Earning his Spurs - Pitchcare

I’ve been in the sports turf industry for
over twenty years now, but I would never
profess to know everything about it.
Recently, I attended the STARSS (Science,
Technology and Research into Sport
Surfaces) conference at Loughborough
where I learned many new and interesting
things from sports surface research workers
from around the world. We must never stop
learning and no one can claim to know
everything.
At the conference, I listened to a
representative of the RFU extolling the
virtues, as a means of achieving the highest
quality of surface, of a ‘preferred supplier’
agreement. My understanding of this was
that grant aid from the sporting body would
only be awarded to projects developed and
run by one of a small number of preferred
3G carpet manufacturers. For those projects
that involve the installation of such a pitch,
the carpet manufacturer would, by default,
become the main contractor.
Now, I can see that this would resolve
issues of liability if things go wrong. What is
less obvious is how this approach would
maximise the quality of the end product.
The carpet manufacturers I have met
certainly know a great deal about carpet
manufacture, and I wouldn’t hesitate for a
moment to defer to their judgement on
matters related to the manufacture of
carpets. I would have some reservations,
however, about consulting them on issues to
do with sports surface construction in the
wider sense.
Many of the speakers at the
Loughborough conference were,
undoubtedly, experts in their particular
field, for example the quantification and
104
STARSS in
their eyes?
Tonight Matthew, Dr Tim Lodge is going to sing the
praises of consultants. Not those ‘money for
nothing’ management types, but the consultant
agronomists who assist with contracts. Without
them you might be in ‘dire straits’
interpretation of playing quality
characteristics of 3G surfaces. There was
also a half day session on natural turf which,
for me, is a fascinating subject which poses
more technical problems than artificial
surfaces and is therefore the more
rewarding area to work in.
A contractor I spoke with once described
a 3G pitch as a car park with a carpet on
top. They are certainly more complicated
than this, but the installation of these things
is, actually, not rocket science, and there will
be some carpet manufacturers who have a
very good understanding of the processes
involved. This preferred supplier thing
could work.
But, sports facility development projects
usually involve a lot more than the selection
and installation of a carpet on a constructed
base. For example:
- the Environment Agency and local
planning authorities are becoming
increasingly interested in the attenuation
capacity of 3G pitches and their
propensity to generate surface run-off
and increase flood risk
- there are, invariably, technical and
planning issues surrounding the design of
the floodlighting system
- the specific form of the fencing around a
3G pitch can be chosen from a wide
range of options which have a similarly
wide range of prices
- in a wider sense, community development
experts are increasingly concerned about
the consequences of enclosing areas of
what has often been considered public
open space
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- very often, moderately sized projects also
involve the development of some natural
turf pitches and all the complexity that
that entails
- A well-designed project should have
considered all of these things, and a lot
more besides. The solutions to the various
problems and impositions should, in each
case, be incorporated into the design to
the best of the designer’s ability. This
seems an awful lot of responsibility to
place on someone with a background in
carpet manufacture
The larger contractors themselves have
also been drawn towards this over-arching
approach through what is known as ‘design
and build’. I’m in danger of upsetting
people I know and respect here, so I shall
try to tread carefully.
There are many individuals working for
larger sports turf contractors for whom I
have a great deal of respect, and who
genuinely aspire to delivering the highest
standards to their clients. In the purely
commercial sense, however, this is not their
primary function. Their main purpose is to
win contracts and maximise profits for the
companies concerned.
‘We want an all-weather pitch for our
team to train on. Obviously, because there’s
no grass on it, it’s going to be cheaper for
us to maintain. How much is that going to
cost us Mr Contractor, and can you rebuild
that natural turf pitch while you’re about it?’
That’s slightly simplistic perhaps. I don't
want to sound patronising, but I reckon it’s
not dissimilar to at least some conversations
that have taken place in the past. The thing
is that many projects, if they are to be done
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