Not your run-of-the mill training centre

Not your run-of-the mill training centre

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Not your run-of-the mill training centre

Scott MacCallum was afforded the opportunity to visit the AXA Training Centre, Liverpool FC’s training base in the company of Director of Grounds, Warren Scott. What he found was quite remarkable…

Not your run-of-the mill training centre

Not your run-of-the mill training centre

I recently enjoyed a visit where, among other things, we talked about the planting of over 1,000 trees, the acquisition of bee hives, an allotment, wild flower meadows and aspirations to be full carbon neutral by 2040.

You’d probably expect me to say that I’d been to one of the Royal Parks, or a grand estate somewhere in middle England, or perhaps a particularly progressive golf club.

So, what would you think if I told you that it was a Premier League training ground? But not just any training ground. This was, at the time of the visit if not the time of writing, the reigning Champions – Liverpool FC, and their award-winning AXA Training Centre.

Director of Grounds, Warren Scott and his amazing team, have turned the Centre, in the Kirkby district of the city, into a sanctuary for all sorts of flora and fauna, while at the same time providing the Liverpool players with a day-to-day workplace that is a pleasure to attend.

They also collected the GMA’s Environmental and Sustainability Award at the recent ceremony at Edgbaston Cricket Ground.

It is fair to say that for Warren and is team the job has moved a long way from merely cutting grass, marking out pitches and erecting goal posts.

The range of work that the grounds team now carries out would amaze any football grounds manager from a previous generation. That said, all of the tasks, whether it be maintaining
the living wall outside of the main building – see photograph above – to looking after the tricky par-3 golf hole, are there for the greater good and to benefit mindfulness of players and staff alike.

Not your run-of-the mill training centre

Not your run-of-the mill training centre

And, important to note, the core purpose of a training centre which is to provide quality surfaces for multimillion pound players train on every day has never been forgotten. Indeed, quality has risen while at the same time, through a detailed data driven approach to turf maintenance, the costs have halved in the six years since the AXA opened.

“That comes from figures taken from our last year at Melwood and even takes into account for inflation,” revealed Warren, talking about the previous training centre a few miles away and which is now home to the Liverpool Women’s team and academy.

The drive to be more sustainable and eco-friendly is not just the preserve of Warren and the team. It is part of The Red Way which was launched in January 2021 as a way of tying together the good work across the entire club and providing a benchmark to measure and demonstrate progress.

There are six objectives within The Red Way, covering not just environmental sustainability but also cover improving working environments and building relationships within the local community.

“This gives us clear aims for what we want to achieve. And we are committed to continual improvement.

This is why we use an external verification system – ISO20121 – to hold us to account. We are the first major European football club to hold this certification,” said Warren.

Warren is a real driving force for a large part of the work that has been carried out. But it was not always such. While not having to be dragged kicking and screaming into a more diverse approach, he does admit that in the early days he was much more focussed on the pitch than the other areas that are now such an important element of the AXA.

“I love it all now and see the importance of everything that we do and it is great for the team that there is so much variety in the daily work that we do.”

The Liverpool grounds team is substantial, given the size of the facilities they maintain. Even the AXA itself is split into two, with the first team on one side of the site and the academy on the other.

There are 10 staff on the first team side and 11 on the academy side, seven at the women’s training ground. Then there are five at Anfield itself and one at St Helen’s Park, where the women play their matches.

Jurgen Klopp was the manager when the AXA was being developed and built and he was very keen to include Paddle courts and for everyone on the Liverpool staff, including himself and players, to play.

Not your run-of-the mill training centre

Not your run-of-the mill training centre

“We used to have a beach volleyball court as well,” said Warren, who is particularly proud of the golf hole the team has built in the last couple of years.

“Although it’s only 90 yards long it is a tough hole. There is a pond in front of the green and it does catch a lot of balls. So far there has been one hole-in-one, but he was playing on his own so there were no witnesses!” said Warren, adding that they are currently considering where best to add a bunker to add to the difficulty.

Having been afforded the chance to replicate the hole-in-one I’d also rather there had been no witnesses to my feeble efforts.

Just behind the tee is a wild flower meadow and their orchard, which includes a selection of tree varieties.

“We have apple, cooking apples, plum, pear, and cherry and it will be about five or six years until they’re fully taken and we start to produce large amounts of fruit. Ultimately, we’d like to produce our own cider.”

They are going to bring the club bees down from their allotments to pollinate the fruit trees.

“We’ve now got 12 trained beekeepers in the club,” explained Warren, as we drove around the site in a buggy which originally carried the numberplate “Klopp One”.

“It was donated by one of our suppliers but Jurgen always preferred to walk rather than go in his buggy so it is now ‘Groundsman One’.”

“There are not too many differences in the sports. It’s about looking after grass after all, and there’s a lot of similarities in how we maintain it and what we’re analysing.

That said there is still a place for the good old experience and intuition, and Warren is very adept with his cultured right foot.

“I kick every bit of grass I come across because it tells me how it’s going to play – how much nutrient in the leaf. If it tears easily, I know it’s too soft and I would need to see how many nutrients are in it. It also tells me If there is a lot of organic matter.”

But when it came to data collection it produced a welcome biproduct – it saved money!

“What we found was, if you analyse the leaf tissue enough, some of the times we were found we had to reduce inputs because we had already had too much in the plant. That’s where we were able to make reductions and save some money.

Not your run-of-the mill training centre

Not your run-of-the mill training centre

“We are also using less fungicide which is another saving. You have to be extremely open-minded as to what’s possible and what might not be.

“I’ll always ask questions. It’s not that I don’t believe people, it’s just I think as an industry we can be influenced by the person who is selling you a bag of fertiliser and you end up putting on more than you need.

“If you use data, together with your own experience you can avoid falling into those traps,” said Warren, who credits much of his success to his first boss when he started at the Liverpool Academy.

“Neil Holden was a former England Rugby League player. He was very much ahead of his time and 30% of what I do today is what learned from him.” With players now multi million pound assets and injury something that can cost a club trophies or titles, there is a great deal of pressure on grounds teams to provide surfaces which are to the liking of the coaches and medical teams.

“I have found over the years that the best thing is just be honest with them because as soon as you say that it’s not hard or it’s not soft you’ve opened yourself up.

“What, we do is provide the coaches and medical teams with the data and let them decide what they want, rather than have us make those decisions.”

But despite everything perfection is something that is not always achievable.

“You can’t make pitches perfect all year round. The weather controls a lot of what you can or can’t do and it’s not always possible to get out and work on them.”

With such a big team, communication is vitally important and there are monthly management meetings as well as regular weekly workshops with all the teams.

“That’s the opportunity for them to suggest their ideas which are then brought in to the managers’ meeting.

We discuss them all and depending on what budget we’ve got we make the decision on whether to implement them. Some of the best ideas come from the younger members of the team which is great.”

One of the other major features of the AXA Training Centre is the living wall which sits on the side of the main building.

“People absolutely love it. There are 872 plants in the wall and each one is in its own pot and they are watered by a pipe which runs straight up to the top and waters them all at the same time.”

One of the benefits of moving to a new facility is that you can influence how things are done and this is very much the case with the on-site AXA Maintenance Facility.

“It was built just exactly how we wanted it. We sat down with the developers and explained what we needed and how we’d like it to be. For example you need an area for fertiliser storage. That was a big one. We didn’t really want that in the building where all the machines were going to be stored so we have fertiliser and chemical storage outside.

Looking forward Warren is relaxed.

“I’m not big on targets because things change regularly. I’ve never been, I’m not into KPIs. All I say is we’ve got a big enough team and we just keep coming up with ideas , and being better year on year. We using our data to look at what we did one year and how we might improve for the next.”

The AXA Training Centre is a remarkable place and a far cry from a changing room and a few wind swept natural pitches which acted as the training facilities for so many teams just a few years ago and are still in place for quite a few now.

Warren and his team do a remarkable job of looking after such a special place while at the same time acquired a whole new set of skills.

Defying the odds

Defying the odds

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Defying the odds

Scott MacCallum catches up with Andrew Fox, whose cylinder mowers have been gracing cricket pitches and bowling greens for the past decade.

Defying the odds

Defying the odds

Through time the concept of the little guy beating the big guy has always been a romantic notion.

But think about it. If Goliath hadn’t taken one in the eye from David, would we ever have heard of either of them?

Would we then ever have had a decent analogy to make for the little man overcoming the odds and triumphing over a giant? I can’t think of one.

Through time the concept of the little guy beating the big guy has always been a romantic notion. But think about it. If Goliath hadn’t taken one in the eye from David and, instead, given him a good thumping, would we ever have heard of either of them?

Would we then ever have had a decent analogy to make for the little man overcoming the odds and triumphing over a giant? I can’t think of one.

Except there is Andrew Fox, who has been defying the odds for a decade now. He’s been building cylinder mowers which more than hold their own when matched against any of those built by the bigger manufacturers in the industry.

Andrew is a keen cricketer and volunteer groundsman of 40 years standing when, a new chapter in his professional life was due to begin and he found that he had time on his hands to indulge his passion.

It had actually started in 1984, at the age of 11 at the family home in Somerset, when Andrew dismantled a brand new Atco 20 inch cylinder mower, reassembled it and then went on to cut a cricket wicket on the front lawn.

The hobby carried on through adult life. “I would take old Atco cylinder mowers, refurbish, improve then sell them on to cash stricken cricket clubs, making just a few bob,” recalled Andrew.

All the time he was gaining an appreciation of the work that goes into building a quality cylinder mower and, more importantly, where he felt improvements could be made to what is one of the most recognisable of all every day inventions.

It led him to a decision to start building his own mowers, and over last 10 years Fox Cylinder Mowers has built a quantity, each individually numbered, and gracing cricket pitches and bowling greens for as far afield as Glasgow and Northern Ireland.

With an attention to detail and a no comprise attitude to quality Andrew began from the back of his garage, a facility which has only recently been replaced by custom built workshop, twice the size of the original.

While you often hear of the advantages of economies of scale, which often are the undoing of the “little guy”, Andrew has found that the opposite can be the case and it is interesting to listen to him when talking about a product used to secure the cylinder.

“It’s basically a grip nut which holds the cylinder at its level and I wanted to improve the quality. So I researched a replacement and I am now using what’s known as a Aero Nut, which is used in the aviation industry by NASA and Boeing. “It’s designed in a completely different way to a regular nut and is used in areas of extreme vibration or heat.

“I’ve now adopted it and use it in two areas on the machine,” explained Andrew.

Defying the odds

Defying the odds

And so to the bit about being the antidote to economies of scale.

“It’s a minuscule increase in cost. Instead of being around 20p for the regular nut, it’s £1.20,” he said.

Now to Andrew that doesn’t represent a huge rise in his costs, but to a larger company they would see a nut costing six times more and many would be looking to swap a more expensive unit for a cheaper one rather than the reverse.

“What you are getting is something which in not only considerably more reliable but will also last at least 10 times longer. That’s great for clubs as many are volunteer-run where reliability is paramount.

Having reached his 10 year milestone Andrew, is now assisted in the workshop by fellow cricketer and lifelong friend Andrew “Cookie” Cook and together they produce a good number of machines every year.

With the more recently added Verticutter, there is now a range of six models – two levels of petrol mowers – the higher-end Black Edition and the entry Green Edition – plus a Black electric battery version of the mower.

The verticutter is something about which Andrew is particularly proud. “It is genuinely revolutionary and market leading. The Verticutter is brush assisted has blades which are only ten millimeters apart, against the industry standard of 12 to 15 millimeters.

“In conjunction with a 100 year old brush manufacturer from England, we designed spacers complete with brush clusters. What these do is sit just in front of the blade and protrude slightly, so that they aid the verticutting by lifting the lateral grass, a nanosecond before the cutter.

“It’s just absolutely phenomenal,” said Andrew, who also uses two millimeter stainless steel discs which do not bend.

“To give you some idea, the number of bristles in each cluster on each spacer, multiplied across the reel and multiplied again by the rpm result in 400,000 brush strokes a second,” said Andrew, proving without a shadow of a doubt, that British ingenuity, whether that be in the form of an eccentric inventor or otherwise, is alive and kicking.

When I spoke with Andrew a few years ago he told me that he personally serviced every one of his mowers, and not only that, he would collect them, take them back to the workshop before delivering them back to their owners.

He couldn’t possibly still be doing that, could he?

“I still hand deliver each new machine and demonstrate it, irrespective of where it is in the UK, but I have now bought a van and employ a part- timer to collect them.

The procedure is that I encourage everybody to book in a service by the end of September and then we look at the logistics and the most effective way of collecting a batch of mowers at the same time.

“Our claim is that we return them in ‘as new’ condition – it’s not just a change of oil and a wipe over with an oily rag. We go through them with a fine tooth comb.”

Fox Mowers have always used Honda engines on his Black Edition machines and Andrew is a huge Honda fan.

“Honda engines are just fantastically engineered. They are superb. As soon as you confirm we use a Honda engine, people immediately take you seriously.

“So I turned to Honda when I decided to produce an electric mower,” said Andrew. “I spoke to them about it and they had an They had an electric package -electric motor, battery and charger – that is fantastically engineered.”

But Andrew had a small concern. “The Head of Engines and the Head of Sales said that they wanted to come down and visit me. I said that was fine, but pointed out that they’d be coming to my house, and this was before the new workshop had been built. They said not to worry as they liked to work with people with my drive, enthusiasm and commitment.”

As it turned out Andrew’s home comforts proved to the liking of the two high flying Honda executives.

“They came down and we got on very well. We bolted the electric motor onto a machine, went out and tested it on the cricket pitch. They then took measurements for vibration and noise etc. and sent it off to the European Honda engine headquarters, in Belgium.

“It came back approved. So now it’s a Honda approved machine and carries Honda’s two year warranty!”

A decade on, every one of the Fox machines is still in existence and working well.

“Number one is just outside Yeovil and I’ve told them that when they want to sell it I am buying it back!”

Andrew has no desire to build the company any bigger than he has. His production line will remain himself and “Cookie” and he enjoys his life, happy being the little guy working alongside the Goliaths.

Working up a Storm

Working up a Storm

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Working up a Storm

By complete chance, Scott MacCallum visited the Riverside Stadium a couple of days after one of the most momentous matches in the history of Durham County Cricket Club. He met the man perfectly suited to dealing with the highs and lows of professional groundsmanship.

Working up a Storm

Working up a Storm

It’s 10am on the first Tuesday after Easter at an extremely sunny and warm Riverside Stadium, in Chester-leStreet, and Vic Demain, Head Groundsman, is there to greet me – his usual relaxed and friendly self.

However, a mere 48 hours earlier, during the first four-day game of the new season against Kent, things had been markedly different. And it was all down to Storm Dave.

In his long career as a volunteer groundsman, a professional groundsman and now Head Groundsman at a Test venue for the past 11 years, thanks to Dave, the Sunday had been the most traumatic day of Vic’s career. “The first two days were fine and we had got well into the match,” recalled Vic.

“We knew that there was a threat of some weather coming in and there was actually an amber wind warning for Saturday night, but that wasn’t particularly unusual as we have a lot of wind up here.

“We’ve had storms come in before and come out of them pretty much unscathed. But this was excessive,” said Vic, of the 70mph-plus winds which hammered the area in the early hours on Sunday morning – a level which is officially classified as Violent Storm Force.

“I knew it was going to be bad, as could hear it through the night, and when I opened my bedroom curtains I saw that the standard rose in the front garden had snapped in half. So that was a bad start.”

Not really knowing what to expect but fearing that it would be something unpleasant Vic walked through a little cut in the grandstands so that he could take a look.

“Before we left on the Saturday evening we had completely covered the square and put as many pins into the ground sheets as we could, as well as adding as many weighted bags as we could lay our hands on.”

However, even having seen the fate of his poor rose, it couldn’t have prepared him for the scene that faced him as he looked out over the outfield.

“Everything had disappeared off the ground. It has just gone. One of the roll-on covers had blown all the way to the east side of the ground, and another had actually flipped over and flown into the stand. The scaffolding at the far end of the ground was completely ruined,” said Vic explaining that the regular practice was to secure it by tying it the sight screens.

“There was just damage everywhere,” he said reflecting on the carnage that faced him.

With the match at the half way stage, and with Durham holding the edge, the fact that the pitch had been left to the vagaries of the accompanying rain meant that there was no chance of any play on the Sunday, even if Vic and his team had been able to make the ground safe.

“In a way we got unlucky because what had happened was that we had put the roll on covers on the pitch itself, and then attached the ground sheets on either side.

“The sheet that was attached at the pavilion end of the ground would have been the first one that blew off because the wind was coming in from the southwest. The wind got under it, curled it up and everything went. In a way it acted like a sail.

Working up a Storm

Working up a Storm

“In pulling that sheet off, all the water that had collected was deposited on one end of the pitch.”

Vic and his team worked their socks off to make the ground, and pitch, safe and it is quite remarkable, and a tribute to all involved, that the match wasn’t abandoned and the final day of play went ahead.

“Luckily, the wind wasn’t as strong on Sunday, but there was still a good breeze which dried the top off. It was still touch and go whether we were going to be able to play on Monday but as it turned out the pitch didn’t offer any assistance to either side,” said Vic.

“However, having lost the day there wasn’t time for Durham to force a win and the match ended in a draw.”

As is increasingly common, the armchair experts, fueled by the font of knowledge that is the internet, were out in force. Vic’s thick skin came to his protection when he read that if only he and his team had taken advice from some of the staff at the bigger grounds in the country they would have been able to cope a lot better.

“When you have to deal with something like Storm Dave you just wish people were a little bit more understanding. This person seemed to be implying that, because we lost a day’s play, there must be a reason, and that reason was because the ground staff weren’t good enough.

“In fact, the opposite is the case and if it hadn’t been for the wonderful work of the team no play would have been possible and the match would have been abandoned.”

The other side of the coin was also on full display, however, and from a source much closer to home.

“On Sunday afternoon, I got a phone call from Gary (Barwell) at Edgbaston, who also had a game going on. He said, ‘Look Vic, I’ve seen what’s happened and if you need it, I’m more than happy to send one of my lads up with some spare sheeting – whatever you need to help you out. I know it’s three hours in a van, but we’ll do it’,” said Vic, on the comradeship that exists within the groundsmanship fraternity.

That camaraderie was also evident with Vic’s tribute to Lords Grounds Manager, Karl McDermott, on being named the GMA Grounds Manager of the Year in March – an accolade that was afforded to Vic himself in 2017, when he became the first cricket Grounds Manager to be honoured.

“I was really pleased for Karl because his story is similar to mine. I started as a volunteer groundsman and worked my way up, while Karl came over from Ireland, and also worked his way up to where he is now.

“Not only has he continued the work that Mick Hunt did for 50 years, at what I believe is the best cricket ground in the world, he has taken it to the next level with some of the new techniques that he has introduced.

“He has also done fantastic things for cricket groundsmanship as a whole and has been great in promoting the industry,” said Vic, with a warmth which gave the comments all the greater meaning.

Being a southerner Vic has adapted well to life in the north east, and has become a lover of the area’s countryside and coastline during his time at the most northerly test match ground in the world.

“When I think about growing grass, which is essentially what we’re trying to do, here we are in early April and it still hasn’t started growing yet. If I run a mower across the square, it takes nothing off. Whereas down south it’ll be growing well by now.

“Indeed, if I go down south in mid February the daffodils are already out. It’ll be three weeks later before the daffodils come out here. To me that is a good indicator of the growing conditions – three weeks behind.”

As I gaze out on the pitch from the vantage point of the scorer’s box there is a women’s friendly between Durham and Warwickshire underway and the pitch and outfield look immaculate – even taking into account the traumas of the previous few days.

I compliment Vic, but what does my layman’s opinion matter? “To be honest, it still looks a little yellow to me,” was his more critical view.

Working up a Storm

Working up a Storm

Vic has some interesting views on one of the perpetual headaches that impacts all groundsmanship and greenkeeping – poor pay and attracting younger people into the industry.

“You try to persuade a 16 or 17 year old who might be considering this industry. I’ll say to him, ‘I want you to think about this. If we’ve got a four day game starting on Saturday, you’ll be working full days on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Then, the next Friday, we might have a Twenty20 match, which means an eight o’clock in the morning start, through to ten o’clock at night.’ Well, it’s Friday night, he’s a young lad and he really wants to be down the pub with his mates.”

In a major difference to golf greenkeeping, when many good players see greenkeeping as a great way of involving themselves in the game, with opportunities to play once the work has been finished, cricket is the opposite.

“The number of people that I’ve interviewed and they say to me that they are really keen on cricket – perhaps they play for the county under 17s. I have to ask them how they’d feel about not playing on a Saturday or Sunday because they’d be working. I’d need them to work and they’d want to be playing. It’s not possible to do both.”

It keeps a long list of potential cricket groundsman away from the career.

The advent of women’s professional cricket – Durham was selected as a Tier 1 professional team from 2025 – has increased the workload on the Durham team, while talks are on-going about the possibility of the Riverside also hosting 100 cricket.

“All this extra cricket that we’ve got now with the women, and the juniors joining the men, and we’ve got no extra pitches. It means that the pitches are having to be repaired and brought back for reuse a lot more than they ever used to.”

Vic is delighted with the team he has at his disposal. He has his Deputy Head Groundsman Mark Patterson, who also looks after the Nursery Ground; Ben Hall, Barry Boustead and John Bland with Barry and John both joined Vic from nearby Durham School, within the last five years.

“We’ve also got a young lad coming over from Australia in a couple of weeks time. He was with us last season for the summer and we’re delighted that he’s coming back. He works in Perth on the major Test grounds. So, it means that we’ll be five full time and one seasonal for this year.”

Hopefully they won’t be visited by any more Storm Daves over the coming season and that all the stress and excitement can be limited to that one Sunday in the opening game of the season.

I know Vic and the team certainly hope so.

We’re in safe hands

We’re in safe hands

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We’re in safe hands

Scott MacCallum catches up with two of the winners of the GMA’s 35 under 35 initiative.

We’re in safe hands

We’re in safe hands

It’s not always wise to make predictions. Usually there is one chance to be a hero but many more chances of looking like a fool. But here I am about to do just that. I am predicting that the future of our industry is secure and in safe hands.

I am predicting that the future of our industry is secure and in safe hands.

I say this, confidently, having sat down with two of the ICL’s supported GMA’s 35 under 35s winners and seeing just how wise both are and just how much they care about the industry.

Daniel Puicar is Head Gardener at Middleton Hall Trust in Warwickshire, and Sean Faulkner is Sales and Marketing Director for Kersten UK and one of the country’s leading experts in sustainable weed management.

Daniel and Sean may come from different sides of the industry, but they are equally thought provoking on so many issues.

Asked where they think the industry would be in 10 years’ time Sean felt that it was something very much in the hands of the younger participants currently working within it.

“It’s up to us. Well, to a point,” he said. “Lots of people of my dad’s age (Baby Boomers and Gen X) are starting to retire now and there are a great many of them in our industry. And, at the moment, there are not that many of our generation and younger to fill that gap,” he explained.

“I believe that it’s critical that we encourage the people who are in our generation to take the reins, make a difference and shape the industry into how we want it to be shaped.

Otherwise, we’re going to be left with whatever industry we’ve given.

“So, as I said, in that sense, it’s down to us what it looks like in in ten years’ time,” added Sean.

Daniel has a similar take on the concerning age demographic within the industry.

“I am anxious about the exit from the industry versus the entrance into the industry. We are losing knowledge, and that’s knowledge that you don’t find in books. It’s knowledge that is not passed down,” said Daniel.

“But if you ever work with someone who’s been in the industry for 20, 30 or 40 years, you know that what they know is pure gold. And that is what we’re losing.”

The $64,000 question therefore is, “What can be done to attract young people into the industry?”

Well, Daniel can’t believe that he is lucky enough to be working in a job that he loves so much.

“Doing something creative is often linked to the satisfaction that you get from a hobby, while doing a job is sometimes seen as something much more routine.

When you mix the two together, you are in the lovely position of achieving satisfaction from doing your job.”

Daniel is also one of the few people who takes a positive from the poor wages that are so common place within the industry.

“The fact that the industry is so underpaid actually shows that the people who are in it are not in it for the money. They’re in it because they love it. That to me is a brilliant selling point to the industry.”

Highlighting what great job opportunities are within our industry is something with Sean has been actively working on recently.

We’re in safe hands

We’re in safe hands

He is a trustee of a charity called Managing the Green Planet which builds awareness of career options.

They do it through virtual reality. They’ve got glasses that they give to students and they show them what it’s like to be a day in the life of the guy who managing Lords or Wimbledon or a National Trust estate.

“So that’s exciting and a way of showing just out varied and interesting jobs in our industry can be.”

On that theme Sean highlighted the variety of jobs the industry offers up and the value he gives from his own role.

“It’s an interesting industry with a lot of potential to go places and make big differences. What I’m doing may sound quite boring, but, in reality, I’m solving problems with air and water quality; with surface water; with potholes that everybody complains about, with weeds themselves, So, there’s ways of making a massive impact if that’s what you want.

“For example if National Trust sites weren’t maintained at such a high level, and interesting things done with the gardens and if the paths didn’t look pristine.

“I’m sure the number of visitors would drop alarmingly. People like to see lovely gardens and paths and it is the people within our industry who make them happen.”

“Being a steward of what we have is really important. I think we need to connect more as a country to our history and to our culture and roots,” said Sean.

So, you can see that I’m not exactly going out on a limb to say that we have some pretty smart cookies among the younger generation of industry professionals. While the rest of us are looking back at our careers from the comfort of our armchairs they will be forging forward making things better for the generation which follows them. For me I’m just hoping to sneak into the 65 under 65s before even that is too late!

THE FULL WINNERS OF THE GMA 35 UNDER 35:

  • Luis Arregui – Real Madrid C.F, Deputy Grounds Manager
  • Tom Bacon – Brighton and Hove Albion FC, Groundsperson
  • Alex Brierley – The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Groundstaff and Lead Irrigation
  • Louise Challiss – PAN Publicity Limited, Managing Director
  • Luke Chapman – Brighton and Hove Albion FC, Deputy Head Groundsperson
  • Evan Davies – Swansea City AFC, Head of Grounds
  • Max Drummond Smillie – Fargro Ltd, Head of Amenity
  • Alex Earle – Tennisclub Weissenhof, Head Groundsman
  • Sean Faulkner – Kersten UK Ltd, Sales and Marketing Director
  • Matthew Gibson – The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Groundsperson
  • Flynn Good – Leicester City Football Club, Skilled Sports Turf Operative
  • Matt Harris – Whitgift School, Groundsperson
  • Stanley Hayden – Fulham FC, Deputy Head of Grounds
  • Brad Jefferies – Colchester United Football Club, Head Groundsman
  • Ben Kim – K-League, The member of Pitch Assist
  • Jack Langley – Ashton Gate Stadium, Deputy Head Groundsperson
  • Rob Langley – University of Cambridge Sport, Sports Grounds & Facilities Supervisor
  • Meg Lay – Lord’s Cricket Ground, Groundswoman
  • Jack Leather – Liverpool Football Club, Specialist Groundsperson
  • Oliver Mahon – Bradfield College, Head of Grounds
  • Maritza Martinez – St. Louis CITY SC, Associate Director of Stadium Grounds
  • John Paul McAvoy – Preston North End, Groundsman
  • Santiago Molinaro – Independent Professional, Agronomist
  • Kane Munday – Norwich City Football Club, Assistant Head of Grounds
  • Matthew Noke – Bristol City FC, Groundsperson
  • Daniel Puicar – Middleton Hall Trust, Head Gardener
  • Adam Radley – Stamford School, Deputy Head of Grounds & Gardens
  • Ethan Reed – Nottingham Forest Football Club, Pitch Performance Manager
  • David Ridley – Wiltshire County Football Association, Facility Operations Manager
  • George Sheath – University of Southampton, Grounds Advisor (Head of Grounds)
  • Aaron Stevenson – London Stadium, Deputy Head Groundsperson
  • Bradley Tennant – International Greenkeepers, Director
  • Aaron Tong – Hull City AFC, Head of Grounds
  • Ben Tuckwell – Nuture Group, Grounds Maintenance Operative
  • Dewi Williams – Football Association of Wales, Club Developer
Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

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Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

In the world of professional turf management, the battle against the elements is perpetual, says Redexim’s Paul Langford.

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

As weather patterns become increasingly volatile, the “shoulder seasons” are no longer defined by light mists, but by high-volume precipitation events that test the limits of even the most sophisticated drainage systems.

For the modern turf manager, the challenge is twofold: maintaining the structural integrity of the soil profile while ensuring maximum surface availability for players.

When traditional aeration is no longer enough to move standing water, the focus must shift to secondary drainage. This is where the Redexim Vibra-Sandmaster enters the fray – not merely as a piece of machinery, but as a strategic intervention for long-term turf health.

THE AGRONOMY OF INFILTRATION: WHY SAND SLITTING?

To understand the value of a machine like the Vibra-Sandmaster, one must first address the “perched water table” and the physics of soil compaction. In high-traffic areas such as golf fairways,
football and rugby pitches, the upper 100mm to 200mm of the soil profile often becomes a bottleneck. Even if the underlying subsoil is porous, a capped or compacted surface layer acts as a seal, trapping water and suffocating the root zone.

Sand slitting is the surgical answer to this problem. By creating narrow, vertical channels and backfilling them with free-draining aggregates, we can create a direct bypass for surface water.

These slits do more than just move water; they facilitate Gas Exchange. By breaking the surface seal, oxygen can reach the rhizosphere, and carbon dioxide can escape which is a process vital for the microbial activity that prevents thatch build-up and promotes deep rooting.

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Traditional sand slitting has historically been a multi-stage, labourintensive process: decompacting, trenching, filling, and brushing. The Vibra-Sandmaster redefines this workflow by integrating the VertiQuake 2516 into a seamless, one-pass operation.

1. DECOMPACTION VIA THE VERTIQUAKE 2516

At the heart of the system is the VertiQuake technology. Unlike standard hollow coring or solid tining, the VertiQuake uses a rotary action with offset blades. These blades penetrate up to 250mm deep, creating a “wave” action underground. This lateral movement shatters the soil structure between the slits without the heave associated with traditional deep-tine aerators.

2. VIBRATING COULTER TECHNOLOGY

The “Vibra” in the name isn’t just marketing. It’s the machine’s most critical mechanical advantage. As the sand is delivered from the hopper into the slits created by the Verti-Quake, the coulters vibrate at high frequency.

Technical note: This vibration serves a dual purpose. First, it ensures that the sand (even if slightly damp) flows freely without bridging or clogging the delivery chutes. Second, it “settles” the sand into the slit, ensuring there are no air pockets. An improperly filled slit can lead to surface “slumping” later in the season; the vibrating coulters mitigate this risk entirely.

EFFICIENCY AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL

In the pitch maintenance community, “window of opportunity” is a common phrase. With budgets tightening and fixture lists growing, the luxury of closing a pitch for a week of renovation is disappearing. The one-pass capability of the Vibra-Sandmaster is, therefore, a massive logistical win.

By combining de-compaction and sand injection into a single pass, grounds teams can:

  • Reduce man-hours: Complete a fairway or pitch in a fraction of the time required for multi-machine setups.
  • Minimise surface disruption: Because the machine is precisely calibrated, the “clean-up” required post-operation is minimal. Surfaces are often playable within hours of completion.
  • Monitor with precision: The inclusion of an on-board camera system allows the operator to monitor sand flow in real-time. This prevents the “blind spots” that often lead to inconsistent drainage performance across a site.

While the Vibra-Sandmaster is a staple on the links and parkland courses of the UK, its application in the municipal and winter sports sectors is growing. Local authorities managing public parks and multi-use games areas (MUGAs) face extreme compaction from heavy foot traffic.

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

Mastering the water table: The strategic role of sand slitting

In these environments, the VibraSandmaster acts as a “reset button.” It allows for the introduction of highquality silica sand into native soil pitches, gradually amending the soil texture over several seasons without the astronomical cost of a full pitch reconstruction. Whether it is dry sand, damp sand, or even small-diameter gravel, the machine’s ability to handle various media makes it a versatile asset in a facility’s fleet.

THE LONG-TERM ROI OF PROPER DRAINAGE

Investment in a Vibra-Sandmaster should be viewed through the lens of preventative maintenance. Welldrained turf is more resilient to drought (due to deeper rooting), less prone to fungal pathogens (due to lower surface humidity), and more capable of withstanding the mechanical stress of play.

When a pitch remains playable during a wet November, the revenue generated from fixtures or the satisfaction of golf members provides a direct return on the investment in secondary drainage.

The Redexim Vibra-Sandmaster represents the pinnacle of sandslitting technology. By marrying the deep-channel decompaction of the Verti-Quake with a sophisticated, vibration-assisted sand delivery system, it solves the most pressing issue in turf management: water movement. For the professional seeking to elevate their surfaces and future-proof their facility against the climate, this machine is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity.