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From Ipswich To The World Cup Final

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From Ipswich To The World Cup Final: Ex-Ipswich Town groundsman Alan Ferguson is in charge of the showpiece surface at the World Cup in Russia.

“There’s an advert on the TV at the moment that says ‘Born in Carlisle; made in the Royal Navy’. Well I was born in Scotland but made at Portman Road.”

From Ipswich To The World Cup Final

Alan Ferguson may now have reached the pinnacle of his profession, currently maintaining the pitch at the World Cup’s showpiece stadium, but he will never forget where his career started.

The 58-year-old joined Ipswich Town from Scottish giants Rangers in 1996 and, over the next 15 years, built a reputation as one of the best in the business. On seven occasions he was named Groundsman of the Year.

In 2011, he joined former Blues chairman Sheepshanks at The FA. First he worked on the pitches at St George’s Park, then, in 2015, he took on the playing surface at Wembley too.

Last June a second major restructuring by the association saw him made redundant. As one big door closed, several other massive ones opened.

UEFA had Ferguson working on projects in Turkey, Dubai, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Kosovo, with his wife Carol booking flights and hotels from the family home at Mendlesham Green near Stowmarket,

Then SIS Pitches were awarded the World Cup contract by FIFA and they asked Ferguson to be their head consultant groundsman.

“I have been coming to Russia for one week per month since September last year,” explained the Scotsman, whose own company is called Premier Sports Turf Maintenance.

“I’ve been in charge of preparing six of the 12 World Cup pitches – Kaliningrad, Spartak, Luzhniki, Samara, Rostok and Saransk – plus a seventh stadium in Krasnodar that didn’t end up getting picked for the tournament.

“It’s been a punishing schedule; I was taking eight flights a week back and forth across Russia. And the winter was brutal – I’ve never worked in such cold conditions.

“The temperatures in January, February and March were down at minus 15/16 degrees. The Luzhniki Stadium hosted a Putin election rally on March 3 and there was 23cm of snow!

“We just about managed to limit the damage. In the end we were left with just six weeks of decent growing weather, so with all that in mind – and how bureaucratic everything is over here – I am absolutely delighted with how the pitches have been. We left the grass a little bit longer for the first few games so that they would wear well later in the tournament.”

Ferguson has been based at the 81,000 capacity Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow during the tournament, a venue that has changed dramatically since Ipswich played Torpedo Moscow there during their UEFA Cup campaign of 2001/02.

So far it has hosted Russia 5 Saudia Arabia 0, Germany 0 Mexico 1, Portugal 1 Morocco 0, Denmark 0 France 0, as well as Russia’s penalty shoot-out win against Spain in the last 16, with tonight’s England v Croatia semi-final and Sunday’s final to come.

“The pitch has had 58 hours of use over 22 days at the time of us speaking,” explained Ferguson. “It will be 85 hours of use by the time we reach the final – and that’s exceptionally high.

“I’ve worked in big stadiums and at big tournaments, but the size and scale of the commercialism surrounding a World Cup is something I’ve never experienced before. The closest thing I’ve seen to it is the NFL games at Wembley.

“There were 20 hours of activity on the pitch before the opening game and 16 hours of those were rehearsals for the Robbie Williams concert. The other day Adidas had the pitch for six hours filming an advert for the new ball that they started using from the knock-out stages. There are two hour rehearsals just for the bit you see before the game when the flags are brought out onto the pitch.

“Everything is based around global TV. There are people with stopwatches everywhere. It’s a military operation. There’s a reason the Luzhniki didn’t host a quarter-final and that’s because we needed those nine days to add the extra media facilities needed for the semi and final – there’s a third of one stand devoted to that.”

He continued: “Teams are entitled to a one-hour training session before playing at a stadium. They are there to familiarise themselves, not do a full-on training session so it’s frustrating when you see a lot of unnecessary damage occur. Denmark were the worst for that.

“I’m pitch side for all the games, usually somewhere just to the right of the tunnel. I’m making a very detailed log of what happens to the surface – where people have slipped, how the ball is bouncing etc. An hour and a half after the game there is then a debrief where we get feedback from the teams and if they had any issues.

“Everything on the field of play is my team’s duty. We have to practice swapping the goals – the target is five minutes, but we did it in two minutes and 38 seconds the other day!”

Looking ahead to Sunday, Ferguson said: “I never thought for one minute that I’d ever do the pitch for a World Cup Final. Without trying to sound big-headed, I knew I was good at my job – but I didn’t know I was that good. This is the pinnacle. It’s incredible.”

And the journey doesn’t end here either. From the sub-zero conditions of Russia’s winter, he will soon be getting his head around the challenges presented by scorching heat in Qatar.

“From September 1st this year I will become the first senior pitch management manager in-house at FIFA,” he explained.

“The organisation has undergone a huge transformation in the last two years with FIFA Congress and advisors recommending that pitch management comes in-house.

“My role will be to oversee all the pitch-building activity for pitches to be used in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and 2026 in USA, Canada and Mexico. I will also support all other FIFA World Cups – the Under-17s, the women’s tournament etc.

“I will relocate to Zurich but will be on the road for much of the year.”

And yet Ipswich Town will never be far from his thoughts.

“I owe David Sheepshanks and Town a huge debt of gratitude,” said Ferguson. “They gave me my first opportunity and, for that, I will always be there to help the club in any way possible.”

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Kubota Makes The Grade In Bath

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Kubota Makes The Grade In Bath: For Penny Snowden, Grounds Manager at Bath Spa University, the biggest challenge facing her grounds maintenance team is managing the balance of diverse student activity whilst keeping the historic 88-acre Newton Park campus in pristine condition all year round.

Newton Park, leased from the Duchy of Cornwall, is located to the west of Bath in the rolling Somerset countryside.  It’s the largest of the university’s three main campuses, featuring an 18th century pleasure ground with lake and extensive open spaces, sports pitches, a walled garden and Italian garden, as well as buildings from a mixture of ages including many listed buildings like the Grade I Listed Mansion House.  The campus is also home to a variety of wildlife, including great crested newts and several species of bats.

Kubota Makes The Grade In Bath

Penny said: “This is a fantastic campus in an idyllic location with a great mix of old and new buildings and some first class facilities.  My role as grounds manager is to keep it looking its best all the time. There have been some big changes to the campus recently with new residential accommodation units being built along with modern academic buildings as part of massive development plans to enhance the campus further, so it’s a huge job but my team and I love the challenge!”

Penny learnt her trade by watching her dad who was also a Head Gardener and has followed in his footsteps by choosing a career in horticulture. Penny took the role at Bath Spa University and has never looked back.

Penny continued: “This is such a demanding and varied job.  Being able to keep up with the grass cutting cycle is our main challenge, but there’s also a lot of general horticulture work, like pruning, mulching and planting.  We have a conservation management plan in place to ensure the biodiversity and special character of the place re well managed, we try to ensure we maintain everything to the highest standards and are extremely proud of how good the site looks.”

Kubota Makes The Grade In Bath

Having the right equipment and machinery that can help Penny and her five strong team achieve the best results is absolutely paramount.

“We use Kubota groundcare machinery because of its reputation as the best on the market,” continued Penny.  “We need machinery we can trust, that doesn’t let us down and that can get the job done effortlessly.  Operator comfort and ease of control are also vitally important.  We get all this and more with Kubota.  This is backed up by first class aftersales support from our local independent Kubota dealer – Lister Wilder.”

Penny’s most recent addition to her machinery fleet is a Kubota STW40 compact tractor.  With the ability to handle a range of tasks with quick and powerful performance, the STW40 features hydrostatic power steering and Kubota’s unique Bi-Speed turn to make turning much easier and smoother with minimal potential damage to a ground’s surface.  With 360-degree visibility thanks to its four-pillar cab design, the 40HP STW40 is powered by a powerful Kubota engine, renowned globally for its innovation and performance.

“When we purchased the Kubota STW40, we were able to replace a physically larger tractor with this smaller model because the Kubota could match the performance of a bigger machine and do exactly what we needed it to,” said Penny.  “This is testament to the power of the machine.  The tractor is an invaluable asset for our team, carrying out mainly trailer work for tasks like delivering mulch and transporting arisings, but we have also used PTO units for reseeding a large part of the Parkland.  It’s also performs exceptionally with our snake mower on our sports pitches.”

Along with the STW40, Penny also has a Kubota diesel ride-on mower in her fleet, the G26.  Ideal for precise and clipping-free mowing in high presentation areas, the G26 is a versatile mowing solution that helps the team increase productivity and tackle difficult jobs with ease.  Bath Spa University’s estates team also have two Kubota RTV utility vehicles for getting around the site and across difficult terrain with ease.

Kubota Makes The Grade In Bath

Penny continued: “Not only is the G26 an absolute workhorse when it comes to grass cutting, but it’s also fantastic for leaf collecting too in Autumn, allowing us to produce our own compost for the beds and borders, saving us valuable time and money.  The two RTV’s not only allow us to access areas that others vehicles can’t reach, but they also enable us to be more efficient when transporting materials around the campus, meaning we can split our team up to get more done.

“All four machines play their part in helping Bath Spa University look a first class site that everyone involved with at the campus, from the lecturers, students, and my grounds team, are extremely proud of.”

For more information on Kubota UK call 01844 268000 or visit www.kubota.co.uk

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Golf Club Feels The Heat

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Golf Club Feels The Heat: The impact of the UK’s current heatwave can be seen at Oxford Golf Club.

Just a month ago Oxfordshire’s oldest golf course resembled a lush green oasis, but after the driest June on record, the fairways have frazzled.

Golf Club Feels The Heat

Now the most verdant parts of the course on Hill Top Road, Headington, are the greens and tees, which are watered via an irrigation system.

Doug MacGregor, the club’s head greenkeeper, said: “I’ve been a greenkeeper for 25 years in Oxford and Scotland and these are some of the most extreme weather conditions I’ve experienced.”

Meanwhile in Oxford University Parks, walkers are likely to have blamed falling water levels in the pond on the scorching weather.

It is thought hundreds of fish died last week after levels plummeted rapidly, but the water loss was not the result of evaporation – the university suspects river gates on the Cherwell were opened to increase depth of water downstream, without realising the implications.

Golf club worker Mr MacGregor took a photo of the course one month ago and again this week from the 10th hole, to demonstrate the impact the weather can have.

The experienced greenkeeper and his team of five are working to keep the course in good shape amid sizzling temperatures of up to 30 degrees C, with the hot spell set to continue this week.

Mr MacGregor added: “We had a tough winter but came through it and then had a very wet period and a lot of grass growth before the heatwave.

“The course has looked magnificent in recent months and now the weather has changed the fairways and rough have really struggled to maintain moisture levels.

“This, coupled with the lack of a mains irrigation system at the club, has meant that they have suffered in terms of grass density and colour but they are still playable.

“The weather has a massive impact on the course and we have to adapt daily -we live by weather reports.”

The team’s day starts at 6am with an analysis of data from the club’s weather station.

The information informs them which areas of the course have lost moisture and enables them to establish where to focus their efforts.

“With the heatwave we have adjusted our tactics significantly,” said Doug.

“We also have a high-tech moisture meter which we use by hand to take readings on different spots of the greens.

“Wind is a big factor and different parts of the green will need more water than others.

“The readings enable us to focus on areas which require attention and apply the necessary levels of water accordingly.

“The soil is very warm and dry, and we continually aerate it. We have reduced the amount of grass cutting we do.

“I love looking after the course and it’s great when people comment on the quality.”

Met Office forecasters said today’s temperatures would be cooler than yesterday.

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Solving The Erosion Headache

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Solving The Erosion Headache: When it comes to sports ground renovations, areas that are subject to heavy use and erosion have caused headaches for greenkeepers and groundsmen for years. From sidelines and goalmouths in football, to walkways and paths in golf; public parks, playgrounds and festivals – the list goes on.

Hybrid surfaces are a new and innovative solution which are ideal for areas that suffer from heavy use and erosion. Greenacres’ hybrid surface, Coverlawn®, is available in multiple pile heights which makes it suitable for various applications. With over 1,000 installations worldwide, it has benefitted golf courses, sports pitches, children’s playgrounds, music festivals, public parks and many other high traffic areas.

Solving The Erosion Headache

As a knitted construction hybrid, Coverlawn® works in tandem with natural grass, encouraging natural growth while reinforcing and protecting the root zone with its honeycomb structure. Coverlawn® allows the natural turf to grow through and integrate completely, therefore providing a surface that is resistant to wear and tear. Coverlawn® is manufactured to allow maximum drainage, is exceptionally strong and long-lasting, and boasts anti-slip properties.

As you can see, Hybrid Surfaces remove the need for entirely artificial surfaces, or the use of gravel or rubber crumb alternatives. The popularity of Coverlawn® stems from the ability to retain the use of natural turf, which is a preference for most greenkeepers and groundsmen.

Coverlawn® is easy to install. Simply begin by measuring the area required, using as few seams as possible. Prepare the area for installation by mowing the existing grass to 20mm. Clear any debris and weeds, fill in any uneven holes with soil and seed any bare patches. Then simply lay the rolls of hybrid grass and, if necessary, cut them to size. Anchor the hybrid grass in place by burying the edges into the ground and inserting the decomposable anchor pins provided. Finally, apply a layer of top sand to the surface, and water to even out any inconsistencies. The new surface is ready to be used immediately after installation, but allow 2-3 months for complete integration.

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The most northern RANGER EV in the world?

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The most northern RANGER EV in the world?: Known for its remote, unforgiving terrain and polar bears, Svalbard is a Norwegian island situated between mainland Norway and the North Pole – it’s one of the world’s most northernmost inhabited areas and also home to a RANGER EV…

The RANGER EV belongs to Hurtigruten, the biggest travel company in Norway and the largest employer in Svalbard. Owning three hotels on the island, a number of restaurants, a lunch bar, two shops – which sell expedition and safety equipment – and the Polaris dealer, IGP. Hurtigruten Svalbard is also responsible for operating the Culture House.

The most northern RANGER EV in the world?

Kjetil Viklund, General Manager at IGP, said: “We used the RANGER EV a lot for moving things from our storage unit to the shop and vice versa. We also use it as a demonstration unit for our customers. It also is handy when we have special guests to the island who can borrow it as a form on transport.”

The features of the RANGER EV lend themselves to making it a useful machine for the company.

“It has a good loading capacity and is perfect for bringing goods from our storage unit to our shop. It’s very comfortable for the driver and a passenger and gives us shelter from the weather – with average temperatures between minus 9 and minus 16 degrees Celsius cover is appreciated. It’s also very quiet and often it’s easier to use the RANGER rather than a car.”

With the importance of maintaining the biodiversity of the island at the centre of inhabitants minds, the focus on the environment and limiting humans impact is key.

With stunning scenery, a highly diverse and concentration of wildlife and amazing experiences on offer, Svalbard is quickly cementing its place on the tourism map, but with this is the responsibility of ensuring that the environment remains central to operations.

“For me, electric powered vehicles are the future and an environmental focus is very important – as well all know that fossil fuels will not last forever. In my mind, it will take many many years for the market to completely change, but I’m happy that we’ve started.”

Also offering petrol and diesel engines for the RANGER, Polaris celebrated rolling the one-millionth RANGER machine off the production line in 2017 and 2018 marks two decades since the utility vehicle was introduced to the Polaris line-up. Forming a key part of the Polaris product line, the RANGER® is used all over the globe for a variety of tasks.

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