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Five Years On Yet Still, Turf Matters

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Five Years On Yet Still, Turf Matters: This issue of Turf Matters marks our fifth full year in production and the time seems to have just flown by.

We first appeared in January 2014 with a major look at St George’s Park. I will forever be indebted to Alan Ferguson for opening his doors to a magazine which while perfectly formed in my mind hadn’t actually appeared in print.

Five Years On Yet Still, Turf Matters

Since then we have grown issue by issue and covered many of the top sporting events the preparation for two Ryder Cups – Gleneagles and Golf Club National – two World Cups, Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, Aintree, Six Nations Rugby, Test Cricket, World Athletic Championships and a host of others. We’ve profiled Hackney Marshes, Loughborough University, and carried out an in-depth examination of the issues surrounding rubber crumb.

While the magazine has developed, so has our accompanying website and the numbers of people visiting the site, or opening our ezines, have increased at an extremely gratifying rate. We’ve also added a number of comprehensive Turf Matters TV interviews within the last couple of years, as well as our fabled 20 Questions, which do draw out some fascinating confessions from the interviewee!

But back to the magazine. I am extremely grateful to everyone who has contributed over the last five years whether that be by submitting to an interview from yours truly, contributing articles yourself or believing in the title sufficiently to take out an advert with us. I know Sinead and Marie have worked very closely with a growing number of you and I hope that your involvement with Turf Matters has exceeded your expectations. If not we would be more than happy to sit down and have a chat about how forging closer relationships can be of mutual benefit.

Finally, I’d like to pay tribute to Tim Moat. He’s the man who makes Turf Matters look as good as it does. Tim and I have known each other for close to 25 years and his work designing the magazine has ensured that we stand out from the crowd.

We will continue to strive to make Turf Matters the best publication we possibly can, covering all the important turf related sporting events and delving into the work of the groundsmen who maintain our top schools and universities – the unsung heroes if you like.

Thanks for reading our magazine and don’t hesitate if you feel you’d like to offer a potential feature or some advice which would help us.

ICL Focus On Ecoplug Max At SALTEX

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ICL Focus On Ecoplug Max At SALTEX: Leading the way in offering the very best in product innovation, visitors to the ICL stand (K030) at SALTEX 2018 will get the opportunity to discover a wide range of solutions. At this year’s exhibition at the NEC, there will be a particular focus on Ecoplug Max, a patented product for tree stump control, which will no doubt draw the attention of attendees.

Ecoplug Max is a patented tree stump control application method which delivers glyphosate directly into the tree stump, killing its root system and preventing re-growth. Each plug contains 300mg of granular glyphosate which are simply placed into holes drilled into the stump using the Ecoplug drill bit. The plugs are then hammered in forcing out the sides of the plug, releasing the glyphosate into the phloem.

ICL Focus On Ecoplug Max At SALTEX

Ecoplug Max supports requirements of the Sustainable Use Directive (SUD) to minimise use of pesticides. With the glyphosate encapsulated inside the unit, it never gets in direct contact with anything else but the plant, minimizing the risk of the operator coming into contact with chemical or chemical spillage. It also eliminates the risk of damage to surrounding trees and vegetation. Quite simply, it stays where it belongs – inside the plant.

Visitors to the stand will also benefit from learning more about the popular Turf Rewards programme which offers all ICL customers the chance to earn points from purchases and convert them into a range of valuable agronomic or educational items. The programme is perfect for golf, sports and amenity turf managers with an extensive range of items on offer such as workplace tools, clothing and work wear, and educational vouchers. Not only does it benefit the turf manager but it is of advantage to the team, the turf, and the organisation they work for by maximising budgets with every purchase.

As well as showcasing their ever-evolving product ranges, the ICL technical team will be on hand at SALTEX to talk all things turf and landscape. The stand will also feature a coffee barista, so whether you are seeking advice on combating diseases, generally looking to improve your turf or landscape areas or have any other questions about your maintenance programmes then ensure that a visit to stand K030 is on your agenda.

Please contact ICL on +44 (0)1473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie.

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Giant Sinkhole Appears On Pitch

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Giant Sinkhole Appears On Pitch: A football pitch in Mexico has been become unusable after a giant sinkhole formed in the centre of the field.

The incident is thought to have occurred after the pipes under the water sprinkler system apparently started leaking.

The affected pitch, in Cuajimalpa de Morelos, now sports a gigantic sinkhole, well over six metres deep.

Fortunately, no one was playing on the field at the time when the hole first appeared – with no injuries as yet reported.

The affected area is home to several power towers and had to be cordoned off to prevent further incident.

Meanwhile, another sinkhole was also reported in the nearby area of Bosque de Canelos.

According to official sources, the hole occurred in a private residence close to a 13-storey block of flats.

The sinkhole is also believed to have formed following an underground pipe leak.

An 18-metre tree was also damaged as the sinkhole formed, according to local media.

An investigation by the local water authorities is ongoing.

Click here to read the original article

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EcoBunker Starts Work On Dumbarnie Links

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EcoBunker Starts Work On Dumbarnie Links: The new Dumbarnie Links course at Lower Largo on the south coast of Fife in Scotland – just a little more than ten miles from St Andrews – is now under construction, and EcoBunkerʼs project team has moved onto site to begin the installation of its synthetic edging product in all of the courseʼs formal bunkers.

The course has been designed by Clive Clark, formerly a Walker and Ryder Cup player, and a long-time BBC Television golf commentator, but now an established golf course architect based in the United States. The golf course is being built by American contractor Landscapes Unlimited.

EcoBunker Starts Work On Dumbarnie Links

Fife Council granted planning consent for the project in April 2018, and the construction team moved onto the site in May. Shaping of the golf holes and bunkers is already underway, and the EcoBunker team is gearing-up to finish constructing the bunkers.

Where bunkers are hard against greens, or surrounded by short grass, they will be fully revetted using EcoBunkerʼs synthetic solution. However, where bunkers are positioned to be a transition between maintained grass and native rough, they will be constructed in a hybrid fashion, with elements of chunked, rough edge and also of revetment. Some of these natural bunkers will be quite large and are sure to be a dominant feature of this very special golf course.

EcoBunker global installation specialist Llewelyn Matthews – like architect Clark a former Walker Cup player – will lead a five-strong construction crew to build the bunkers. Matthews will be on site full time during construction, which is scheduled to last sixteen weeks and come to a conclusion in September. Project manager Paul Kimber and the team from Landscapes Unlimited will work closely with the team on the very important bunker construction.

Richard Allen, EcoBunker inventor and CEO, said: “New links courses are extremely rare, and we are very proud and happy to be playing a major role in the construction of Dumbarnie, which promises to be an outstanding golf course that will attract play from all over the world. This is one of our largest ever projects, and we are very pleased to be working so closely with Paul Kimber and the Landscapes Unlimited team to make Dumbarnie a true destination links.”

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All Eyes On Luzhniki Stadium

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All Eyes On Luzhniki Stadium: A team from global pitch specialists SIS Pitches is on hand at Luzhniki Stadium as the World Cup tournament kicks off in Russia today on a SIS Pitches surface.

Throughout the tournament, a team of 12 people from SIS Pitches will maintain the surface of the Luzhniki Stadium – where the opening ceremony and opening game (Russia v Saudi Arabia) is taking place today, and where the World Cup Final will be held.

All Eyes On Luzhniki Stadium

Over the four weeks of the tournament, the main pitch at Luzhniki will host the equivalent of nearly the full number of matches that would be played on a Premiership pitch during a whole football season.

The company will also maintain the three training pitches at the stadium, which will be used by all the national teams who are playing at the venue.

CEO of Cumbria-based SIS Pitches, George Mullan said: “Luzhniki will have the heaviest programme of games and training sessions as well as hosting the opening ceremony and the rehearsals for the opening ceremony. We have already had six rehearsals for the opening ceremony, 15 training sessions and seven matches on the pitch; this is as well as the activity on the training pitches.

“Maintaining a pitch under these circumstances can be challenging as the opening ceremony is taking place on the pitch just half an hour before the first game kicks off. Some 80,000 football fans will be in the stadium and millions of people will be watching from around the world. However, our team will be pitch-side to make sure that the surface is maintained to the highest standards.

“We will have 12 people at the stadium throughout the tournament, making sure that the surface is perfect before every game. They will then repair the pitch if any damage has been caused during the game. I will be there personally at some of the games – but I won’t be watching the football; I will be concentrating on the surface!”

The use of the company’s sophisticated reinforced natural turf system, called SISGrass, as well as its revolutionary aeration technology, SISAir, will make the Luzhniki Stadium the most technologically advanced pitch in World Cup history. The use of SISAir will also mean that the pitch can be drained off in a matter of seconds.

SIS Pitches was selected to design, construct and install six of the 12 stadium pitches for Russia 2018, including the Kaliningrad Stadium, where the highly anticipated match of England v Belgium will take place on Thursday 28 June. It is also the first time that a World Cup Final has been played on anything but all-natural grass.

SIS Pitches also installed three training pitches at Luzhniki, four training pitches at Otkritie Arena – the home of Spartak Moscow, and one at Tolyatti, which is being used as a base by the Swiss national team.

SIS Pitches will be maintaining Luzhniki Stadium throughout the World Cup but the other five pitches – Otkritie Arena, Rostov Arena, Kaliningrad Stadium, Samara Arena and Saransk Arena, have already been formally handed over to stadium management, who will handle their maintenance. Each pitch was independently tested to meet international quality standards before SIS Pitches formally handed them over.

SIS Pitches is a world leader in synthetic and natural sports surfacing and is one of the world’s largest sports pitch companies. The global pitch specialists lay grass and synthetic pitches and sports surfaces at world-class stadiums around the globe.

Outside of the World Cup, the company continues to deliver exceptional sports surfaces for schools, colleges, universities, sports clubs and local authorities in the UK and around the world.

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