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Ecoline+ The Choice For Watford

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Ecoline+ The Choice For Watford: Pitchmark’s Ecoline+ has become the line marking paint of choice for FA Premier League club Watford FC.

The demand for using a premium paint at the Vicarage Road stadium led to trials last season, since when Pitchmark have been further developing Ecoline+. Watford FC became the first to use the improved formula at the opening game of the season against Brighton and Hove Albion in August this year.

Ecoline+The Choice For Watford

In 2018 Scott Tingley, Head Groundsman at Watford FC, set out on what was originally a cost exercise and to see if they could establish the use of one paint for all marking.

“We were using top end paint for the stadium and bottom end for the other pitches,” he says, “we wanted to make it one paint but of course the cost had to be taken into account. We looked at Pitchmark and what we found different was their specialisation solely in line marking products.”

The club had been using Pitchmark’s Direct at the Watford FC training ground and academy, located at the University College London Union Shenley Sports grounds in St Albans. Home to five full-size and two goalkeeping/warmup natural grass training pitches as well as a full-size artificial turf training pitch and fourteen college/academy natural grass pitches, there’s a sizeable amount of line marking required. In the stadium only premium quality is acceptable. Ecoline+ offered the ideal all-round solution.  Ecoline+ is one of the most advanced, low volume, ready-to-use line marking paints available, especially when used in combination with Pitchmark’s Eco and Hybrid markers and special nozzles.

Scott says: “we trialled Ecoline+ and we had no issues, only benefits. We use a Pitchmark Hybrid marker which gives us the quality of a spray marker, without compromising the precision and quality of a transfer marker. Fixture dependent, we can mark up to three times a week and with the traditional wheel to wheel and four-wheel spray markers you lose ground cover and it’s too easy to transfer paint.”

The Pitchmark Hybrid overcomes these problems with a three-wheeled spray design, which is easily manoeuvred over wet lines. The cone nozzles give perfect deep leaf coverage, so you only need one pass.

“It’s easy to use, it feels like a normal wheel marker and you get premium quality.” Scott adds, “it’s quite complex though and needs looking after but if we have any issues Olly Boys, the Turfix rep, gives us second to none service and back-up.” (Turfix is Pitchmark’s recently formed sole UK distribution arm). Using advanced Ecoline+ Watford FC join the many examples of Ecoline+ premium line marking seen every week on TV from the best leagues in the world, including the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League.

Pitchmark is a British company based in Bristol +44 (0)1454 776666 www.pitchmark.com

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PRO 34R Works Wonders For Wolves

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PRO 34R Works Wonders For Wolves: Seven new Dennis PRO 34R rotary mowers have recently been purchased by Premier League outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, and deputy head groundsman Anthony Parker claims they have made a huge improvement to turf maintenance operations at both the Molineux Stadium and the Club’s Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground.

Since the 2016 takeover by Fosun – a Chinese conglomerate and investment company, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, one of the greatest names in early professional football and one of the first of the Football League’s 12 founder members, are back where they belong.

PRO 34R Works Wonders For Wolves

Promoted back to England’s top flight and impressing on their return to the Premier League, exciting times lie ahead after the Club finished in a very respectable 7th position and continue to make their presence known in the transfer market. However, while it may well be the results on the pitch which are grabbing the headlines, improvements are also being made behind the scenes.

“It just all seemed to come together at the same time,” said Anthony. “The new owners arrived and more investment was available for equipment, the club were doing well and it just all went hand in hand.”

At a time when the Club was investing in new turf maintenance equipment the Dennis PRO 34R was launched and Anthony explained why the purchase of these new machines became the number one priority.

“We used to use six small rotary mowers which did a decent job but because of the additional pitch lighting we purchased, we needed to take more staff off the rotaries in order to have more help putting the lighting rigs out during the winter months. When we saw the PRO 34R’s come to the marketplace, it just made complete sense to get a fleet of these in so we purchased four for the training ground and three for the stadium.”

The Dennis PRO 34R is a 34″ (860mm) rotary mower which has been designed to help groundsmen achieve an aesthetically pleasing appearance and desired playing surface. It is ideal for sports pitches producing the enviable ‘Dennis Stripes’ while a powerful vacuum flow collects debris quickly and efficiently.

The angle of the cutting deck and twin blades can be easily adjusted using a single ‘click adjuster’ ensuring the mower is suitable for changing conditions and meeting groundsmen’s requirements.

Since its launch in 2018 the PRO 34R has received rave reviews with many groundsmen praising the machine and the speed of its operation.

“With these bigger machines you are allowing more staff to go elsewhere to do additional jobs,” said Anthony. “At the training ground we didn’t rotary cut very often because it was such a time consuming task – normally we had to wait until the first team were off for a day and then maybe six of us would get on the small rotaries and it would take quite a while.

However, with these new PRO 34R’s the staff are using them straight away after a training session to clean the pitches up. They are using them every day and they have improved the pitches no end.

“It is a very user friendly machine and it is extremely adaptable because it has so many different gears. If the time allows then you can go over the pitch as slow as you want cleaning up all the debris efficiently but it is also incredibly quick – you put it into fourth gear and you are done in no time at all. You can get a pitch cleaned up in about 40 minutes with three of you.

“It is great when you leave the stadium after a match-day knowing everything has been done and everything is clean – it certainly helps me sleep easily!”

At the stadium, Anthony and the team use the PRO 34R and the Dennis G860 in conjunction by relying on the rotaries to cut down to 25mm before switching to the cylinder mowers for the final presentation cuts (23mm) in preparation for match-day.

While the G860 has long been the industry’s number one mower of choice for presentation, Anthony is hugely impressed with the finish achieved by the PRO 34R.

“The finish on the rotaries is absolutely superb and I think you could even use them for a match-day cut because they will provide presentation of the highest quality.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow Dennis on Twitter and Instagram @DennisMowers and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DennisMowersUK. You can also view the latest Dennis videos by visiting www.youtube.com/DennisMowers

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New App For Groundsmen

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New App For Groundsmen: The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation are ramping up efforts to improve the quality of grass pitches in England with the launch of the Football Foundation Groundskeeping Community app.

The new platform provides a resource of expert advice for grounds staff, enabling them to connect with peers, discover new tips and tricks and share advice on best industry practice. Users can seek guidance from the IOG’s Regional Pitch Advisors, who are available to answer questions and update members on changes to industry standards.

New App For Groundsmen

The system is entirely free to use and will feature regular new content, with videos from high-profile groundskeepers, such as Wembley Stadium’s Karl Standley, case studies and the latest in groundskeeping techniques.

Developed in partnership with the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) and run through Hive Learning, Europe’s leading peer learning platform, the site represents the latest step of the Football Foundation’s Grass Pitch Programme, which aims to ensure every affiliated football fixture in England is played on a quality football pitch.

Karl Standley, Wembley Stadium Head Groundsman said: “Whether it’s Wembley or your local community football pitch, groundkeepers all face the same challenges.

“I think it’s great that we can now all come together on this new platform to share these challenges and help each other find solutions. We are all aware of the importance of improving the state of pitches in this country and this is a great step to making a long-lasting difference.”

Geoff Webb, IOG CEO said: “This is the culmination of over five years of work within our partnership with both the Football Foundation and The FA via the Grounds and Natural Turf Improvement Programme and will complement the invaluable pitch-maintenance service that the Regional Pitch Advisors provide for volunteers at grassroots football clubs.

Dean Potter, Director of Grant Management at the Football Foundation, said: “The majority of community football is played on grass pitches and it’s a priority for us that we are able to sustain this.”

“We know how important football facilities are in transforming lives and bringing communities together and this platform will enable us to build a new groundskeeper community that will provide huge benefits for people across the country.”

For more information, go to http://thefa.hivelearning.com/groundskeeping.

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Trophy For Alfreton Groundsman

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Trophy For Alfreton Groundsman: Alfreton Town’s Rob Brooks picked up the third place trophy in the National League category at the FA Groundsman of the Year Awards.

Boreham Wood claimed first place with Chesterfield in second.

The Impact Arena is widely recognised up and down the country for its stunning surface and being one of the best non league surfaces outside the football league.

With the likes of Nottingham Forest, Mansfield Town and Burton Albion using the surface for their youth teams, the Impact surface was recently selected to host the England U18s as they face Korea Republic in September.

We send our huge congratulations to Rob for his amazing hard work throughout the season and during the close seasons. His commitment and dedication to his work has been recognised with a fantastic award as our pitch surface gains even more recognition!

The Groundsman of the Year awards is a nationwide competition for non-league football groundsmen.

The awards recognise the contribution of these unsung heroes, who work in all weather, often as volunteers, all year round, to make sure that thousands of matches can take place on a high standard of playing surface and with a very limited budget.

The FA has a panel of judges – professional groundsmen themselves – who look at the quality of the pitch while also taking into consideration the skills and knowledge of the groundsman, their ambitions for the pitch, the resources available, how often the pitch is used, and the amount of time they are able to work on the pitch.

Chairman Wayne Bradley on Rob’s award:

“Congratulations go out to our groundsman, who continues to provide the impact arena with a playing surface to grace the game at a testing range of both local and international levels. We are all at Alfreton Town football club, quite rightly very proud of Rob Brooks ( the groundsman) who continues to set the bar to the highest standard in playing surface presentation.”

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Wimbledon Visit For College Cup Winners

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Wimbledon Visit For College Cup Winners: After winning the 2018 SALTEX College Cup, students from Bridgwater and Taunton College in Somerset, recently enjoyed their prize of a behind the scenes tour at The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), Wimbledon.

Simon Cook, Jacob Camplin, Ryan Tate and trainer/assessor Cary Rawlings experienced an unforgettable day when Neil Stubley, the AELTC’s Head of Courts and Horticulture, provided them with an in-depth look at court preparations the week before The Championships, Wimbledon took place.

Wimbledon Visit For College Cup Winners

Sponsored by Ransomes, the competition took place at SALTEX 2018 at the NEC in Birmingham, where the three Bridgwater and Taunton students competed against other UK-based horticultural colleges in an in-depth academic test of turf management knowledge.

Commenting on being involved in this extraordinary opportunity, college student Ryan Tate said: “The experience was really educational. I was very lucky to get to see turf management at the highest tier and I’ll really benefit from it.”

Fellow college student Simon Cook added: “It has been a real eye opener, especially getting the chance to speak to and learn from someone like Neil Stubley.”

“The attention to detail here at Wimbledon is incredible and I feel very lucky to have been here to witness it,” said Jacob Camplin. “We’ll be back at SALTEX this year to defend our title and we’re going for our second win so bring it on!”

Commenting on the SALTEX College Cup, Neil Stubley said: “I was fortunate to be invited to sit on the judging panel at the SALTEX College Cup in 2018 and it was a great experience to see up-and-coming grounds personnel with their key knowledge and their willingness to learn. I’ve enjoyed showcasing what we do to the winning team and explaining the challenges we have to work with to deliver exceptional surfaces for The Championships.”

The Wimbledon tour follows two extraordinary SALTEX College Cup prizes in previous years. In 2017 the winning students were part of the Wembley grounds team at the FA Cup Final and the 2018 winners enjoyed an unforgettable experience of helping with pitch preparations at the 2018 Six Nations Championships at BT Murrayfield Stadium.

Since its launch in 2017, the SALTEX College Cup has grown each year both in size and reputation, and Cary Rawlings believes that even more colleges should enter the competition.

“I can highly recommend the SALTEX College Cup to all colleges that are involved in delivering sports turf. It is a fantastic opportunity for young students to challenge themselves and it provides them with the opportunity to gain experience of delivering a presentation to industry professionals that will set them in good stead for future job interviews.

“It also gives a good overview of the knowledge that your students have taken on-board during their course and also highlights any areas that may need to be revisited.

“We are looking forward to entering again this year and I implore other colleges to participate in this event. It is not every day that your students get the opportunity to experience life behind the scenes at a major sporting event. Once the seed has been planted for something like this it will drive our future custodians of the industry on to bigger and better things.”

All colleges interested in participating in the 2019 SALTEX College Cup should email Dan Prest at dprest@iog.org for more details.

Toro and Reesink are the new 2019 sponsors of the SALTEX College Cup. The 2019 winners’ prize will be a trip to Real Madrid’s Bernabau Stadium.

For more information visit www.iogsaltex.com

Follow SALTEX on Twitter @IOG_SALTEX and Facebook – www.facebook.com/IOGSALTEX

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