room, offering wonderful views across the course.

“Dave Thomas was chosen because his design involved the minimal amount of soil movement. He kept the natural flow of the land and every architect I’ve spoken to since, has said what an amazing piece of land it was to design a golf course and what an excellent job was done,” said Ross.

“The routing of the golf course has been very well thought out and flows through the topography of the land, how it rises and falls along the side of the River Teviot, is just phenomenal. There are not many holes that run side by side, so when you’re out there you’ll not see many other golfers.”

There are many excellent holes but perhaps the most famous is the par-5 14th, running along the side of the River Teviot, with an imposing viaduct acting as the backdrop. Many a photograph has been taken from the back tee looking down the length of the hole.

The beauty of the Schloss Roxburghe extension, which took many attempts to achieve planning approval, is that the original part of the old Victorian hotel is what you see as you come down the drive. The extension and spa are hidden from view.

“The drive in sets the tone of the exclusive resort that we are,” said Ross, of the multi million plus, and counting, investment.

“While the actual golf course has not changed there’s been a lot of investment on the driving range, complete with the latest Toptracer technology in every bay; short game area; brand new maintenance facility, and a lot of money on machinery. So when you add it all up there has been a significant investment in the golf side since Schloss took over.”

“We have engaged with European Golf Design and have created a masterplan to make some structural changes to the golf course in the future. These changes will enhance the golfers experience and the quality of the golf course. One area in particular would be the bunkering.

Dream becomes a fantastic reality

Dream becomes a fantastic reality

“Some of the bunkering is a case of repositioning, but the main thing is to restyle them and bring the sand lines up and out of the ground. So visually from off the tee it will make the holes pop much more.

“At the moment the bunkers sit down and from the tee they just look like grass banks, you can’t really see them. When the work is done you will see the bunker much more clearly.”

There will be a real maintenance benefit to be had too.

While Ross had an abundance of agronomy knowledge gained from years of being in the industry he has been working closely with Turfgrass for the last three years.

The Dublin-based company has a client list operating at the top end of the game including names like Wentworth; Woodhall Spa; ’27 Ryder Cup host, Adare Manor, and many others across the golfing world.

“Our partnership has been great and they have provided great knowledge and support to improve the quality of our putting surfaces.

“When I took over the organic matter was such that I felt it was a priority as it was preventing us from improving the quality of the putting surfaces.

“We made really good inroads and brought the level down, as shown by all the data, but unfortunately COVID came along, we had to reduce our cultural practices so it crept back up. But we are now nearly back to where we were before the pandemic.”

Like many golf clubs Ross has experienced the problems of attracting staff but he currently has a settled team, some of whom joined him in Harrogate in January for the annual BTME show, where they attended seminars and workshops.

The greenkeeping team is integral to both the performance and success of the venue. Their expertise in maintaining turf quality, optimising playing surfaces, and ensuring environmental sustainability all combine to create a safe, enjoyable, and high-performing environment for golfers.

“Without them, the integrity and excellence of the facility would suffer, negatively impacting the overall results,” explained Ross.

Having gained experience and knowledge over the last quarter of a century at Schloss Roxburghe, Ross has also volunteered at a number of high profile events to further expand his knowledge in presenting a course and organising larger teams for professional golf events.

“I’ve worked on the support team at the Ryder Cup, in France in 2018, and also worked at six French Opens at Golf Club Nationale. I’ve also volunteered at a British Masters, at Close House, and a Scottish Open, at Castle Stewart, so I’ve gathered tournament experience and know what levels we need to achieve here.”

With that in mind Ross was instrumental in bringing in IMG on a consultancy basis to Schloss Roxburghe to add impetus to the drive to raise golf operation levels to where they need to be to achieve and maintain not only Hyatt Destination standards, but to be regarded as one of the top golf venues in the country.

“50% of my role is now actually involved in golf operations as well as greenkeeping. I’m keen to help support the golf operations and grow the golf business so we have the finances to continue to improve the golf course and be a successful part on the business.

While the Scottish Borders is a beautiful unspoiled part of Scotland it is not regarded as a golfing hotspot, meaning that there is not a host of courses on golfers’ hit lists to attract them to the area.

“The remote location is always going to be a hurdle so that’s something that we have to work with if we want people coming here to play the golf course. Many come to enjoy Borders’ hospitality and the shooting and fishing. We want golf to be higher up their priority list and have Schloss Roxburghe on their list of courses they want to play,” he said.

“We really want to sell Schloss Roxburghe as Scotland’s start of the journey north to play golf.

Dream becomes a fantastic reality

Dream becomes a fantastic reality

“We’re always going to attract the UK and European market with a very small percentage of American clientele. We know the reason why the Americans come to Scotland and that’s to play links golf, but you’d like to think that we could pick up some more of that American market.”

Schloss Roxburghe has much to be recommended to visitors and potential visitors. That sense of being a Scottish golfing outpost has its benefits. There are usually tee times available, but achieving a higher profile and making Schloss Roxburghe a course that appears on the “must play” list of golfers should increase playing numbers and ensure that the future developments and improvements can be achieved more quickly.

Ross knows that the improvements he desires, and they include a new irrigation system and irrigation lake, will come in time but he is buoyed by the ambition of the owners and the fact that following on from a successful Tartan Tour Event, supported by former Open Champion, Paul Lawrie, who also played in the tournament. last year, they have secured a Challenge Tour event for this summer, with all the resulting television coverage.

“We decided we’d close the golf course for the Paul Lawrie event and really make an impression. We did what we could to make it a special occasion. The team loved it and the feedback we got was fantastic.

That opened the door for us to be awarded the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge, supported by the R&A, which will be a fantastic showcase for Schloss Roxburghe.”

So what would Ross’ aspirations and dreams be for the future?

“For me, it would be getting the recognition that the golf course deserves, because I don’t think that we’re there yet.”

Patience will be needed but the raw materials are already in place and Schloss Roxburghe is already heading in the right direction. It would be wonderful to know just what the 10th Duke would think about his beloved Roxburghe now, 30 years on from those imaginary swings down those imaginary fairways.

The with man perfect pitch

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The with man perfect pitch: Scott MacCallum met up with CEO of Labosport, Professor David James, the man at the forefront of sports pitch development.

If we think back to sport in the 1970s there are two images that spring to mind. There was Ronnie Radford scoring a remarkable goal for Hereford United to defeat Newcastle in the FA Cup in 1972 and then England prop Fran Cotton playing for the British Lions, in Melbourne, in 1977, looking like the muddiest man you’ve ever seen in your life.

The with man perfect pitch

The with man perfect pitch

Both iconic sporting images, neither of which would ever be replicated today. Ronnie’s goal was incredible as he more or less shovelled the heavy leather ball out of the boggy pitch from 30 yards and into the top corner. John Motson’s commentary and Ronnie’s celebration are part of English football’s folklore, but do you really think that the game would have gone ahead in 2025?

And Fran. Same thing. Would a game that resulted in Fran turning into a monster from a B-movie horror ever have got past a modern day pitch inspection?

Different times and different standards, but I do think it is fair to say that most people forget just how far we have come in the construction, maintenance and preparation of modern day sports pitches. It is now rare for a pitch to become a game-defining issue and it would take a highly trained eye to identify whether a pitch was at the beginning or end of its particular season.

And alongside the development of natural turf surfaces is the quite extraordinary progress of synthetic pitches.

At the sharp end of much of natural and synthetic pitch development is Labosport, the international company which is a the forefront of testing, certification and consultancy on all aspects of sports surfaces. Since 1993 they have spearheaded the development of testing methods to raise the quality of sports surfaces and provide guidance on the design and construction of sports facilities.

And the man who is Labosport’s worldwide CEO is Professor David James. As you might imagine David is a busy guy. When I caught up with him, at Labosport’s unassuming UK Headquarters on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Nottingham, he had just returned from viewing some test pitches at Sheffield Hallam University and was about to head off to New Zealand. Air miles are not something for which he is short!

I first bumped into David at the Syn-Pro Seminar held at Loughborough University early last year where he started by saying that the very first synthetic sports surface was at the Houston Astrodome, in Texas, and had been installed in 1966 – the same year as some people ran onto a natural pitch in North London, thinking it was all over!

Given that David is a man with whom you could talk for hours and hours I decided to limit the bulk of the time to the subject he talked on at Loughborough – synthetics.

As a starting point I asked him that, if that Houston pitch were an Amstrad computer, where were we at now?

“I would say the Apple Mac Pro. However it’s still not a finished development. Looking at synthetic surfaces, they’ve really come on huge amounts in terms of playability, athlete welfare, skin injury risks and other injuries,” said David, adding that as with most industries sustainability is now very much the driving consideration.

As for a Eureka moment for the synthetic turf industry along that path from 1966 to 2024..

“I think the Eureka moment has to be the arrival of the so-called 3G. “The two key components of a 3G pitch are a longer pile. Rather than something that’s 25mm, it’s up at 50mm or 60mm.

“And then having an infill, which does a number of things. First of all, it keeps the fibres standing upright which allows players to wear studded footwear, because the infill allows the penetration of the studs. So it gives traction which is much more similar to natural turf and the ball bounce is more comparable to natural turf. You’ve got much more energy distribution so you don’t get very high bounce or very long roll.

“It really simulates natural turf much more closely than those early generations of pitch,” said David, adding that the original 1966 Astrodome pitch was much better suited to American football than it would have been for our more global version of the game.

And indeed those early pitches were still perfectly suited to a sport that has thrived since the introduction of synthetic surfaces – hockey.

But as development continued the understanding of the benefits of a high quality artificial pitch grew.

The key argument for synthetic turf is that that it can withstand up to ten times more playing hours than a natural turf field.

“That’s really important, as you can then look at the availability of land.

Among the reasons why synthetic turf took off so much is that you’ve got this all-weather playability. We don’t get fixtures being cancelled in February. It’s a sobering statistic that up to 50% of all football matches are cancelled in February in recreational football,” revealed David.

“Added to that rather than having ten football pitches you can have as many games on just one pitch. That literally frees up land. You can sell off your playing fields, perhaps for housing developments, and keep the one synthetic field because it can withstand the amount of use.”

But now having had 20 years when 3G pitches were the gold standard new heights are being reached and new quality levels achieved.

“We’re now looking at the next generation of pitch. What we’re looking at is having a shorter pile system, perhaps 40mm using less infill material and having a shock pad under the turf.

“Using less infill on the top and incorporating a shockpad underneath, you get synthetic surfaces which are more consistent than natural turf,” said David, adding that upwards of 35% of all the recycled tyres in the world get recycled into sport fields.

The EU have made a decision to effectively have a ban on the sale of granulated tyres for this use from 2031. The UK has yet to decide what they are going to do.

“There is a lot of work looking at alternative infill materials and there are many options including coconut husks, olive pips, ground walnuts, shells, corn on the cob, cork, wood chip.”

The with man perfect pitch

The with man perfect pitch

For a system to work everything has to gel – the shock pad, the carpet, the density of the pile, the amount of stabilising infill, the sand and how much performance infill there is.

“We’re now in a period where there’s going to be huge diversity in the market with these different infill materials, different shock pads, different pile lengths.

They’ve got different characteristics. They’ve got different price points. They’ve got different maintenance issues, different longevity. Some of the materials are very robust while others are more prone to deterioration over time.”

One previous area of concern was the level of injury which can be caused by playing on a synthetic pitch.

“I recently gave a speech at the SAPCA conference on the latest research into the injury risk to players from different playing surfaces. There are very strong perceptions among elite football players that synthetic turf has a highest higher injury risk.

“I don’t discount the player experience but, at the same time, I want to look at the data and there have been something like a 120 peer-reviewed scientific publications that have compared inury risk between synthetic turf and natural turf.

“Indeed here has been a recent systematic review, which took 53 of the highest quality studies from all over the world. It showed that there is no elevated injury risk on synthetic turf to natural turf for football. It did, however, show a slight elevation of risk in American football.”

Around about 10 years ago there were newspaper headlines, and some anecdotal evidence, that rubber crumb in synthetic pitches was causing cancer. However all research has since revealed that the level of potentially carcinogenic chemicals in recycled tyres is so low that it is deemed to be of no risk to humans.

Having taken on the global CEO role at Labosport 18 months ago, how did David find himself in such a key role within the sporting world?

“I actually trained as a mechanical engineer at the University of Sheffield, so for me it’s all about materials and how balls and athletes interact with the surface. That’s still my fundamental passion and I view a lot of these topics through the prism of engineering.

I’m not an agronomist, but I did my engineering degree and then a PhD that was funded by the England and Wales Cricket Board. I got to work with Bill Adams, who sadly recently died, He was a huge leading light in agronomy, and worked for the ECB, looking at cricket pitches.

“He was taking soil cores and looking at clay content while I was coming from an engineering perspective, looking at how balls bounced. It’s impact mechanics.

“I was using high-speed video to film balls bouncing and then characterising things such as the pace of the bounce. That got me going on the engineering of sports surfaces, The surface is fundamentally an engineered product, whether it’s natural or synthetic. Amazingly, my PhD actually became an important reference document on cricket pitches and the science of cricket pitches.”

David remained in academia for the next 15 years, focusing on how balls and humans interact with surfaces in all sorts of different ways.

“I was looking at footwear and worked with companies like Adidas, while working for the University of Sheffield and then Sheffield Hallam University.

“I ended up running the Research Centre. We had a great time during London 2012 as well, and did a lot of work with our Olympic teams, taking this engineering perspective around sports performance and understanding the sports environment. But my personal passion has always been the surface, always been understanding the playing surface or the running shoe.”

David joined Labosport six years ago and ran the UK side of Labosport. Then, a year and a half ago, he became CEO of the whole group.

Labosport has 16 laboratories in 11 countries but also has companies, such as PSD, Professional Sports Turf Design, TGMS. Outside of Europe there is Labosport China, Labosport India and Labosport Australia.

“We also have the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute. In the Americas, we’ve got Labosport Canada and in Texas, Labosport USA, which really focuses on golf and the golf industry.”

The company is there to assist anyone wishing to develop sports facilities.

“It could be that we produce a feasibility study. Maybe you’ve got an old facility, you’ve got a piece of empty land, and want to build an athletics’ track. We would look at the ground conditions and then provide options and potential designs and then perhaps assist with the writing of a specification and then assist it through planning. We’re an independent consultant, so we stand aside from construction. However we might be involved in monitoring the quality of the construction and carry out the certification. We would then monitor the pitch throughout its life, carrying out recertifications and ultimately look at the end-of-life options.”

Having been immersed the subject for so many years it would be remiss not to ask David for his thoughts on the future and where he would like to see stadiums and pitches in the next decade or so.

“I would like to see the industry moving away from the model where you have a massive stadium in a city where you play one game every two weeks. It’s a huge facility so why not have four or five games a week there shared by different clubs – men and women, rugby and football, hockey whatever.

“From a sustainability perspective, it just makes so much sense.”

Even if that means we won’t be seeing any modern day images of the likes of Ronnie Radford and Fran Cotton!

Saints are marching in

/in /by

Saints are marching in: Susan Lindsay paid a visit to St Andrews to see the work first hand of the grounds team at the oldest university in Scotland.

The University of St Andrews, Scotland’s oldest and highest-ranking, is home to Saints Sports. Stretching over 40 acres, the grounds were gifted to the University in 1904 by Andrew Carnegie.

Saints are marching in

Saints are marching in

The sports grounds combine 13 grass pitches, eight football pitches, two rugby pitches, one lacrosse, one shinty, one ultimate frisbee and two cricket fields. The pitches are overseeded using BAR 7 RPR grass seed mixture and 500 tonnes of dune washed sand is applied annually. Soil is also tested regularly to assess the quality.

There really is a sport for everyone. You might be wondering what ultimate frisbee is – simply known as “Ultimate”, it is a non-contact sport that involves “hucking”/throwing the frisbee long distances and trying to “Sky”, that is grab the disc in the air over the opponent. There are seven players on each team.

I met up with the Estates team and was greeted with smiles and cups of tea all round. With drinks in hand, we settled down to chat about the sports grounds and all that come along with them.

Dressed crisply in well-ironed trousers and Saints Sports polo shirts, the team looked every inch the personification of attention to detail that their jobs require and demand.

This has been my experience of the greenkeeping industry, throughout my travels around Scotland. Along with this comes the ubiquitous and somewhat compulsory working greenkeeper’s/apprentice’s shorts.

Even on a cold, frosty day like today in November, when the thermometer doesn’t reach much further than one degree and there is a yellow snow warning dominating the country, the shorts are out!

Present today is John Reid – Grounds and Facilities Manager, Fraser Wright – Head Groundsman and Gary Brankin – Assistant Director of sports operations and facilities. I will also get to meet the current apprentice, Gary, and the assistant groundsman, Ross, along with Fraser’s Deputy, another Gary.

Saints are marching in

Saints are marching in

The team meet on a Monday morning to discuss the week’s schedule and Fraser encourages each member of the group to participate in discussions and rotate tasks. In the 2018 industry awards, the team were finalists. It was the first time they took part and rate it as a very good experience and something that John Reid plans to do again.

2018 industry awards, the team were finalists. It was the first time they took part and rate it as a very good experience and something that John Reid plans to do again.

Being interested in sport as well as keeping the grounds in pristine condition is pretty much a prerequisite here and all the lads are interested in and have played football, along with
golf. Nowadays, Fraser prefers to cycle to raise money for charity and the boys are kept active maintaining the grounds.

Gary (Brankin) was keen to emphasise that all the work done to the grounds is for the student and the student’s experience, first and foremost. They prioritise reinvesting
back into the grounds and facilities for the students. Once an energetic sportsman himself, Gary now puts his energy into family life and is proud to tell me his daughter plays in the under-tens.

Students and young people starting out in their careers and developing their education is at the heart of all they do at Saints Sports. This is evident in the grounds at the University and the time and investment they put into apprentice greenkeepers coming in through SRUC.

At St Andrews and at SRUC the apprentices learn good turf management and aeration techniques, two skills that the team at the Saints Sports grounds put into practice to keep the grounds from suffering over-watering and keeping them disease free.

I asked the football team for some of the club’s thoughts on the sports grounds:

“The quality of both grass and 3G pitches allows us to train and play at a very high standard, similar to professional players. Playing on the same quality of pitches as the professionals is a great privilege and it’s special for us to be able to gives our players the opportunity of developing as much as possible. The high standard of our pitches has been proven as teams such as Manchester United, West Ham and Brighton have used them for training camps.”

Saints are marching in

Saints are marching in

The pitches have contributed to the success of the club and its development to where it stands today. Currently the men’s section of the football club has seven competitive afternoon in the Scottish University Leagues throughout the full academic year and a membership of around 180 players from all over the world.

The men’s first team have just won tier two of the Scottish University leagues to be promoted to tier one next season. They have also won the Conference Cup for the third time in the last four seasons. In 2018 the team won the prestigious Queen’s Park Shield for the first time in 75 years.

“We currently have around 80 members to the women’s part of the football club which currently makes up three competitive teams. The women’s section is one that has grown a lot in the last ten years from initially one team to now having three who all represent the University in the BUCS competitions throughout the full academic year,” said the team.

“Our first team previously competed in the top Scottish university league and for the previous three seasons won the top Scottish league (1A), winning all games in the process. Following promotion at the end of last season, we now play in the British North League, the highest league we can play at in the university level and recently won that league for the first time in the club’s history. Our second team and third team are both top of their respective leagues and will hope to be promoted at the end of the season.”

Further information on the football club can be found on their website: football.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk

To the question of what the future holds and John doesn’t hesitate to tell me that they plan to further improve the pitches and upgrade the irrigation systems. They also aim to invest more in equipment and continue work organically and manage water usage.

Currently they are completely chemical free with no use of fungicides or pesticides and they utilise fertiliser in the form of a seaweed formula from Orkney.

Another item of equipment that the team currently possess is a beam rider for laser line marking. This takes the place of apprentices past use of string lines.

The 3G synthetic pitch features 100 per cent recycled fibre playing surface with a biodegradable non-toxic cork in-fill and was the first pitch of this kind, provided by FieldTurf, in the UK.

Saints are marching in

Saints are marching in

The third-generation synthetic surface is made using cutting edge methods to reduce the waste and pollution being created each year and contributes to a healthier environment in sport.

The 3G pitch at St Andrews offers a top level playing surface and is suitable for hosting international level matches and has achieved both FIFE Quality and world rugby regulations 22 certifications.

As to what the rest of this frosty day brings, the boys will be cleaning out and tidying up the shed. Even at the most prestigious University in the country, the shed takes priority sometimes! It’s always a satisfying job on cold days like these anyway and some of the best ideas are borne out of time spent in the shed.

There are some beech hedges to be cut back but I think, with the excitement of getting those knees out today, they might be better suited to a calm afternoon in the shed to recover.

They are all keen to tell me that working at the University of St Andrews sports grounds is a pleasure and a privilege and that they are a strong team who work well together to provide each skill needed in a profession where teamwork is critical.

They also enjoy the setting of St Andrews itself, with cafés, restaurants and beaches set in a picturesque location. With a quiet beauty, a calming atmosphere and an air of respect for your privacy, St Andrews continues to attract and gain enquiries from far afield.

Today might be overcast and cold, but the future looks bright for the Estates department here at St Andrews – and the guys are ready to continue to provide excellent facilities for many students to come.