B football club based in Bristol, England, committed to delivering the highest quality playing surfaces for its players. To achieve this, the club continuously seeks innovative solutions to ensure both precision and efficiency in their grounds maintenance.
PITCH & LINE MARKERS
Bristol City FC Ensures High Standards with Turf Tank
ristol City FC is a professional
B football club based in Bristol, England, committed to delivering the highest quality playing surfaces for its players. To achieve this, the club continuously seeks innovative solutions to ensure both precision and efficiency in their grounds maintenance.
CHALLENGE Maintaining high-quality pitches at Bristol City FC was labor-intensive and time-consuming. With the team facing staffing shortages, they needed a solution to reduce the strain on their workforce while ensuring precision.
SOLUTION In the summer of 2023, Bristol City FC decided to automate their line marking process with a Turf
Tank robot which significantly increased productivity while delivering high precision.
No Compromise on Quality: Perfect Lines & Efficiency Joe Berry, Head Groundsman at Bristol City FC had previously relied on traditional methods for line marking their pitches, a labor-intensive process requiring substantial time and manpower. As the team found themselves shortstaffed, it became clear they needed a more efficient way to keep up with their growing responsibilities:
“ We were a member of staff down, and we find it hard to recruit, so I had to come up with more creative ways of potentially getting an extra staff member.”
They initially explored other robotic solutions, but found issues with signal coverage. This impacted the precision of the line marking. For a professional club like Bristol City FC, quality is non-negotiable, and ensuring the lines are accurate is critical. That’ s why they decided to give Turf Tank a go. With its local base station, Turf Tank ensures lines are within 1 cm accuracy, meeting the club’ s high standards for pitch quality.
Once the Turf Tank robot was integrated into their operations, the impact on productivity was immediate.
“ By getting a robot, it freed up staff that otherwise would have been marking, to do other jobs.”- Joe Berry, Head Groundsman at Bristol City FC
58 GroundskeepingJournal. co. uk | May / June 2025