Tag Archive for: Football

Kubota or nothing for Watford Football Club

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Kubota or nothing for Watford Football Club: When it comes to tractors, it’s Kubota or nothing for Scott Tingley, Grounds Manager at Watford Football Club.

The club’s Kubota STW40 is proof that compact doesn’t have to mean compromise when it comes to providing the reliable power for maintenance operations at Vicarage Road, while a Kubota L2-622 delivers impressive versatility at the training ground.

Kubota or nothing for Watford Football Club

Kubota or nothing for Watford Football Club

Performance

The dependable performance of the pair is matched by a fleet of four Kubota RTV’s used across both sites.

Scott is into his 9th season at the club and oversees the home of The Hornets with a team of three, and the 27 pitches at Watford’s training ground. “On the Vicarage Road stadium pitch, it’s all about weight – we need something small and compact, with enough horsepower to lift all the various implements we use” he explains. The solution, for the last seven years, has been a Kubota STW40.

“We look after the tractor well and, in return, it looks after us. It’s small, lightweight and at 40hp can operate our seeder or aerator for example without leaving much of a footprint.” Scott continues, “All of our Kubota equipment is incredibly reliable, we’ve had no issues with this tractor at all.”

At the training ground, the delivery of an L2-622 from dealers George Browns Ltd in October 2022 is delivering even more versatility “We’re yet to find anything we can’t do with this tractor! Together with powering implements, the forks and bucket are invaluable for moving pallets around, managing deliveries or loading topdressing into our spreader. It makes every task quicker and easier.”

“The cruise control feature on the Kubota L2-622 is especially important when we’re aerating at the training ground as, by setting the speed, we get consistency across all the surfaces” he adds. “It’s also incredibly user-friendly to operate which is important to aid the training and efficiency of some of our newer and younger team members.”

RTV’s

Complementing the pair of compact tractors across the two sites are four RTV’s, including two RTV520’s installed by George Browns at the training ground in July 2023. “Here, especially, the RTV’s are the workhorses of our maintenance operation.

Whether its moving equipment from pitch to pitch or transporting clippings, they’re our go-to. At the stadium we have a Kubota RTV500 which, again, is a people and machinery mover. We also use this to tow our lighting rigs into place after a match which shaves an hour off the job.”

Scott concludes by praising the after-sales support from the Kubota dealer, “On the odd occasion we’ve needed help with our Kubota equipment, George Browns have always been brilliant. With high levels of usage and even higher expectations it’s reassuring to know we can always rely on Kubota to get the job done.”

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Vandals destroy football pitches

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Vandals destroy football pitches: Two Northside football clubs say they’ve been left devastated after their pitches were vandalised last weekend.

Read the full article from the FM104 here

Vandals destroy football pitches

Vandals destroy football pitches

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Football Foundation to power up grass pitches

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Football Foundation to power up grass pitches: The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation has today announced the launch of its ‘Power Up Your Grass Pitch’ campaign, which will revolutionise the state of grass football pitches in England.

The country’s biggest sports charity is on a mission to improve over 7,000 grass pitches by 2024 and 20,000 by 2030, to ensure the 12 million grassroots football players across the country have great places to play.

Football Foundation to power up grass pitches

Football Foundation to power up grass pitches

Around 87% of affiliated football is played on grass pitches, and with over 150,000 matches cancelled due to poor pitch quality during the last football season alone, play is often brought to a halt. The improvements brought about thanks to the Football Foundations work will make these cancellations a thing of the past. Further more if the improvements are achieved, by 2030 grassroots football pitches in England will be able to facilitate an additional 30,000 matches per week.

Improving facilities means that more people across England will get to enjoy playing the nation’s favourite sport, transforming people’s physical and mental wellbeing, as well as supporting local communities and economies.

To help make this ambition a reality, the Football Foundation has developed an app which is now being rolled out across the country. ‘PitchPower’ is an online tool that gives every community football club and organisation in the country the ability to carry out their own grass pitch inspections, providing fast and accurate data which is less time intensive and more efficient than in person inspections. Once an inspection is submitted, Regional Pitch Advisers at the Grounds Management Association produce an assessment report with bespoke advice and recommendations to improve the grass pitch quality at a site.

By using this tool more widely, the Football Foundation anticipates it will be able to carry out as many as 20,000 inspections a year, five times as many as in the past. In its trial phase, PitchPower has helped to inspect almost 5,000 pitches. These inspections have led to 446 grants being issued worth £8.6m, all of which has gone towards improving 1,564 pitches.

Once inspections have been completed via the PitchPower app – clubs and facilities are then eligible to apply for funding from the Football Foundation to support pitch improvements identified through the app.

Along with PitchPower unlocking funding, clubs and organisations will also be encouraged to upskill their workforce by having access to a range of free courses from the Grounds Management Association and join a community of professional and amateur groundskeepers on the free Football Foundation Groundskeeping Community App.

Robert Sullivan, Football Foundation Chief Executive Officer, said:

“Millions of players are left disappointed every year when their matches are cancelled due to poor quality pitches, something the Football Foundation and its partners are working tirelessly to prevent. We have made some ambitious targets when it comes to improving grass pitches – we want to get 20,000 pitches to ‘good’ quality by 2030 – to ensure no games are called off because of a poor quality pitch.

“Thanks to funding from the Premier League, The FA and Government our dedicated teams will be working hard to ensure clubs and facilities across the country have the support and resource they need to power up their grass pitches.”

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Youth football pitches wrecked

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Youth football pitches wrecked: Five pitches maintained by Aspull Juniors FC were churned up and left unusable after reports on social media that there was a quad bike riding on the grass last week.

Read the full article from Wigan Today here

Youth football pitches wrecked

Youth football pitches wrecked

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Top questions for FIFA Football Certification

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Top questions for FIFA Football Certification: Here are the answers to the most common questions I receive regarding FIFA certification of Footballs.

  1. How much will it cost?

Maybe less than you thought, depending on the certification level you want to achieve. The lowest cost option is FIFA’s International Match Standard (IMS) with its administrative fee of 500CHF plus a lab testing fee that is competitively priced. That is it as far as cost goes for a 2-year certification.

Top questions for FIFA Football Certification

Top questions for FIFA Football Certification

FIFA’s Quality and Quality Pro certifications can be more expensive but equally good value for those targeting top level leagues. FIFA Quality and FIFA Quality Pro incur fees (inclusive of admin and testing) of 3,300CHF to 4,400CHF — this certifies a ball for 4 years. Both Quality and Quality Pro certifications are subject to royalties per ball sold of 0.75CHF and 1.5CHF, with a minimum annual sum of 5,00CHF.

  1. How long does it take?

The application does not take long, but it depends on whether you or your manufacturer hold a valid WFSGI certificate and suitable Product Liability Insurance. At Sports Labs, we aim to have all testing completed and results submitted to FIFA for review within two weeks from the receipt of your samples at our UK laboratory.

  1. I don’t manufacture my own footballs; can I still get them certified?

Yes. You do not need to be a football manufacturer in to become a licensee and certify footballs.

  1. What paperwork do I need?

The paperwork required is the same for all certification levels and it is minimal. You will need to provide the following details:

  • Company Details
  • Contact details
  • Football brand and manufacturer
  • WFSGI Pledge. This is passed directly from WFSGI to FIFA on your behalf.
  • Your Product Liability Insurance certificate showing FIFA as a co-insured party
  • Details of the Football you want to certify

Once the above list is complete, fees are paid and test results are all in check, FIFA will provide a licensee agreement that you need to sign and return. That is it, all of your IMS logos and licence number will be send from FIFA directly to you.

  1. What is the difference between commercial and non-commercial licences?

Not much, is the short answer. But only FIFA’s IMS certifications can be obtained on a non-commercial licence. FIFA Quality and Quality Pro certifications require a commercial licence and will incur royalty fees.

  1. Are FIFA Quality Pro footballs better than FIFA IMS balls?

No, not as a rule. Many manufacturers and resellers choose to certify to IMS rather than Quality or Quality Pro certifications not because the balls are not good enough, but because IMS is sufficient for the target market and it is more cost effective. Many of the IMS balls on the market could easily achieve Quality and Quality Pro status. Of course, there are some that would not.

  1. How long does the certification last?

The certification for all non-commercial licence agreements (most IMS balls) is for 2 years, after which the football model will need to be re-tested. A new fee will be collected and a new agreement signed. A commercial licence agreement works much the but is good for 4 years.

  1. I’m a purchaser and just want to check the quality of the balls I’m buying, can you help?

We are asked this a lot and it should probably be further up on this list. Yes, absolutely. We can conduct stand alone quality testing at any stage, whether it be to check a model that your looking to bulk purchase, assess samples from varying manufacturers or simply as part of your development R&D. We tailor tests and test suites to match your needs, including single tests to more involved research.

  1. I’m having difficulty getting FIFA named as a co-insured party on our Product Liability Insurance, can you help?

Nope, unfortunately it is not our area of expertise. Our advice is to contact a reputable broker. Naturally, we have heard of companies struggling to get FIFA noted as the co-insured party, but with a bit of perseverance, we have never seen it block becoming a FIFA Licensee.

  1. Is there any real benefit to achieving FIFA Certification?

I strongly believe so, the testing conducted at Sports Labs is rigorous and assesses a range of key quality indicators that should give your end buyers confidence in the quality and performance of a product. Put your marketing team to work and display your FIFA IMS, Quality or Quality Pro achievement on your website, tradeshows, and social media. This is a proof of quality stamp, not just an association to FIFA.

You will find more articles like this in our Field Notes directory

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