Lee Williams at multiple sports venues, tennis, cricket and football on December 7, 2021

This article appeared in Issue 99 of Pitchcare Magazine

West Herts Sports Club is located in the heart of Watford and is an ambitious club. As part of the land was sold for condominiums, they correctly invested their profits in their facilities. Lee Williams met with the club's site manager George Mills to personally discuss and understand what improvements they can make and what this means for the club's future.

George Mills joined the club as a young man 11 years ago. This time, he made some major improvements to the playing field and saw some major changes in the facilities. He first talked to me about the conditions he faced in the beginning. "Before I arrived, the two main complaints about West Herts were that you couldn't see the ticket gate from the clubhouse-it was not defined; it looked like a big field and the ball would not bounce. The bowlers would complain that they were doing their best They went, but they couldn’t pass the ball to a height above the knee."

"After some investigation, we found that we had a big thatch problem and a clean root break two and a half inches below the square."

"We first thought of the idea of ​​digging a phalanx, but this was my first year of digging a phalanx, and then it did not perform well for a few years. I think this is too risky for me... No "don't want to risk losing your job!" In the first year, we saw some major improvements, just lower the height of the wicket a little bit and do some basic exercises, and suddenly, the players became happier. "

"This allows me to more elegantly ask the club to introduce some more extensive equipment, allowing me to carry out more serious renovations every year. The first renovation I did was to walk a short distance behind the club's ripper. Time-I had to spread four tons of Ongar loam with a trolley and shovel, and then use SISIS Trulute to level the surface. With the continuous loosening of the soil with Koro and aeration every season, we managed to alleviate the root fracture and we now have some good Penetration of the roots."

Since the sale of the land, George has had the opportunity to invest heavily in the playing field and the machinery that maintains them. Working with the club, they ensure that every penny is used wisely to ensure the future of the site. "We have now completed a three-year project. The first thing we did was to replace the ground shed because it basically collapsed. We used to have to park the equipment in the shed to avoid all roof leaks , So they will not drip overnight. Once the shed is built, I take a mechanical course so that we can repair and maintain our equipment indoors; then we can replace a few large pieces of equipment. The most important thing for me What I bought was the John Deere 3038R tractor, which was a complete game changer for us. It allowed us to connect larger tools so that we can now do most of the renovations in-house. In addition, We also bought a Poweroll Excel roller, Jacobsen TR3, Trimax ProCut, Cushman belt leveler, SISIS Quadraplay and John Deere X350 with Astro Brush."

"We installed a new 6-sided 3G stadium with dimensions of 26 x 42 meters and a new screed parking lot next to it to ensure that we make the most of the available land for football, cricket or some form of sports Occupies every inch of land on it. A new cricket goal net was installed, and a small door and window in the square was sewn with SIS grass. This helped keep the door more stable and allowed us to play more games."

George also invested part of the money in a new automatic irrigation system, which helped him get rid of hoses and sprinklers, saving some much-needed time for other tasks. “We have installed Hunter pop-up sprinklers around the cricket and tennis courts. They are controlled by the Hunter Centralus irrigation management platform. The system currently feeds a 30,000-liter water storage tank through the main pipeline, but the plan is to have more funds Punch a hole when it is available. We now spend less money on the water with the irrigation system than with hoses. Instead of watering the water all day as in the past, starting early in the morning, allowing a lot of water evaporated by the sun, I can now Setting ten minutes at a time at night allows me to better control the amount of water in our app. Another thing is that I can control the sprinkler on my phone, which is cool."

Many teams use the club’s facilities, and George must make sure they can adapt, while providing the best possible venue. “There are six men’s teams playing cricket here, and I also consulted on other venues where they play near the borough. We have 12 football teams, from kids to men, all of them are from West Herts Football Club. Part. In addition, we have one of the most successful youth cricket facilities in the county. This year we accommodated 120 cricket devices on 15 wickets. Mixed courts, we install on the edge of the square instead of in the men’s game The field has changed the rules of the game. It allows us to hammer it with children’s games and allows more wickets to be used for men’s cricket matches. One advantage of this site is that it is very long, so the first team has nine wickets they can Use, every league throughout the season provides them with a brand new wicket."

George (center) and this team-Robbie Sweeting (left), Anthony Mailer (right) and Don't forget Hunter

George introduced me to the maintenance details of the wicket, tennis court and outfield area. "We are proud of the wickets now. At the end of the season, we will always make deep scratches to remove as much thatch as possible. I tend to process the seeds a lot to give us some density and always use pure rye. Mixture. Then we put ten bags of Ongar loam in each small door. In November, we will deep drill them, and the main reason we use it instead of vertical drainage is that I realize that the root is broken. The lift provided by the deep drill It’s smaller, so I think it can help us get through root fractures with less ups and downs. I think it’s one of the few things you can get good depth on the cricket court. This year, I’m “I’m going to mix it One point, then bring Toro Procore 648 and use the tip of a pencil to blend the root depth. "

"Once the grass is overgrown in winter, we will use Dennis G860 to mow once a month at a height of 20 mm. I found that the rough grass entering is much less. Depending on the weather conditions, we will go to the competition at the end of February and early March. We may do a lot less preseason games than other clubs, but I think when you have more than a hundred games in a season and you are rolling all summer, you need to be careful. I want to make sure I don’t roll it over and kill Die it."

"We started preparing a ticket gate two weeks before the game. We started using Poweroll Excel very early. Its weight starts from 1.8 tons, but if you ballast, you can reach 2.7 tons. This summer, we will keep it At 1.8 tons. Roll before the season, and then we increase it to 2.2 during the game season. We will use the Dennis G860 and the vertical cutting device in the old SISIS Lawnman to thin the ticket gates. I particularly found the use of vertical cutting machines in different directions It works well. When we finish this process and enter a week later, we will start tailing on the rolling. The height of the cut will gradually decrease, and by the weekend, I will very severely reduce it to 4 mm, because I found it It really made the color popular, and we got a beautiful straw color."

I mentioned to George that more venue staff will leave more grass on the ticket gates to help with recovery, if this is something he has considered. "They are not wrong. Our approach to wickets is to use one in the first team game, and then in the next week, we will use it in the second team game, and then put a lot of youth games on it, and then re- Sowing at both ends, it will not be used again that season. We also have a good density (even 4 mm), so instead of other clubs will reserve more turf on it, and then return to the wicket in this season At some point, we hope to use the wicket before it is destroyed, and we won’t use it again until next season."

The maintenance of the tennis court is similar to the ticket gate, but slightly different. "We rolled them before the season. I tried to use the exact same grass mixture and the same loam. I found that the two work very well together. The main difference is the height of the cut, which used to be about 12 mm to help protect them. A member decided to point out that when Wimbledon cut their court to 9mm, all this changed, and this is where we are now. It made the members happy, so I chose my fight-they just dressed slightly Faster results. We don’t tend to roll and cut the pitch vertically like squares, because grass coverage is crucial, especially the amount of usage they get. We have to do the right thing because we have players who are qualified to try to do this It’s always good to take part in the Wimbledon tennis tournament and come here to train. It’s always good to get praise from these people.”

Shed before and after

"In summer, depending on the weather, we use a Jacobsen TR3 triple mower to cut the field at a height of 13-15 mm every week. In winter, we use Trimax ProCut on the back of the tractor. The height of our football cut is 26mm. Spring is slow. Release fertilizer, apply slow-release fertilizer in autumn."

The club is located in the center of the town and is often visited by local urban fox populations. "We have a resident badger and fox, but we just need to live with them as much as we can. The worst thing is to remove the fox shit from the playing field every morning. Other than that, they don’t have to do much if they don’t. Excavation work. I have a dog named Hunter who lives with me on the site, so every night, I take him out for a walk around the site. It will help scare the foxes for a while-and it makes them think twice when digging around. Then go on."

Since starting his National Vocational Qualification Level 4, George has become more aware of the club’s environmental impact on the surrounding environment and the daily work of ground staff to help improve their impact. "We have changed from hating foxes and badgers to accepting that they are part of our environment. We have bird boxes everywhere on site. A screed parking lot was installed, but after I saw it installed, I can’t guarantee it because of the current ecology. Friendly nature. As a landlocked country, we do not have available space to compost the debris we took away from the site during the renovation work, but we try our best to unload it to any local distribution. In the construction of new 3G venues and parking lots, and with the city When the council cooperated, we asked if we could use a piece of land adjacent to us. This is one of the few unaffected land in Watford. It was used to pile up a bund from our recent work, and then plant wildflowers. They agreed. . We will continue to look for any method that can help improve the local environment."

John Deere 3038R tractor with front loader John Deere X350 with Astro brush Jacobsen TR3 Triple mower Dennis G860 Dennis Premier SISIS Quadraplay SISIS Spiker SISIS Rotorake TM1000 Trimax ProCut Cushman Belt top dressing machine Poweroll Excel

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