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Strong Foundations For Somaliland’s Future

December 17, 2018/in News, Press Release, Sport/by External Source

Strong Foundations For Somaliland’s Future: When UK sporting equipment company Harrod Sport read about the plight of the Somaliland team, it wanted to get involved and help… Wembley, Paris St Germain’s Parc des Princes, the Stade de France and Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium all have them. So do most Premier League clubs. And now, so […]

Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB

December 17, 2018/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB: St Andrew’s’ University Park is well known for its grass pitches being among the finest in Scotland, winning high praise from visiting professionals. With such a reputation to live up to it’s vital the synthetic pitches are maintained to equally high standards. University Park called on the specialist services of […]

Strong Foundations For Somaliland’s Future

December 17, 2018/in News, Press Release, Sport/by External Source

Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB

December 17, 2018/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Strong Foundations For Somaliland’s Future

December 17, 2018/in News, Press Release, Sport/by External Source

Strong Foundations For Somaliland’s Future: When UK sporting equipment company Harrod Sport read about the plight of the Somaliland team, it wanted to get involved and help…

Wembley, Paris St Germain’s Parc des Princes, the Stade de France and Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium all have them. So do most Premier League clubs. And now, so will the Somaliland national stadium in Hargeysa.

What do they have, you might well ask? Well, all of these famous grounds and clubs have their goals and posts supplied by Harrod Sport – one of the UK’s top manufacturers of sporting equipment, who’ve been making top-quality kit since 1954. And when the company read about the plight of the Somaliland team on BBC Sport, they simply couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

Kate Pasque, Harrod Sport’s sales and marketing executive, said, “We couldn’t not get involved with something we believed would help Somaliland and the future of football there.”

Somaliland is a member of CONIFA and has long struggled for recognition as a team in its own right. The region is an independent state, but is not recognised as such by any other country; Somalia still declares Somaliland as an autonomous region. The BBC Sport article highlighted the difficulties faced by those assisting the football teams in the area; working in a region where poverty is rife and people get by on an average wage of $347 a year.

Football is trying to change all of that, and news that the Somaliland national set-up is due to receive – free of charge – Harrod 3G Stadium Goals, along with a Harrod 3G Hanging Net Support system, a bottom-hinged net support and box net is incredibly exciting for those aiming to improve things for the local footballers. Ilyas Mohamed, founder and president of the Somaliland Football Association explains: “This donation means a lot to the development of football in Somaliland. Since the Somaliland Football Association was formed, we have sparked and spearheaded the modernisation of football in Somaliland. This donation will help us make hosting international matches in Somaliland a reality. The goals currently installed at the national stadium in Hargeysa or elsewhere in the country do not fit international requirements.”

It’s a remarkably generous gesture from the company, who have recently set up The Ron Harrod Foundation. The foundation provides funding for sportspeople under 25 to help them continue to compete in their chosen sport, and while it’s currently only available to those based in Norfolk and Suffolk, the company aim to to expand over the years to assist multiple young athletes across the UK.

And while The Ron Harrod Foundation might be focused on UK-based talent, worldwide causes such as the Somaliland team are also where the company can see its help having true on-the-ground effects.

Kate Pasque explains. “The quote in the BBC Sport article, ‘We think every young person should have the opportunity to play football’ really rung true with us at Harrod Sport. We had no intention of stretching our funding pot further this year, especially halfway across the world! However, reading that one in 11 children in Somaliland do not survive to their fifth birthday made us all at the company want to help in any way we could to give hope to the children for their future and their future in football. Providing equipment to a pitch that children will strive to play on, and, in turn, inspiring hope, is everything The Ron Harrod Foundation represents.

“At Harrod Sport, we are hopeful that with the addition of our Stadium Goals, we can contribute to the tireless work of everyone involved with the Somaliland national team and CONIFA and, in a small way, help Somaliland go on to represent themselves at an international level, bringing happiness to the country.”

Ilyas Mohamed has no doubt this is the case. “The association is very grateful to The Ron Harrod Foundation. It’s a wonderful and generous donation. We are excited about the future and cannot wait to host Somaliland’s first international match on home soil.

“With these goals we hope to continue inspiring a nation, a new generation to use football as a way to communicate and connect with the rest of the world.”

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Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB

December 17, 2018/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

University Park called on the specialist services of Throsk based Greentech Sportsturf and their GKB equipment for that purpose. The 3G rubbercrumb pitch, constructed in 2012, is a full size, floodlit, FIFA 2 Star World Rugby approved Third Generation synthetic pitch, used for rugby, football, ultimate Frisbee and lacrosse as well as a venue for regular club fixtures. The Park’s sand dressed pitch is used as a training and match venue for a number of sports clubs, including hockey and football, and is home to a number of community sports programes and weekly sports leagues.

A programme of consistent high quality pre-season maintenance is essential and Greentech undertook decompaction and deep cleaning of the surfaces using a GKB Quick Clean for powerful in-depth cleaning and removal of coarse dirt, small stone particles and loose fibres. The synthetic turf brush casts contaminated infill material onto a vibrating screen for removal to a collection container, while dust and fibres are absorbed by a suction unit to a dust bag.

“We use, in conjunction with the Quick Clean, a GKB Rotobrush with its extra rigid bristles for deep compaction and that loosens up the infill for us.” Says Ewan Peddie, Greentech Synthetic Turf Manager. “Then we run our Quick Clean over the surface, taking out any contamination from the playing surface, as well as extracting any loose fibres.” Moss and algae settlements are often most persistent around the edges of synthetic sports pitches. These pose the danger of a slippery surface for players and the Rotobrush also tackles the problem extremely effectively.

“We were pleased to be called in by St Andrews for their maintenance programme,” add Ewan, “and equally so for Dundee United FC, where we carried out similar treatment for their 3G rubber crumb training pitch in October, to get it to a standard ready for FIFA approval.”

For more information, visit: www.gkbmachines.com

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Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Strong Foundations For Somaliland’s Future

Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB

Strong Foundations For Somaliland’s Future

Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB

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Strong Foundations For Somaliland’s Future

Clean Sweep For Greentech And GKB

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