Keynote good working relationship with most of the media, and they have been very supportive. I don’t really have any problems with them, which I know some people tend <strong>to</strong> have. There’s the odd occasion when you get misreported, but sometimes that can be misunderstanding rather than anything else. It’s a case of making sure that you are unders<strong>to</strong>od, and many of the journalists let me see the article before it goes <strong>to</strong> print, because they want <strong>to</strong> get it right as much as I do. There is a difference as well between what I call the trade media and the general media. For the general media, it’s sometimes more difficult <strong>to</strong> get the message across, because one day they are writing about a war or the financial situation, then they’re writing about turf culture, and it’s <strong>to</strong>tally different. <strong>Pitchcare</strong> - You have always been considered as an ambassador for our industry. Is it in a good place right now? Eddie - I think it is in good shape at the moment. It still needs <strong>to</strong> move forward and, dare I say, within the industry and with the individuals within the industry. One thing I would like <strong>to</strong> see at some point is more emphasis on research, and more particularly coordinating and moni<strong>to</strong>ring the research. It needs managing, rather than all of us going our own way and spending a fortune on reinventing the wheel. There are many of us doing research work, but we don’t necessarily know what everybody else is doing; a lot of money can be wasted, which could be better spent on other things. I think the industry needs that coordination, and then it needs <strong>to</strong> publish the papers somewhere where they are readily available <strong>to</strong> everybody. We are doing some research work here at Wimbledon, for example, but it doesn’t mean <strong>to</strong> say that someone else isn’t doing similar research and spending a lot of money unnecessarily. <strong>Pitchcare</strong> - Is there anything you would have done differently, professionally and personally? Eddie - I think we all have things we would have done differently. Many years ago I got very close <strong>to</strong> walking out of the industry because I was very disillusioned with it. Instead of getting involved, I became marginalised and disillusioned, not thinking that I could change it. I needed <strong>to</strong> get involved, as I now have done, but I’d liked <strong>to</strong> have got involved earlier. <strong>Pitchcare</strong> - Any regrets? Eddie - None at all. I’ve had a wonderful life. <strong>Pitchcare</strong> - What relationship did/do you have with the players? Eddie - We tend not <strong>to</strong> have a lot of involvement with the players; I do meet them in the week before the <strong>Championship</strong> when they are here practising; and it’s at that stage you talk <strong>to</strong> them about the courts. It’s generally their coaches who talk more about the 12 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012 “When the cover came off, the grass was lush and light and I knew we were in trouble. Players were slipping all over the place until we could get it dried out again” courts, there are one or two who will give you a very straight and honest opinion. They’re not particularly knowledgeable about the surface, but they know what they want. However, I won’t have any of them influencing me; I did have that many years ago, a player who wanted me <strong>to</strong> fix a court for him; my answer was “Of course I’ll do it for you, but let’s go and get it cleared with the referee first.” As soon as I said that, he dropped his request straight away. He knew what the referee’s reaction was going <strong>to</strong> be! <strong>Pitchcare</strong> - Is there one player that has made an impact on you? Eddie - There are many players who impressed me, the ones that worked hard. And most of the <strong>to</strong>p ones have an incredible work ethic. That’s the thing that impresses me most; players who have played and won at the French <strong>Open</strong>, then the next day they are out practising on grass for the <strong>Championship</strong>s. They don’t rest on their laurels, <strong>to</strong> be at the <strong>to</strong>p of their sport they know they’ve got <strong>to</strong> work at it. One or two of the <strong>to</strong>p male players have impressed me with their modesty, big players who are at the <strong>to</strong>p of their game, but it would be unfair <strong>to</strong> name them. These people are professionals and they work hard at the game. And you never have any problems with the <strong>to</strong>p players, in any sport, because they haven’t got anything <strong>to</strong> prove; they’ve done it all. It’s the up and coming ones that give you the problems. <strong>Pitchcare</strong> – what is the most difficult problem you have had at Wimbledon? Eddie - The worst situation I’ve probably had <strong>to</strong> deal with was in 1996. Day one of the <strong>Championship</strong>s was lovely, it was overcast, but we played. Day two, it came on <strong>to</strong> rain and continued for seventy-two hours. In those days, we had different covers <strong>to</strong> what we have now; we had a very dark cover on Centre Court and, of course, the grass went looking for light. When the cover came off, the grass was lush and light and I knew we were in trouble. Players were slipping all over the place until we could get it dried out again. That was the most difficult time. Also, a couple of years ago, we had an interesting situation; we normally spray the courts with a preventative fungicide just before the <strong>to</strong>urnament, and before the covers go on, because we are creating the environment for <strong>these</strong> diseases <strong>to</strong> come in. For whatever reason, and I never got <strong>to</strong> the bot<strong>to</strong>m of it, I found out that one of the courts had been sprayed with a systemic fungicide rather than a contact fungicide. It was a very warm day and the s<strong>to</strong>matas hadn’t opened up <strong>to</strong> let the systemic in<strong>to</strong> the leaf, so it didn’t have any effect. On the Saturday, a week before the <strong>Championship</strong>s, the court looked good but, the following day, it was covered in leaf spot and the grass was dying. We had just a week <strong>to</strong> get it back again, but we did, so nobody knew any different. <strong>Pitchcare</strong> – What do you plan <strong>to</strong> do in retirement? Eddie - Nothing in the short term; my wife has a couple of more years before she retires, so we will stay here until then. I might even try relaxing, read a book or something like that. I intend carrying on my work with the IOG and the Land Drainage Contrac<strong>to</strong>rs Association. Then we’ll see what happens from there. I’ve been asked numerous times about consultancy work, but I’m not really interested. I’ve worked for fiftythree years of my life, and it will be nice <strong>to</strong> go on holiday and do some travelling at a time when I want <strong>to</strong>. I’d like some time off, I’d like <strong>to</strong> have a rest.
THE REAL STARS OF WEST HAM, WIMBLEDON AND WENTWORTH. GREENSMASTER FLEX 21 TORO Commercial Products are distributed by Lely (UK) Limited, St Neots, Cambridgeshire PE19 1QH. Tel: 01480 226800 Email: <strong>to</strong>ro.info.uk@lely.com www.lely.com www.<strong>to</strong>ro.com REELMASTER 3100-D GROUNDSMASTER 4300-D REELMASTER 5510-D PROPASS 200 WORKMAN MDX-D PROCORE SR54-S TORO manufactures some of the finest turf machinery in the world and you will find it at most of the world’s finest sporting venues. From mowers delivering superb cutting ability and aftercut appearance, <strong>to</strong> its utility vehicles, <strong>to</strong>p dressers and aera<strong>to</strong>rs, the TORO family of sports turfcare machinery has everything you will need <strong>to</strong> prepare and manage the perfect surface. The choice of professionals the world over, TORO is a must for all the major players in sport. Call 01480 226800 or visit www.<strong>to</strong>ro.com PROCORE 648 AERATOR
- Page 1 and 2: SERVING THE TURFCARE INDUSTRY KEYNO
- Page 3 and 4: WELCOME TO pitchcare 2012 - and all
- Page 5 and 6: Andy Gray, Southampton FC Artificia
- Page 7 and 8: Reverting to farmland! The Norfolk
- Page 9 and 10: Amenity-specific NSK revamped More
- Page 11 and 12: Launching Spring 2012 www.ransomesj
- Page 13: getting the MBE, without doubt. It
- Page 17 and 18: time. He also was the man who donat
- Page 19 and 20: eason we run the electric triplex a
- Page 21 and 22: times. Cycle times are then modifie
- Page 23 and 24: easonable £12,000. And so Parkston
- Page 25 and 26: Controlled burning of scrub Fairway
- Page 27 and 28: However, in collaboration with the
- Page 29 and 30: after Kerry defeated Cork in last y
- Page 31 and 32: involved various management strateg
- Page 33 and 34: convincing the greens committee to
- Page 35 and 36: As editor of Pitchcare, I am fortun
- Page 38 and 39: Golf In October last year, Ian Robs
- Page 40 and 41: Golf As the course has 100% floodli
- Page 42: Golf turn, pays for the course. Our
- Page 45 and 46: thought, at the time, the greens we
- Page 47 and 48: Augusta National levels of crickete
- Page 49 and 50: You don’t often hear a golfer say
- Page 51 and 52: THE NEW LT3340. HEAVY-DUTY MOWING F
- Page 53 and 54: natural pitches artificial pitches
- Page 55 and 56: one area? Clubs are then likely to
- Page 57 and 58: also of the RFU and a number of ins
- Page 59 and 60: “Artificial rugby pitches must be
- Page 61 and 62: Rootzone top-up The concept for a N
- Page 64 and 65:
Winter Sports With Southampton flyi
- Page 66 and 67:
Winter Sports Professional lights s
- Page 68 and 69:
Winter Sports “Our most worrying
- Page 70 and 71:
Winter Sports 68 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH
- Page 72 and 73:
Winter Sports ViewPoint Our anonymo
- Page 74 and 75:
Summer Sports - Bowls Expectations
- Page 76 and 77:
Summer Sports - Bowls Rainbird irri
- Page 78 and 79:
Summer Sports - Bowls When it comes
- Page 80 and 81:
Summer Sports - Bowls “Consistenc
- Page 82 and 83:
Summer Sports - Cricket “No, I’
- Page 84 and 85:
Summer Sports - Cricket trimming of
- Page 86 and 87:
Summer Sports - Cricket SMITH famil
- Page 88 and 89:
Schools & Colleges After thirty yea
- Page 90 and 91:
Schools & Colleges One of Chris Edw
- Page 92 and 93:
Schools & Colleges Ransomes 305 a g
- Page 94 and 95:
Schools & Colleges Neville Johnson
- Page 96 and 97:
Schools & Colleges Head Groundsman
- Page 98 and 99:
Schools & Colleges Joe Cooper’s l
- Page 100 and 101:
Schools & Colleges Look through any
- Page 102 and 103:
Equestrian Craig Williamson “This
- Page 104 and 105:
Equestrian The home straight from t
- Page 106 and 107:
Technical Seed germination is one o
- Page 108 and 109:
Technical Trees represent an import
- Page 110 and 111:
Technical Giant Polypore heaviness
- Page 112 and 113:
Technical Normally carried out unde
- Page 114 and 115:
Technical Choosing the right sand c
- Page 116 and 117:
Technical which is determined by th
- Page 118 and 119:
Technical In this final article in
- Page 120 and 121:
Technical “In order to tie the go
- Page 122 and 123:
Technical “The words ‘gas oil
- Page 124 and 125:
Technical MONTHLY Diaries I STILL s
- Page 126:
Technical Aeration and sweeping Aer
- Page 129 and 130:
2. The “threat” scenario If the
- Page 131 and 132:
Alongside our General Sports Turf M
- Page 133 and 134:
one I had not predicted, but I stil
- Page 135 and 136:
“There are many different covers
- Page 137 and 138:
come of it. They’d look at it and
- Page 139 and 140:
since day one. Barry is, essentiall
- Page 141 and 142:
Gravel banding is a secondary drain
- Page 143 and 144:
Ideal for use around tree bases Jap
- Page 145 and 146:
present a key challenge. “Typical
- Page 147 and 148:
Quote me happy “... they are comi