PITCH & LINE MARKERS
Eton College use the Quality of the Turf Tank One to Relieve Staff Pressure
A s far as jobs go , Eton College provides a unique challenge . As one of the most recognisable names in education with great historical significance , the school ’ s reputation from students to sports pitches is paramount .
Since May 2020 , Eton ’ s 38 winter sports pitches and 1,500 acres of land spanning the M4 all the way to 2012 Olympic venue Dorney Lake have been under the control of Grounds Manager Lee Marshallsay .
His tenure has coincided with the Covid pandemic , which brought to light the number of man-hours his team spent line marking and the fact something needed to be done about it .
For context , Lee has a team of thirty . Eleven are groundsmen , with two on the college ’ s golf course full time and another pair dedicated to line marking . Over the summer , the line marking duo spent six to seven weeks marking out football and rugby pitches for the commencement of the school year , and in November , Lee checked his Turf Keeper records to discover his team spent over 850 hours marking .
The man-hours and pressure involved in completing this task between terms had Lee looking for alternative options . Despite being initially sceptical of a robotic line maker , he eventually turned to Turf Tank . https :// turftank . com / en /
“ It was also about helping the team , so they didn ’ t feel under pressure all the time . With the robot , where it ’ s taken us
22 GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | May 2022