Tag Archive for: Pitches

Football Pitches Vandalised

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Football Pitches Vandalised: Junior football clubs in the Bristol area have been hit with a large bill after vandals used a car to turn their pitches into a “mud bath”.

Seven pitches at Pomphrey Hill in Mangotsfield were damaged after a car managed to access the site in the early hours of Saturday, January 13.

The pitches are used by hundreds of youngsters every week, playing host to Bromley Heath Football Club and Mangotsfield Football Club matches.

Jamie Andrews-Britton, chairman of Bromley Heath FC and the Pomphrey Hill Sports Community Association, said the repairs will cost thousands.

“It happened in the early hours of Saturday morning,” he said. “A car came in at approximately 1.30am and left the property by 1.55am.

“It was 25 minutes of fun for the people in the car, but 25 minutes of fun that’s caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.

“It’s definitely a single car. We have got three levels of pitches and it’s on the bottom pitches where they’ve caused the most damage – it’s unplayable.

“Two football clubs uses these fields and if there’s no games, there’s no revenue coming in.”

The car was caught entering the site on CCTV cameras installed at the Pavilion, opposite one of the pitches, but it was too dark to identify the vehicle’s make or model.

Jamie said it looked like the vandals had driven across the pitches while attempting high-speed manoeuvres and handbrake turns.

Due to the recent rainfall, the 38-year-old said the fields had been reduced to a “mud bath”.

An online fundraising page has since been set up to help cover the repair costs.

Jamie said he had been inundated with messages of support from other football teams, offering him use of their pitches and even pledging to help with the fundraising.

“The response we have had has been outstanding – we really didn’t expect it,” he added.

“We have set up the fundraising page and it’s already had over £300 donated, and I’ve had so many calls and messages from other football clubs.

“One manager offered to take his team bag-packing to help raise funds.”

Police are now investigating the matter, and have appealed for anyone with any information to come forward.

A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset police said: “A vehicle got on to the grassed area overnight on Friday, January 12 in the Pomphrey Hill area of Mangotsfield and damaged a football pitch.

“Police enquiries are continuing into the incident. Anyone with information is asked to call us quoting 5218009691.”

You can donate to Pomphrey Hill Pavilion’s online fundraising page here. Organisers are hoping to raise £1,000 to offset some of the repair costs.

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Problem Deeper Than Pitches

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Problem Deeper Than Pitches: The Vice-president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, Mark Neita, says Windies fast-bowling legend Sir Curtly Ambrose is only partially correct in his assessment that the regional side’s poor showing in New Zealand is down to bad pitches in the Caribbean.

The Windies did not win any matches on the tour having lost both games in the two-match Test series, all three games in the One-Day Internationals and two of the three Twenty20 Internationals, with the other being rained out.

Ambrose, also a former Windies bowling coach, told the Trinidad Guardian newspaper that the pitches in the region need to be suited to both spin and fast bowling, but also allow for batsmen to score runs. He said that this was how it used to be in the past, with the West Indies being considered the best team in the world.

“The pitches in the Caribbean are terrible, and that’s why when we go overseas and the pitches are bouncing, the players are all at sea. We need to get back quick, bouncy pitches in the Caribbean. It will make better players and fast-bowlers,” Ambrose said.

BATTING ALSO WEAK

Neita agrees, saying that pitches today in the region only encourage spin bowling, but he said that the Windies’ batting throughout the series was not good enough.

“Our pitches have not promoted fast bowling and our batsmen’s ability to bat fast bowling,” the former Jamaica wicketkeeper-batsman said. “But I would not say that the reason why we performed so poorly in New Zealand is entirely based on that. For the most part, the batsmen have shown poor technique, poor temperament, and that is a contributing factor in addition to the pitches.

“The pitches have been like this for a long, long time,” he continued. “There’s no pitch in the region now [of the right standard]. If there is, there might be one that you can say is a good pitch for fast bowlers. All our pitches are tailor-made for spin bowlers. It’s right across the board.”

Neita, the Melbourne Cricket Club president, then went on to say that groundsmen across the Caribbean are not given the respect they deserve, unlike their English counterparts.

“In Jamaica, we don’t have professional groundsmen,” he shared. “It is considered almost a demeaning job to be a groundsman, whereas in England, it’s a top job. It is well respected! We think that our groundsmen must be common labourers, although, in reality, it is proven that being a groundsman or a curator of a ground is much more than being a labourer. There’s a lot of science to it. You have to know how much water to put in the pitch and how much grass is needed. You have to know what consistency is all about. Who in the region knows all about that? So here lies our challenge.”

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AquaTrax Keeps Pitches Pristine

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AquaTrax Keeps Pitches Pristine: Lillieshall is one of the United Kingdom’s National Sports Centres and centres of excellence. The centre is set to host to some of the country’s leading sports activities like Archery, Gymnastics and Hockey. Within the 350 acre site are 2 synthetic pitches, a water based hockey pitch and a multi-sport surface. The Grounds Supervisor Peter Bolland, and his team of 6 which includes an apprentice, have their work cut out ensuring all the facilities meet their rigorous requirements and are kept performing at their best – which they do with the help of Replay Maintenance.

“The centre has a rich history,” explains Peter, “and having previously been on the English Heritage at Risk Register, but following a management plan set up back in 2013, the team are now working on a long term 21 year master plan, to bring the site back to the 1830’s when the Duke of Sutherland would have been prevalent. The majority of maintenance work, including pitch renovations, is conducted in-house and this is no different when it comes to the regime on the artificial surfaces.  We do cleaning,
drag-mat/brushing and removal of debris on a daily and weekly basis, but as a training facility for GB Hockey and other international teams alike we like to go that step further and have Replay in to conduct a deep clean at least once a year.”

AquaTrax Keeps Pitches Pristine

Their most recent visit saw Replay utilising their unique AquaTrax process on the two synthetic pitches.  This process combines pressure washing and vacuum extraction to dislodge and remove dirt and algae growth. The annual work also ensures that the surfaces pass the Centres twice-yearly audits.

Replay have been working with Lillieshall for a number of years and Peter says that, moving forwards, he has no reason to change that. “It tends to be the same guy visit each year.  He’ll report in and, unless there are any issues, he’ll just crack on with the job – there are times we don’t even know he’s there! They do such a great job, right from the initial quote and advice through to the actual work – they’re knowledgeable, always really helpful and work together with us in meeting the standards for the pitches and our facility as a whole.”

For more information, visit: www.replaymaintenance.co.uk

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Rigby Taylor Has An Award-Winning Way To Mark Pitches

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Rigby Taylor Has A Very Intelligent – And Award-Winning Way To Mark And Over-Mark Pitches: Intelligent One (iO), the world’s first autonomous robot dedicated to the hands-free, initial marking and over-marking of sports pitches, running tracks and much more, has won the prestigious Innovation Award at the SALTEX 2017 exhibition.

Available from Rigby Taylor – the company at the forefront of supplying innovative products for the successful management and maintenance of turf surfaces – iO combines the very latest technology with the award winning, global-leading Impact ready-to-use paint and is ideally suited for multi-pitches and multi-facilities marking.

Rigby Taylor Has An Award-Winning Way To Mark Pitches

It was for these reasons that a panel of expert judges selected iO the winner over a host of other contenders for the award at SALTEX.

Featuring a sophisticated built-in GPS-RTK receiver that links with a portable base station for accurate and reliable global satellite referencing, the iO operating tablet can plot and store multi-use line marking templates.

Once manoeuvred into place by the operator from directions sent by the tablet, the iO will, for example, mark out a football pitch – all the perimeter and playing area straight lines, the ‘D’ areas, centre circle, corner angles and even the penalty spot without the operator having any physical contact with the machine. Even pitches with fixed post sockets can be marked.

The iO can be programmed to mark multiple pitches as, for instance, at a training ground and will move to an adjacent pitch to carry on marking. It can mark all day long because it comes with rechargeable lithium ion batteries and changer.

Impact paint provides the brightest, whitest line that lasts, and as it is a ready-to-use formulation, there is no mixing, no measuring no pouring and no added water. The operator has virtually no contact with the paint since a flow tube is simply inserted into the paint container then the iO can start marking.

The iO is capable of marking the following sports surfaces: football – any length/width and including fixed sockets; rugby (union and league); multi-lane athletic running tracks; tennis courts; and lacrosse, hockey and American football pitches. The iO marking of additional sports surfaces is currently under development.

For a leaflet, demonstration or more information contact your local Rigby Taylor area manager or Freephone 0800 424 919, email sales@rigbytaylor.com or visit rigbytaylor.com

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