Tag Archive for: Cup

World Cup Surface Not Ready

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World Cup Surface Not Ready: Groundsmen are facing a race against time to get the pitch ready for one of England’s World Cup matches in Russia.

An inspection of the playing surface at the newly-built stadium in Novgorod show it has not fully taken root.

World Cup Surface Not Ready

The Three Lions play Panama there on June 24.

Groundsmen fear replacement grass may not grow in time for the game, so are planning to fly in fresh turf from New Zealand to patch it up.

Playing on a dodgy surface usually favours the underdog and Panama are ranked 53 in the world – 37 places below the Three Lions who are currently 16th.

Vladimir Bulanov, a deputy of Nizhny Novgorod’s legislative assembly, said: “I’m not sure that the grass, which will need to play in two-and-a-half months, will be ready by the deadline.

“Grass planted last autumn under the open sky did not take root. Most likely a miracle will not happen and the case may end with the urgent importation of a lawn from New Zealand and laying it with squares just before the matches.”

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Locust World Cup Fears

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Locust World Cup Fears: A plague of locusts could “disgrace” Russia by destroying World Cup pitches, claims The Russian government.

Locusts often feast on crops in southern Russia and Pyotr Chekmaryov, who oversees plant protection at the agriculture ministry, says they could descend on stadiums, too.

Locust World Cup Fears

In comments reported by state news agencies, Chekmaryov says ‘we’ve more or less learned how to deal with locusts, but this year I’m afraid we could end up in an international locust scandal.’

He adds that ‘locusts like places where there is a lot of green,’ and says that it is important ‘not to disgrace ourselves in front of global society, especially where we will have guests from all over the world.’

Chekmaryov pointed out the Volgograd region, situated more than 600 miles south of the capital Moscow, as a particular concern.

This summer’s finals will run between June 14 and July 15, with matches being played in 12 stadiums across 11 host cities.

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FTMI Volunteers At The Ryder Cup

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FTMI Volunteers At The Ryder Cup: Jacobsen and BIGGA have selected a group of Future Turf Manager Initiative (FTMI) graduates to assist the course maintenance team during the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in France.

One delegate from each FTMI in the past five years has been selected to volunteer at the event, with one more person due to be chosen from the FTMI class of 2018.

FTMI Volunteers At The Ryder Cup

The chosen BIGGA members are:

  1. Leigh Powell, Windlesham Golf Club (FTMI Class of 2013)
  2. Peter Moore, The Wentworth Club (FTMI Class of 2014)
  3. Gavin Neill, St Andrews Links Trust (FTMI Class of 2015)
  4. Richard Johnstone, Nairn Dunbar Golf Links (FTMI Class of 2016)
  5. Adrian McCullough, JCB (FTMI Class of 2017)

Jacobsen and BIGGA have worked closely with Alejandro Reyes, Golf Courses and Estates Manager at Le Golf National, to provide this potentially career-defining opportunity for BIGGA members for the very first time.

Next year’s delegates were recently announced, and the 20 BIGGA members selected to take part will attend the three-day event at Jacobsen’s HQ in Ipswich from 6-8 March 2018.

Aimed at up and coming greenkeepers who want to make the leap to Course Manager, FTMI focuses on personal and professional development. The FTMI programme utilises the expertise of leading Course Managers, dynamic trainers and industry experts to mentor and educate the next generation of industry leaders.

In 2018, The Ryder Cup will be held in Continental Europe for only the second time in its history. Le Golf National will be hosting the biennial match on its spectacular L’Albatros course. Alejandro and his team of approximately thirty greenkeepers have completed extensive renovation work in the lead up to hosting the event. Renovation work has included a brand-new drainage system capable of draining 90mm of surface water within three hours on all playable surfaces, fibre optics have been installed for on-course connectivity and many holes have been completely renovated.

During the Ryder Cup, which takes place between 28-30 September 2018, 180 members of staff, including 140 volunteers, will be manicuring the golf course to ensure that the playing surfaces are in pristine condition for the duration of the matches.

Situated around 20 miles south west of Paris, the spectacular course is one of the best in the world for spectators and is consistently ranked in Europe’s top ten courses. Le Golf National has hosted the French Open every year, except for two years, since 1991.

Commenting on the unique volunteering opportunity, Director of International Golf Sales at Textron Golf, Andre Andrade, said: “We feel privileged to be able to offer FTMI delegates the experience of volunteering at the Ryder Cup. It is a huge event, and one I am sure they will remember for the rest of their lives. This opportunity is testament to the close working relationship that Jacobsen has with Le Golf National, and we thank the team there for allowing us to make this happen. Jacobsen is very proud to be an official supplier to the 2018 Ryder Cup, and we look forward to taking the lucky FTMI delegates with us to France next year.”

BIGGA CEO Jim Croxton said: “It may only be six years old, but FTMI has already proven to be an incredible success, with many of the programme’s graduates going on to secure management roles, and the association is extremely grateful to Textron Golf for their continued investment in BIGGA members.

“I’d also like to thank Alejandro Reyes for enabling this incredible opportunity for six FTMI graduates. The 2018 Ryder Cup is sure to once again be a passionate, hard-fought competition, and with an estimated 500 million viewers worldwide in 2016, the course will no doubt be under closer scrutiny than any other in history. I wish Alejandro the greatest success, and I hope that our guys are able to help the home team achieve their goals in whatever way they can.”

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Bright Future Ahead After SALTEX College Cup

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Bright Future Ahead After SALTEX College Cup: The SALTEX College Cup returned to the NEC once again at this year’s event and highlighted just how well young grounds staff are academically prepared for careers in the industry.

The SALTEX College Cup, sponsored by Ransomes, is a national student-led sports-turf challenge. It is an academic test of turf management knowledge for student competitors who are enrolled at colleges throughout the UK on relevant courses of study.

Bright Future Ahead After SALTEX College Cup

Askham Bryan College, Bridgwater & Taunton College, Myerscough College and, last year’s winners, the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) Greenmount Campus competed for a chance to have its name engraved on the trophy in support of their respective turf programmes.

In teams of four, the colleges embarked on the two-hour competition consisting of paper-based multiple choice and short answer questions on turf management, plus a case study which required a more in-depth written answer. The students were also presented with live test samples in which they had to identify potential threats to the health of turf.

CAFRE, from Northern Ireland, claimed the top prize for the second year running although Askham Bryan were only one point behind in what was a closely fought competition between all of the colleges. CAFRE was awarded the trophy, a £500 cheque for the college’s turf department, and each student received a £50 Amazon voucher. The team was also presented with a prize that money can’t buy – the chance to get involved with pitch preparation at the 6 Nations, Scotland vs England, at BT Murrayfield Stadium.

Results were announced on the first day of SALTEX and CAFRE’s senior tutor, Paul Campbell, revealed his delight at picking up the trophy for a second successive year.

“A combination of excitement and disbelief ensued among the squad as they emulated the achievement of 2016 – particularly for team captain and rugby fan Michael Dundee as he realised he was on his way to BT Murrayfield – and he didn’t need a ticket!

Paul continued: “CAFRE staff and students fully support the concept of the SALTEX College Cup – it provides a forum for showcasing and acknowledging the skills of young people making a career in the industry and allows college staff to benchmark how their programmes are performing against other specialist colleges in the UK. The excellent organisation of the event, the generous sponsorship and the once-in-a-lifetime experience afforded to the winners will mean healthy competition for next year`s team and guarantees CAFRE will return to defend the title in 2018.”

Commenting on the sponsorship of the 2017 SALTEX College Cup, Ransomes senior director Alan Prickett said: “The SALTEX College Cup was another success this year, and we were delighted to have sponsored it for the second year running. Ransomes has a commitment to educating the next generation of groundscare professionals, and we aim to support this in a variety of different ways, including sponsoring the SALTEX College Cup competition. CAFRE, based in Northern Ireland were deserved winners again this year.

Congratulations to CAFRE and we look forward to seeing if the college can retain its title for a third time next year!”

For more information visit www.iogsaltex.com

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