Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Yeah, of course. Hi, my name is Lee Evans. I'm the Head Groundsman of the Prince Ballet
00:17Stadium in Cardiff. I've been Head Groundsman there for the past 16 years. Previous to that,
00:23I worked at Fulham Football Club and I was Head Groundsman at Astor Villa Football Club.
00:27I started my career at Grassroots Sports with Swansea City Council. I used to maintain the
00:31local authority pitches in Swansea before moving on then to Brighton, where I went to
00:38grass school and got qualified and became a qualified groundsman.
00:42Well, it totally depends on the weather we get. Currently, we're getting really warm weather and
00:52we're getting really wet spells with it, so the grass is growing really fast. So during those
00:57conditions, I would recommend you probably do the cut twice a week. But then we could have a dry,
01:02hot spell for weeks like we did last year. Then you may be only cutting once a fortnight. You
01:09will know how often to cut your pitch with the mower that you have available to you. My advice
01:14is don't let the pitch get away with you. Don't let it grow too long. You're better off cutting
01:19twice a week, if unsure. Weather will dictate how often it needs cutting, but just keep it under a
01:25manageable level that you can keep control of, really. That's what's important. Don't let it go
01:30too long. Well, I think you have to take each individual circumstance in isolation, really.
01:41The weather we've had recently, with the warm weather and the rain, the grass is growing quite
01:46quickly. I've been out and about and seen how long the grass for some of these pitches have got.
01:51It's important that, where possible, you cut as much as possible, keeping the pitches under
01:57control. If it's very long, you need to reduce the height gradually. But you need to take the
02:03grass away. It's no good cutting and leaving long grass lying everywhere, because all that's going
02:09to do is rot off and rot and kill the grasses underneath. So what's important is to cut
02:15regularly, as and when conditions allow, and gradually reducing the height of cut over a two
02:22week period, really. Never cutting more than a third off at a time, until you reduce the height
02:27of cut to what you're used to. Okay, well, part of the return to training is that we're only allowed
02:39two groups of 15 players on the pitch at any one time. So I think what's important is if we can
02:47split the pitch into quarters, so you've got one group of 15 in one quarter, and another group of
02:5215 in the other quarter. And then the following training session, rotate, so you keep changing the
02:58quarters. So two of the quarters are always having a break. If we can utilise runoff areas, use them
03:05as well. Use some common sense. If you see the forecast is pouring rain, and it's not the next
03:11night, maybe look at either cancelling the session and moving it to a drier evening. This time of
03:17year is a good year to train on pitches because the grass is growing, it's nice and strong, it's
03:20nice and healthy. And we got good weather conditions, it recovers quickly because of the
03:25sunshine. Just try and use a bit of common sense as well guys with the weather. You don't have to
03:30train in pouring rain at this stage. It's a matter of returning back to rugby, and let's be sensible.
03:44Unlikely that any of these grass pitches are going to have line markings on at the moment, they
03:48haven't been used since March, the council haven't been marking them out. So I don't think we need to
03:53worry about line markings on pitches for training. I think if you've got to separate your pitch into
03:58zones, into sections, the thing to do is to use cones. Use your cones to separate the pitches into
04:03sections, and then we pick up the line markings as and when games come along. But I don't think we're
04:08at the stage where we need to mark out a pitch from scratch. There's no need to waste money on paint
04:12either for training sessions. Use cones where necessary. There's quite a lot involved marking a
04:20pitch from scratch. It takes me and a colleague in the stadium about five or six hours to mark our
04:25pitch out from scratch, and I've been doing this for 30 years. There's no quick fix on this one.
04:30Heavy rolling has stopped, basically, with sports staff maintenance. It's something that they used
04:42to do a lot of in the 80s. If you remember the state of a lot of the pitches in the 80s, they
04:46were awful. I'm afraid if you've bought a heavy roller, you're better off selling the heavy
04:52roller and then using that money to do a dirty drain application or a weed kill application.
04:58Basically, if you're heavy rolling your pitch, you think I'm getting a nice pattern, but all you're
05:03doing is compacting the soil, which slows down drainage. It ruins root growth, so you'll have a
05:11pitch that cuts up, doesn't drain, and in the summer becomes rock hard. There is nothing
05:17beneficial to be gained from putting a heavy roller on the pitch, I'm afraid, so you're better
05:23off getting rid of that, I'm afraid. Basically, it's probably the best time of year for growing
05:33a pitch. I think what's important is to keep the grass at a manageable height. If you let it go
05:39too long, it can go leggy and it can be under stress. If you keep the pitch nice and short and
05:46thick, you'll have a stronger sword, which will throw down better roots. So, this time of year,
05:52we're okay, just keep your pitch at a manageable height. I would say don't overuse them,
05:58but we're not at that stage at the moment. Just keep cutting the pitch, keep it healthy,
06:04and it'll be in good nick coming into the season.
06:06Unless you can borrow equipment off another club, which is the ideal situation, or you have a member
06:12of your team who works for a golf club who can also borrow some equipment, I suppose the only
06:18cheap option is to target areas that you know hold water, hold moisture. You could go to these areas
06:26with a fork, open up these areas, and then you can go and get some equipment. So, if you're
06:32to these areas with a fork, open up these areas, and look to introduce some sport sand into the
06:38holes that you've made with your fork. Obviously, I don't recommend you do the whole pitch, but if
06:43you have, as I say, isolated areas that hold water, then that's the way to go until you do
06:48have the funds to either slit your pitch or to run a dirty drain over your pitch.
06:53Yes, definitely. I would recommend you, as soon as budget allows, conditions allow, you'd get a
06:59recommended contractor in to spray an application of weed and feed. Get them to weed and feed,
07:05because what that'll do, it'll kill the undesirable weeds off and promote the grass to grow and fill
07:11in the gaps left by the weeds with the fertilizer. So, 100%, I would definitely go for a weed and
07:15feed ASAP.
07:17Yeah, I would definitely look to address these areas, and the sooner you do this, the better,
07:22to get the areas level. Dependent on the depth of these areas, it's the only thing that
07:31information we haven't got, I would either look to dig out the existing,
07:36the existing grass, or I would look to dig out the existing grass, and then I would look to
07:43I would either look to dig out the existing vegetation that's in these undulations,
07:49dress them with either a sand or root zone or top dressing, and over seed. I would always recommend
07:56over seed, over turfing, because the turf can dry out and shrink, unless you're on top of it
08:04regularly and you're watering it regularly. Turf is very hard to maintain, seed is always better.
08:12So yeah, depending on the size of these areas and the depth of these areas,
08:16either dig the vegetation out and or put in a sandy root zone soil mix,
08:24and a bit of grass seed over the top. What I would also like to do then is get some germination
08:29sheets from the local garden centre, it's just like a little bit of material, germination material,
08:35peg these down over the top, and that'll just stop the birds eating the seed, and also it'll keep the
08:41moisture in the ground, which will help the germination. So I would love to do it, but I'd
08:46love to do it ASAP then, to give these areas a chance to recover for when the season starts back properly.
08:58Yeah, I think it's about prioritising what money you have available,
09:02what machinery you have available, the state of your pitch, and going from there really.
09:08Obviously this time of year the most important thing you should be doing is cutting the grass,
09:11is keeping the grass under control, keeping it at a manageable height, so the grass remains
09:16strong and healthy. If there are funds available, look at doing an aeration process, whether that's
09:24a vertigrain or some slitting, to open the surface, to help the surface drain better,
09:29and to help the plant throw down some roots. Another thing to look at is weed and feed,
09:34especially this time of year, the weeds are also growing strongly, like the grasses, and ideally we
09:42want the pitch to be a grass pitch. Grass will give you a stronger playing surface, so where budgets
09:48allow, maybe look at a weed and feed. If you have any more money left, we can look at top dressing
09:56or repairing any damaged areas from the end of last season. If you've got any slight undulations,
10:01we can look at addressing to get these levels up to scratch. If money stretches, then we can look at,
10:08once you've done that full vertigrain, put an application of sport sand across the whole pitch,
10:13which will help the pitch drain better.
10:21Again, I think we have to take each pitch in isolation, have a look at your budget, what can
10:27you afford. Aeration is one of the most important factors that any grassroots pitch
10:34should be looking to achieve, whether that's a vertigrain, slitting, etc.
10:41We're all after a free draining pitch.
10:45Top dressing, if the budget isn't there to top dress the whole pitch, then maybe you look at
10:50isolated areas, any dips that need bringing up, any thin areas on the pitch where you haven't got
10:56much grass, then you put a bit of seed in and top dress. If you can't afford to top dress or
11:01sand the whole pitch, just treat isolated areas. Weed killing, I'd say that's as important as
11:10aeration because you want a pitch that's full of grass really, not weeds. Weeds are shallow rooted
11:17and they'll kick out and they will perform poorly. A well-rooted grass pitch will drain better,
11:24play better and perform better. So where budget dictates, aeration is key. And number two, I'd look
11:33at a weed and feed spray. You can get a contractor who'll do a weed and feed spray, your weeds will
11:39die off and your grasses will thrive then with the fertilizer that they can put in the mix. It's
11:44not expensive. And then you go down then to top dressing. Again, that's down to budget. If you
11:49can't afford to top dress the whole pitch, then go for it. But if not, just look at isolated
11:54areas, which are dips, undulations or any thinner areas. That's the way I would go anyway.
12:08That's a good question. There are machines, there are ride-on mowers that
12:14cut, they collect the grass and they mulch. So I'd be looking for a machine that does both
12:19because during the summer months, for example, as long as you're cutting it regularly and
12:24you're only taking a little bit off the plant, it's okay to let the plant fly because this will
12:29feed itself back into the system, which is beneficial for the pitch. When the grass gets
12:35too long, then you want to cut and collect. You don't want to cut and let it lie everywhere.
12:39So there are machines that do both. I would go for this type of machine. Also a match week,
12:45for example, is really nice presentation leading up to a game, day before a game to cut and collect.
12:52So you can mark the pitch out a lot easier then and you have a nice presentation for the game.
12:56It's very difficult to mark a pitch out if you've cut the grass and left the grass lying all over
13:00the pitch. So these machines do exist. I think they do one in three options. So have a look,
13:06have a Google and you'll find a mower that does both. Petrol or diesel, that's personal choice,
13:13I think. All my machines in the stadium are petrol because I don't like sitting behind the
13:17diesel machine because I don't like the things they give off. But then you have to look at the
13:22cost of diesel over petrol, which is the cheapest personal choice. I probably, if I was a club,
13:28go for the cheapest option, which is petrol is cheaper than diesel at the moment, I think,
13:31isn't it? But that's personal choice. Each mower will give you an option. So that's down to yourself.
13:38Hope that's OK.
13:46I think you're better off looking for somebody local to you. It's probably cheaper.
13:51You're looking for somebody who's reputable. If you're looking for a top dressing,
13:56you want something that's screened, i.e. so it's got no large stones, no large bits of debris in it
14:02so it can spread better. That's something like a sports sand as well. You don't want to use
14:09builder's sand and you don't want to use sharp sand because these don't do not drain properly
14:14and they're not fit for sports pitches. So have a look what's local to you. Again,
14:18use search engines. Delivery will be cheaper if it's local. And have a shop around for best price, guys.