Tag Archive for: United

Sutton United invests in Reesink

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Sutton United invests in Reesink: Securing Football League status is an historic achievement and for Sutton United Football Club in south London, it led to a £550,000 pitchworks investment in the club’s home ground, including a new hybrid pitch and irrigation solution from Reesink Turfcare comprising a SRC Ranger control system and Toro sprinklers.

FA regulations stipulate that 3G artificial pitches are not fit for purpose in Division Two and above, which is why Sutton United made an urgent review of its existing 3G pitch and lined up leading sports pitch specialist, Agripower, to make preparations for a full install in the downtime between the 2019/20 and 2021/22 seasons.

Sutton United invests in Reesink

Sutton United invests in Reesink

Jerry Anderson, director at Agripower, comments: “We were given a conditional order in May 2021 as the club edged towards promotion and remained on stand-by with a view to removing the existing 3G pitch and replacing it with a hybrid alternative in the narrow window between seasons.

“Once the club had confirmation of its promotion to the Football League we started immediately, deploying a five strong-team working full-time between the end of May until early August. It was a quick turnaround!”

Agripower installed a hybrid pitch system which comprised of high-grade natural grass. Once the old system had been removed, the pitch was rebuilt with a hybrid carpet over a base rootzone, with the carpet infilled with a similar rootzone before seeding.

Supporting the hybrid pitch was a comprehensive Toro irrigation system, which comprised of a network of 350m of ring main pipework, 200m of lateral pipe, 16 value in head Infinity sprinklers and eight B series in-pitch sprinklers in the field.

Jerry continues: “We used the new SRC Ranger control system, which has scheduling capacity for up to 100 stations and web-control, along with Toro Infinity sprinklers on the outside of the pitch and Toro B-Series sprinklers on the infill.

“As well as a new pumphouse and pumps, a match pitch of this kind also requires a higher water flow rate which is why we installed wider diameter pipes and manual watering points for localised watering. It’s particularly useful for high-impact areas such as the goalmouth or when clubs like to slick-up the playing surface at half time.

“The Toro irrigation system is very good and we particularly like the fact that the Infinity sprinklers are top-serviceable, minimising disruption to the hybrid carpet. We have also been impressed with the on-site support from Toro distributor, Reesink Turfcare, who were on-hand throughout the entire project.”

The new pitch not only validates Sutton United FC’s place within the Football League, but it enables the team to maximise playing time. A grass pitch can generally withstand three to six hours of playing time, whilst its hybrid equivalent can deliver up to 18 hours of play.

Adrian Barry, vice chairman at Sutton United Football Club, comments: “The team at Agripower did a tremendous job replacing our previous 3G surface with a grass pitch in a tight time frame such that we were able to host Football League matches in August. Having an excellent irrigation system is, of course, pivotal to the continued provision of an excellent playing surface and feedback from all users has been terrific in this regard. We thank everyone involved for their support and hard work as Sutton United embarks on this exciting new journey in its history. “

To find out more about the SRC Ranger control system and Toro irrigation range of sprinklers, call Reesink Turfcare on 01480 226800, email info@reesinkturfcare.co.uk or visit reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Leeds United to re-turf Elland Road

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Leeds United to re-turf Elland Road: Work on brand-new state of the art drainage system to commence in May.

Read the full article from Leeds United FC here

Leeds United to re-turf Elland Road

Leeds United to re-turf Elland Road

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Ransomes Jacobsen at Newcastle United

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Ransomes Jacobsen at Newcastle United: Since 2002 the pitches at Newcastle United’s Darsley Park training ground have been cut with Ransomes and Jacobsen mowers.

Currently, three LF570s and five Mastiffs are used to cut the 13 pitches that are maintained by head groundsman, Mick Curran, and his staff with two of the original Mastiffs from 2002 still in use.

Ransomes Jacobsen at Newcastle United

Through the years Newcastle’s ride-on fleet has graduated through the LF range, and it is the new features and excellent service from Ransomes Jacobsen dealer, Rickerby, that has kept Mick cutting with orange and green for almost three decades.

“I started off with the LF’s in 2002, and they’ve got better as the years have gone on,” Mick said. “On the newer model you can set the reel speed and forward speed, so if I think the lads are cutting too fast, I can peg them back, and that’s a big point. It helps with the consistency of cutting across the site, and the cut we get from the mowers is first-class.

“Reliability, quality of cut and being able to get spare parts easily has kept me using them for 17-years along with the service and back-up we’ve received from Rickerby which has been excellent.

“It’s very important for us if we get a break down in the summer when we’re cutting 24/7 that we can get a part or have it fixed as soon as possible. Nine times out of ten they’ll be out the same day sorting the problem, and that really is important for us.”

While the LF570’s are in action for the summer, once winter rolls around the Mastiffs take over. Like most training grounds, Mick is under pressure to keep the pitches cut and ready for use, and the warmer wet weather in September and October 2019 has highlighted the importance of having reliable pedestrian machines.

“The little club I started at had Mastiffs, so I’ve been brought up on them. It’s in wet conditions like we’ve had over September and October this year that the Mastiff’s really work well for us. The quality of cut is second to none, the finish has always been good, the blade setting and height of cut is dead easy to set, and the maintenance of them is easy as well.

“We need the reliability from the mowers because if you get behind it can be really difficult to catch up. We’ve had horrendous weather in these last two weeks, and the grass is still ticking away where you need to cut it twice a week. So, when you get that sort of weather this time of year, and you can’t cut for two or three days you start falling behind.

“In the winter, we put the LF’s away, they get cleaned down and serviced, and we get the Mastiff’s out. We use them in the winter when the grass isn’t growing as much, and you’re looking to avoid stressing the turf and using the pedestrian machines rather than the ride-ons is perfect for that.”

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United Groundsman Sent To China

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United Groundsman Sent To China: Manchester United are sending their groundsman to Shanghai to make sure there is no repeat of the pitch farce that marred their last visit to China.

The first derby on foreign soil against Manchester City was scrapped three years ago after torrential downpours left the surface at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing unplayable.

United Groundsman Sent To China

United’s first game of that tour against Borussia Dortmund at the Shanghai Stadium was also played on a poor pitch.

It was by no means the first time English clubs have encountered problems staging pre-season friendlies in the Far East during rainy season, and thunderstorms are forecast for next week when United are due to meet Tottenham at the Hongkou Stadium in Shanghai on Thursday.

United, who had to rely on the efforts of City’s groundsman to try and salvage the game in Beijing in 2016, have left nothing to chance this time by sending groundsman Dave Lindop ahead to Shanghai while the rest of the party are in Singapore for the International Champions Cup clash with Inter Milan on Saturday.

Club staff have travelled to China a total of four times since November to make sure the pitch is up to scratch, and United have also insisted on weekly updates from ICC organisers Relevent which so far have been positive.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his players flew into Singapore on Thursday following a comfortable 4-0 win over Leeds in Perth.

Although video footage has emerged of an ugly incident involving two supporters at the Optus Stadium, only 15 fans out of a crowd of 55,274 were ejected from the ground for anti-social behaviour and none were charged.

Click here to read the original article

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Foley United To Exhibit At BTME

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Foley United To Exhibit At BTME: Foley United, represented by UK distributor ProSport UK Ltd, will be in Harrogate for BTME 2019, and will be demonstrating the ideal grinding combination for a fully automated workshop in Red Hall, Stand 248B, with the AccuPro 633 with AccuTouch 3 Control and 673 bedknife grinders.

This professional grinding duo provides top quality cylinder and bedknife grinding, featuring built-in grinding programmes for a quick and accurate OEM grind. The fully automatic grinding process on both machines allows users to do other tasks while the Foley grinders are activated, saving time, money and man-hours.

Foley United To Exhibit At BTME

The latest company to utilise this combination is GGM Groundscare. The Lancashire based company needed to add grinders to their operation to match a growing franchise and Managing Director, Chris Gibson, looked to the automation and accuracy of Foley United as the solution.

“We are Baroness dealers and our sales area has recently been extended to cover North and West Yorkshire,” Chris explains. “In line with the growth of this franchise we wanted to invest in the right grinders to make sure we had the best support available for customers and that’s why we got the Foley AccuPro 633 cylinder and 673 bedknife grinders.

“The automation was an important factor because we want to provide our customers with consistent and reliable results. We can do that with the pre-set programmes and give them a very accurate idea of how long grinding will take, and that’s something that benefits us from a planning perspective as much as the customer.”

The two grinders used by GGM are only two of the Foley range of Relief, Spin and Bedknife machines that have been specifically designed to meet any budget.

For more information please contact Ian Robson: 07779 270501 or go to the ProSport UK website: www.prosportukltd.com

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