Keeping John Deere connected

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Keeping John Deere connected: Scott MacCallum was one of a small group of journalists who flew to Germany to see the latest technological launch from industry heavyweights, John Deere.

There we were, sitting in a lovely clubhouse in the middle of Germany, using an iPad to watch the movement of machinery on the legendary Carnoustie Golf Links, over a thousand miles away.

Keeping John Deere connected

Keeping John Deere connected

We could see a Gator making its way back to the sheds, or a green being cut out on the 14th.

Now there is more than one way in which this overarching technology can be viewed. Carnoustie had given their blessing to the be the example shown to the interested press and delegates, but yes, there is an element of Big Brother watching over your every move, but the more positive outlook is that you can identify inefficiencies or numerous ways in which time can be saved and resources used to their very best advantage.

John Deere has recently invested massively into the amenity turf industry, drawing much from the more advanced research and development from the much larger agricultural sector.

So there was much anticipation for the small group of press who were at the launch, held in John Deere’s European headquarters in Mannheim and those wonderful green machines with the yellow wheel inserts didn’t disappoint. The group were shown around the state-of-the-art factory, which is home to the two millionth John Deere tractor, which features the pictures of 300 of the staff who had worked on it.

John Deere Precision Turf technology has shown to increase productivity and efficiency. The focus is on connecting, guiding and managing the machines.

Connect The machines are connected using John Deere’s JDLink telemetry system. Machine data, such as hours, fuel level, or location is sent to the cloud-based John Deere Operations Centre . Fleet managers have a comprehensive view of individual machines or even the entire fleet whether they are on the go or in the office.

This allows precise planning of tasks, maximises uptime and uses the machine’s location to ensure optimal use. All golf equipment already has a JDLink modem for any turf-related operations. Starting with model year 2024, the 1500 Series TerrainCut front mowers and the TerrainCut 1600 Turbo wide area mowers will also be equipped with a JDLink modem.

There is the option to retrofit modems to commercial ZTrak Zero Turn mowers and compact utility tractors. Guide Precision guidance systems can be used to make turf operations more efficient.

Machines can accurately follow a pre-planned route, even in low visibility or during the night.

Keeping John Deere connected

Keeping John Deere connected

This allows the HD200 GPS Precision Sprayer to avoid overlaps or missed applications with a guidance system to accurately treat the turf. Standard Individual Nozzle Shutdown allows operators to only cover pre-defined turf, while lower maintenance areas are automatically left out.

This greatly simplifies the work processes as Public the operator can fully concentrate on the actual work process without having to take additional care to maintain the tracks. Components such as the StarFire receiver and the Universal Displays, plus technologies such as AutoTrac, enable the use of precision guidance systems.

The components can be easily transferred from one machine to another. Manage The John Deere Operations Centre provides a central platform for managing machine- and work-related information to make data-based decisions quickly and easily.

The Machine Analyser inspects and visualises machine data, for example, to identify service needs in time or to evenly distribute hours between machines.

The new John Deere Connectivity programme allows Course Managers, dealers and John Deere themselves to track machinery while out on the golf course from wherever they happen to be. It allows a much more objective assessment of performance.

“We can track how many hours a triple mower has worked and over time if we need to even up hours on leased equipment cutting units on tees mowers can be swapped with those on greens mowers as greens mower hours are much greater than those of tees mowers,” said Paul Trowman, John Deere’s European Marketing Manager.

This software integrates OnLink into the John Deere Operations Centre. John Deere Operations Centre PRO Golf provides solutions for managing golf course maintenance.

It provides functions to manage machine fleets and human resources.

At the same time, it provides information that greenkeepers need to manage their assets more efficiently and distribute tasks.

The work at John Deere shows that modern day technology can be a genuine force for good, a benefit to the industry and not something about which to be closed and suspicious.

Threat to our golfing jewels

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Threat to our golfing jewels: As weather becomes more extreme, coastal erosion is an issue for just about every links golf course in the country. What can and should be done? Scott MacCallum reports.

At the risk of sounding like John Lennon. Imagine there’s no Wembley; no Aintree Race course too. Imagine there’s no venues, it isn’t hard to do.

Threat to our golfing jewels

Threat to our golfing jewels

You get my drift. What if Wembley and Aintree, along with the likes of Wimbledon, Lords and Murrayfield, just disappeared off the face of the earth?

Sounds implausible doesn’t it? You might even accuse me of being a dreamer. But I’m not the only one. That’s the fate facing some of the country’s oldest and most revered golf courses, as coastal erosion has seen increasingly large chunks of links land being reclaimed by the sea.

The list of courses is as worrying as it is long. It includes Royal Aberdeen GC, which has hosted a Walker Cup, a Scottish Open and a British Seniors Open; Royal Montrose Golf Links, the fifth oldest golf course in the world; Alnmouth Village Golf Club, England’s oldest nine hole links course; Fortrose Golf Links, the 15th oldest golf links in the world.

Not to mention the hallowed St Andrews Links where intervention work has been going on for a number of years. That’s home to the Old Course, the most famous golf course in the world!

There is an army of modern day King Canutes, in the guise of Course Managers, facing the challenge of nature, with no guarantee that the resources or solutions are available to avoid the inevitable.

In fact, research shows that 100 Scottish golf courses are facing, or will be facing, the impact of coastal erosion with many historical and outstanding English courses facing the prospect of course damage, including Royal North Devon in the south and Formby and West Lancs in the north west.

New data has identified the courses that are most at risk from the effects climate change and while some of the timelines appear to give a decent amount of warning, there is no guarantee that solutions will resolve the issues.

Betting odds company AceOdds studied data, provided by Statista, which shows that the UK’s sea level is expected to rise by up to half a metre by the turn of the century.

It is reckoned that up to 28% of coastline in England and Wales, and 19% in Scotland, is at risk of erosion and, with a significant proportion of the country’s courses on low-lying ground where the land meets the sea, the dangers are there for all to see.

They found that the courses used by Arbroath Golf Club and Leven Golfing Society have a ‘high-risk’ level of flooding from both surface water and river/sea water, sitting only 24 metres and 35 metres above sea level on average.

That gives both a 75% ‘erosion risk’ over the next 75 years.

In England, Formby Golf Club is the course most at risk from climate change. It sits five metres above sea level and has a high risk of flooding from surface water, with a 50% likelihood of experiencing coastal erosion in the next 75 years.

Other highly regarding courses facing varying degrees of risk include Royal Dornoch, Nairn, Moray and the aforementioned West Lancs.

But for some the impact has come much quicker than anticipated and the results are horrific.

Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club, on Scotland’s Black Isle, would have architect, James Braid, spinning in his grave if he knew what the golf course he laid out was now facing.

Last October it was visited by Storm Ciaran, which coincided with a high tide and historically low atmospheric pressure, and it created more havoc in the space of one night that the club had experience in many many years.

Massive waves washed away between five and six metres of land, with the 1st and 2nd holes particularly impacted.

Club Manager Mike MacDonald told Michael McEwan, of Bunkered magazine, that the club was aware if the issues and had begun making plans.

“Towards the end of 2022 we set up a coastal erosion sub-committee and throughout 2023 we met with various representatives from the Highland Council and Scottish Water to highlight the issues we were facing,” Mike told Bunkered.

However, they got very little support from either body, while other attempts to source funding from national bodies were turned down.

“So it wasn’t a surprise that we were impacted. What was surprising was the extent of the damage. It was far more severe and devastating than any of us had anticipated.”

The club has already used rock armour to reinforce the area around the 1st and 2nd, but it is a costly option leaving the club with a bill for £140,000 just for this one defence for one part of the golf course.

With little or no support coming from outside, the club is resorting to crowd funding and while this has produce some very welcome results it is but a drop in the ocean of what will ultimately be required.

Course Manager, George Paterson, is the man at the sharp end trying to keep the elements at bay.

George is a big fan of soft defences, rather than the rock armour which, while it has its place, does tend to shift the problem down the coast.

“We reclaimed 2850 tonnes of sand/Marram mix from the far end of the beach and established a dune area above the high tide watermark. It took three days and roughly 95 loads in a 30 tonne dump truck,” George told Turf Matters.

“This was banked up along the 250 metre eroded stretch of beach at the 1st hole and then we installed 500 metres of chestnut fencing to help stabilise the sand and keep foot traffic off it.

“This was done in March of this year, but a high tide in early April took away about three to four metres of the sand and we had to re-stake some of the fencing.

Since then it has re-stabilised and the sand has started to gather at the foot of the fencing again.

“Inside the fenced area, and along where our red hazard posts and public footpath are, we have sewn out a mix of creeping ryegrass and creeping fescue which is now starting to take hold.”

The issue at Fortrose is the same as at many similarly threatened links courses – there is no option of re-routing as the additional land just isn’t available.

Montrose Golf Links lost seven metres of golf course in the last 12 months, having foreseen a loss of perhaps one or one and a half metres a year prior to that.

They actually moved the 3rd tee in 2017 but that has already disappeared and the half a million they have allocated to improving defences may only prove to be a sticking plaster solution.

South of the border, but not that far south, is Alnmouth Village Golf Club, in Northumberland, England’s oldest nine hole links course.

A vibrant golf club with 300 members it is all that is good about small golf clubs. When I visited an army of members were just completing a divotting session led by Head Greenkeeper, John Scurfield, and Club Secretary Ian Simpson.

Once they had finished their divoting stint they took me out to the 5th hole which had taken a battering late last year. The traffic cone marking the current edge between green and beach is a stark indicator of the power of nature.

The course may have suffered even more if it wasn’t for the concrete blocks that were installed as tank defences during the war.

They have done a remarkable job to holding back the tide but there was a gap of 100 yards between them, a gap which exposed the 5th.

There would have been no extensive planning process required to keep Hitler at bay, but in 21st century Britain that isn’t the case, and Ian had been told informally that any hard – rock armour – defence option would not survive the planning stage.

“If we could have moved some tank blocks or put some more in it might be able to slow the erosion down,” explained Ian.

“Long term we are probably going to have to move the 5th green, 40 to 50 yards left of where it is now.”

When we were there the tide was out but the spring tide comes right up to the edge and John has to remove seaweed from the top of tee boxes.

Tide is out water does come right up to the edge can see the seaweed line can see how high the tide comes. Recently not so high tides come springtime and spring tides right up agains the edge, combined with an easterly wind.

“You can feel the spray when you are out working on the course,” said John.

He arrived as Head man just before the latest erosion issue.

“I was a little bit worried that my place of work disappearing before my eyes, especially after always considering it one of the driest golf course in the north east of England,” said the man who was fulfilling a wish to work on a sand golf course rather than having constantly to be kicking mud off his wellies.

He has some longer term ideas which may help the golf course in a number of ways.

“The 6th hole is a blind uphill hole which is not idea for cutting from my perspective nor from a health and safety perspective for players. Ultimately we could move a few thousand tonnes of sand and reduce the height of the hole and flatten it out.”

It is great to see such positivity in a tricky situation but those potential solutions are not for the immediate future and hoping the weather is kind, and the next spring tides are not too severe, are key to the course avoiding any more damaging events.

Ian is currently waiting to see what options emerge so that financial targets can be set and fund raising campaigns put in place.

So what’s happening at golfing HQ in St Andrews.

Well, the R&A is aware of the issue, and back in 2020 invested up to £650,000 to fund golf course sustainability projects.

That amount wasn’t ring fenced for coastal erosion, but also covering green quality and general agronomic projects.

The R&A did however commission an Aberdeen-based company, Siskin Asset Management, who had submitted a proposal for a demonstration project of their new concept.

Traditionally, durable defence against erosion is based on hard engineering. In place of this Siskin had developed a concept based on well recognised soft engineering techniques. These techniques have been enhanced to improve durability and resilience in common coastal conditions.

This delivers mitigation of erosion at a lower up front cost and reduced lifecycle cost while being deployable using only community level resources.

Being based on soft engineering methods the concept also has a low environmental footprint.

The method uses a by-product of forestry operations called brash, akin to old Christmas trees. This natural product is baled before being arranged in a defined geometry and anchored in the back beach area of soft coastlines.

This structure then acts to capture mobile sediment and promote re-vegetation of the existing coast.

The overall effect being to enhance the resilience of the coastline against wave and wind attack.

After assessing the project the R&A agreed to support and approved funding accordingly. Both the R&A’s and Siskin Asset Management’s websites carried the same information:

The planned demonstration project is targeting the installation of the novel system along an approx. 100m section of coastline currently suffering from erosion. Once installed the demonstration site will be monitored as part of a three year PhD project to evaluate system effectiveness and provide learning. Information gathered during the demonstration project will be disseminated via update reports, conferences and standard media channels.

That was back in 2020 and while Covid will undoubtedly have slowed progress on what was to be a three year PHD project, there has been no further updates on either of the websites.

I was told that the R&A was still awaiting the report from that research and that it might not be until next year before that changes.

To date, and to the best of my knowledge, no information gathered during the project has been shared by Siskin Asset Management.

With time of the essence for so many of golf’s crown jewels we do need some urgency, some joined up thinking and some leadership from those with the power to provide it.

Nature is a powerful foe but the thought of accepting defeat and seeing some of our classic links disappear would be too much to bear.

To misquote the Beatles once again…

Yesterday
All our troubles seemed so far away
Now at looks like they’re here to stay

We can only hope not, and that golf clubs like Fortrose & Rosemarkie, Alnmouth and so many others are not left out in the cold attempting to stem the tide at a cost many of them will struggle to afford.

If you want something done well, do it yourself!

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If you want something done well, do it yourself!: Scott MacCallum travelled to Northern Finland to find out more about Avant and their brand new battery technology.

Where better to develop new batteries than one of the northern-most locations on the planet? Avant are based in Tampare, Finland, 100 miles north of Helsinki, and a place which is renowned for being a bit chilly.

If you want something done well, do it yourself!

If you want something done well, do it yourself!

It is therefore perfectly suited to testing the extremes of new battery technology and, having developed a battery which can cope in such conditions, Avant has recently opened a new battery factory to product the power units to operate their sophisticated range of electric loaders.

“Following a lot of development we believe we have produced the perfect solution for our type of machine. Of course it is not the perfect solution for any kind of moving machine, but we don’t have a huge circumference to cover, compared to cars which need a huge infrastructure of for recharging points,” Avant CEO, Jani Käkelä, explained to Turf Matters.

“For us the electric vehicle are very viable as a solution of a way to create a machine with zero emissions. We don’t need a huge battery so the cost of the machine is still reasonable and then also the charging infrastructure doesn’t need to be too big. Overall the size of the machine has not altered from that of the diesel machine.

The Avant HQ, even taking away the stunning Nordic scenery, is impressive with the new battery factory fitting seamlessly into the overall plant, and it is the ability to produce their own batteries which is seen as a gateway to taking the company onto the next level.

The new OptiTemp battery packs feature a globally unique immersion lithium-ion technology offering Avant users several benefits.

The 4-module 27 kwh OptiTemp battery gives an electric Avant e5 loader twice the capacity of other loaders in its size class. With a 4-module battery it is possible to work the whole day with one single charge.

A globally unique thermal management system keeps the temperature optimised and gives you the same capacity in hot and freezing weather.

If you want something done well, do it yourself!

If you want something done well, do it yourself!

Rapid charging. Thanks to the structure of the battery, you can charge your battery in just one and a half hours with a rapid charger, which enables long workdays.

Unique solutions for safety – the structure and the immersion cooling system of the battery – guarantee 100% safe batteries. Avant has been producing compact loaders and attachments for over 30 years and they have risen to become the global market leader in their field.

But it was having worked with electric loaders and batteries for a number of years that the began to realise that there was no battery pack available to fulfil the needs of their loaders.

Since the battery factory – Avant Power, a subsidiary of Avant Tecno – was opened a few months ago he batteries now produced are truly fit for purpose – and fully capable of dealing with Finland’s extreme temperatures, but also in hotter temperatures in other parts of the world.

The new Avant e513 and Avant e527 loaders are almost identical, the only difference being the capacity of the batteries. The Avant e513 (13 kWh) is a good choice for short-term continuous use on cattle farms, horse stables, greenhouses or DIY and leisure time, for example.

The Avant e527 loader (27 kWh) with a larger battery is ideal for demanding professional use. Construction and demolition contractors will benefit from this model.

“For years, the market has been longing for fully electric loaders that would be more like diesel loaders in terms of functionality.

Until now, operating time and pricing have been key issues related to electric loaders, but with Avant’s new e series, we solve them both”, explained Jani.

A commitment to making a difference

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A commitment to making a difference: Scott MacCallum talks with Rob Taylor, Head of Grounds at the 500-acre Worth School campus in West Sussex, a man who likes to get things done…

Having worked as a contractor for five years at Worth School, in Turners Hill, West Sussex, Rob Taylor was a natural choice for taking up the permanent internal Head of Grounds role in January.

A commitment to making a difference

A commitment to making a difference

Rob has not been slow in putting his stamp on things and is committed to making a difference to the outdoor experience at Worth, ensuring the very best quality and aesthetic to the lawns and pitches – whether that be for the annual Speech Day picnic or the constant flow of sport fixtures.

“Leave it better than you found it is an important motto, I’d love to stick to that value. I’d love to have every single home game played without worrying about the weather. I’d love well-draining pitches, which retain moisture in the summer. I’d love all our staff to be well-qualified and for them to be able to apply for jobs knowing that to have been trained at Worth School is a real plus point.”

Rob acknowledges it is his job to ensure the pitches on the campus are fit for purpose at any given time, which is no mean feat.

The 500-acre school campus comprising farm, fields and woodlands, is enjoyed by a large community of 670 day and boarding pupils as well as a thriving lettings business in holiday time where visiting schools and businesses enjoy the facilities.

“With 15 multi-sport pitches, five cricket squares, two grass six bay wide nets and a nine-hole golf course there’s always something to be done!”

Climate change, of course, remains a serious concern; a defining global issue and intrinsically connected with sport as Rob well knows.

“The biggest problem for us has been the weather, as the majority of our pitches are on clay-based heavy soil. We got through January but then the weather turned on us and it’s been shocking,” he added, saying that they had had 14 mil the night before, and that the February rainfall figure was 160 mil, double what it had been the previous year.

However, he brings two decades-plus of experience as he tackles a wide range of sadly common challenges.

“As mad as it sounds I’ve bought an electric post borer. Nine times out of ten the middle of the pitches are fine and you’d get away with a game, but it’s the corners that suffer so we’ve been putting in bore holes and back filling with sand – it’s a 19 mil bore. We did 34 holes in one corner recently and put in around two tonne of sand down to the depth of a metre and a half. It’s very labour intensive.

A commitment to making a difference

A commitment to making a difference

It took us a day to do that one corner, but it has actually worked.”

Rob’s medium to long term play is to put in perimeter drainage around the school’s playing fields and then add in lateral drainage.

“Just to put in the perimeter drain round one field is a significant cost and we’re waiting for the costings for the laterals. I’ve got a guy putting together a proper four year drainage plan.”

Rob’s initial involvement with Worth School came as a Contracts Manager for Nurture Landscapes, who had the contract with the school to offer support to the now-retired Head of Grounds.

“At the time I was running quite a big patch in the south east for Nurture but when the Head of Grounds retired I was asked by my manager to take over the responsibility as part of my wider remit. But it became a full-time job and when Nurture wanted to pull me out last September the school said that as I’d been at the school for five years I was on their TUPE list – which protects the employment rights of those who move to a new employer – and had protected rights. I decided I would rather stay with the school.”

With his feet under the proverbial table, Rob has set about making his mark on the school. His first move was to commission a consultancy to produce a report into what needed to be done to bring the school up to modern day standards.

“The first thing I did was change the seed, the way it was applied, and the fertiliser programme. I’ve moved to a new amenity seed, supplied by Burnham Brothers, and we’re now using a modern Wiedenmann seeder, which is double decked, so we are doing one pass rather than three. It’s amazing really. We hired it in from a local sports contractor who I’ve known for about 20 years,” said Rob, who himself has been in the industry for 22 years starting as a young lad at Whitgift School, where his grandad also worked.

On the fertiliser regime Rob is working closely with Laura Prior, of Symbio, who visits regularly.

“Laura is sound. She came in here last March and we did soil samples and the fertiliser programme has been tailored from there with her,” said Rob, adding that it fitted will with the goal of introducing a more organic approach.

When the weather has played ball, the pitches have been praised and allowed Rob and the team to show that the new regime does produce the promised results.

A commitment to making a difference

A commitment to making a difference

Rob’s desire to making the required improvements and get things done has been met by a refreshingly positive approach from the powers-that-be within the school. Even if that meant the introduction of a turbo-boosted learning curve.

“I even took the Bursar on a trip to look at vertidrains so that he could understand what it was I was talking about because he’d never seen one. As soon as he saw it in action he said ‘When do you want one?’.” Rob’s direct line manager is the Estate’s Bursar, who, according to Rob, is very like himself in that he will argue for whatever its required.

“The school is listening, but we are talking about a place where not so long ago the pitches were being cut by a 60-year old Ransomes Marquis, which didn’t even have a dead man’s handle!”

Another welcome addition will be the new maintenance facility.

The new building is being started during the May half term, while a Waste2Water system is being installed at the school farm, to be shared by the grounds team and the school mini buses.

Staffing and recruitment issues are common to virtually every Grounds Team, irrespective of which part of the country.

“We were three people down but two people are just completing their security checks and should start fairly soon.”

They will be joining Rob’s Deputy, Richard Sweetman; Foreman Gardener, Bob Brewer, and Assistant Gardener, Jean Pierre.

“There are a lot of young kids who do want to join the industry, but once they start they change their mind very quickly as it’s hard work!”

The recruitment plan in place will allow Rob to split his time between hands-on and office to enable the future planning which he is keen to implement.

Rob has no intention of leaving any time soon but if he ever does, he wants to leave it better than when he found it. Speaking with him you are left in no doubt that he will honour that pledge.

He is looking forward to the final and seventh member of the team joining in September and he is excited about the possibilities at Worth School.

Sisters are doin’ it for themselves

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Sisters are doin’ it for themselves: Scott MacCallum caught up with three of the women who made history when they became the first all-women team to prepare a pitch for a professional football match in the UK.

Sunday, March 3, was a momentous day. For a start, basketball superstar LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 points but, on this side of the pond, a crowd of over 60,000 filled the Emirates Stadium for a Women’s Super League match – a record for a women’s domestic match in the UK – with the home team, Arsenal, facing their bitter rivals Tottenham.

Sisters are doin’ it for themselves

Sisters are doin’ it for themselves

A tense encounter saw England striker Alessia Russo, score the only goal of the game from close range in the 49th minute, to send the home fans away happy and leave the Spurs fans wondering of what might have been.

That, however, is not the reason that the occasion was up there with LeBron’s achievement because, for the first time ever, the pitch was prepared by an all-female grounds team of 13 specially selected women, from sporting venues all over the country.

It goes without saying that the match went without a hitch.

It is a shocking statistic that women – aged 21 not 18 mind you – were given the vote in 1928, yet in 2024 only 2% of those working in the grounds maintenance industry, a job eminently suitable to both sexes, are female.

So the opportunity to showcase the skills of the Emirates 13 was seen as a wonderful chance to display that the industry is very much a place for women and that it is a career option from which many more would take great pleasure.

Turf Matters spoke with three of the women involved, Beth Gibbs, before the big match, and Liddy Ford and Meg Lay afterwards.

“I got the invitation to join the team in the middle of January and it didn’t take me too long to accept,” recalled Beth, who is a Groundsperson at Wellington College, in Somerset, and one of the recently appointed GMA NextGen Board Members.

Beth was so keen to be one of the ground-breaking team because of the message it sent out to other young women considering their futures.

“I think it’s definitely a massive milestone because at the moment there are only 2% of women in the industry and with us getting together it shows what we can do and that we are no different to the men. It shows that this is a job for younger women, that they can definitely do it and that it is a good career for them.”

On that appalling 2% participation rate Beth has thoughts on why the number is so low.

Sisters are doin’ it for themselves

Sisters are doin’ it for themselves

“Some people believe that they can’t do it from a strength perspective – that they are not going to be strong enough to push a mower. It is a physical job, but there are a many young women who would be more than capable.

The more we talk about it the more women will appreciate that they are able to do the job,” said Beth, who showed her own credentials by becoming the GMA Young Groundsperson of the Year in 2023.

The fact that the industry is so male dominated at the moment also doesn’t help the cause.

“Because it is so male dominated many women don’t see it a job for them, so they don’t push themselves to have a go at it. Also the industry as a whole isn’t promoted in schools so not a lot of people know about it.

“My friends don’t really understand what I do. They think I just cut grass, but I was talking to them about being on the team at the Emirates and they were very jealous,” revealed Beth.

Liddy, who is on the grounds team at St George’s Park, and Meg, who has recently joined the grounds team at Lords, are both also on the GMA’s NextGen Board and, speaking after the match, were both still buzzing from the experience.

“The cool thing for me was being with a group of women for a change. That was something I really appreciated. I really enjoyed getting to meet some really lovely people and it was great to be a part of it.

I just felt really lucky,” said Liddy. For New Zealander, Meg, being so close to the action was the real buzz.

“I was sitting right beside the pitch and I remember looking over to my left and the England Captain, Leah Williamson, was about five metres away and thinking how have we got here. That was a cool moment,” said Meg.

“It showed just how close we were to the action and how key a part we play in it. Every game of professional sport which is played on grass has happened because of ground staff. It’s a billion dollar industry and wouldn’t exist without us.”

The 13 who were led by Tara Sandford, a well-respected member of the groundstaff at the Emirates, had met up the day before and had a run through at the Emirates.

“We went through everything we needed to know including practising with the portable goals and cutting the pitch, before we went back to the hotel for a meal together before the big day,” said Liddy, who knew her fellow NextGen Board members and a few of the other team members who had visited St George’s Park for a day.

That practice really paid off as, under pressure to turn the pitch around for play after the warm-up in 15 minutes, the team completed the task in just six.

“We were a well-oiled machine,” laughed Meg. What is common to Beth, Liddy and Meg is that none of them had planned on a career in grounds care, they just fell into it, based on a love of the outdoors, sport and a desire not to be stuck in an office behind a desk.

In fact Liddy has just been joined by another young woman at St George’s Park while since joining Lords earlier this year Meg has now has another woman to keep her company.

Sisters are doin’ it for themselves

Sisters are doin’ it for themselves

“Lords has gone from zero for 220 years to two in the space of a couple of months,” said Meg.

All three, as NextGen Board members, are keen to work towards making the career better known about and better appreciated both for young women and young men.

“The NextGen stuff is really exciting at the moment. We’ve got a whole new bunch of fresh faces and we are really excited about what the group can achieve
going forward,” said Meg.

The success of the Emirates’ team was lauded by the GMA, the hosts of the match, Arsenal and the Barclay’s Women’s Super League.

“To see a team of 13 experienced and talented women prepare the iconic Emirates Stadium pitch in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators and viewers across the UK, was a highly significant moment in the GMA and the grounds management industry’s history,” said Jennifer Carter, the GMA’s Director of Communications.

“The lack of visibility of women in this field remains a significant barrier, but we are confident that moments like these, and more in the future, will be pivotal in convincing more young people especially females, to explore this promising career path,” added Jennifer.

The work of the team was also praised by Vinai Venkatesham, Arsenal’s CEO.

“This is a celebration of what’s been achieved by women in sport, but also serves as a reminder of the work we need to do together to ensure more young girls are encouraged to break into the game.

“It’s important we continue to build on these moments to inspire the next generation and accelerate the sustainable growth of the game,” said Vinai.

“There are so many incredible women working not only throughout football, but across many other industries too, and it is amazing that we have been able to bring 13 of the country’s most highly-rated female ground staff together to play such a crucial role for this tentpole fixture in our calendar,” said Nikki Doucet, CEO of the Barclay’s Women’s Super League.

The whole event can be signed off as a total success and should act as a wonderful advert for the industry. It will certainly be interesting to know how big an improvement on that 2% women participation there is when LeBron James scores his 50,000th NBA point!