SPORT PITCHES
Maidstone Rugby’s grounds
chairman Bob Hayton
“I ‘shadowed’ my predecessor for a
couple of years before I took on the role
so I knew something about pitch care,
including the importance of correctly
timing certain maintenance routines,”
says Bob, who adds:
“The former grounds chairman – who
I actually work for and is a successful
local farmer and a great sponsor of the
club – achieved great improvements to
the pitches, and he impressed on me
that knowing when to do things and
when not is key to keeping the pitches
playable and presentable. I follow his
mantra of ‘the difference between a
good farmer and bad one can be just a
week; the trick is doing the right things
at the right time’.”
The three pitches are natural grass on
soil, on clay, “and while there is some
drainage, to be honest we are not sure
where they are and what state they are
in! The pitches are effectively ‘tiered’
on a sloping site next to a large car park
which means we get a lot of water run
off when it rains”.
In the past, this water has caused major
problems in terms of large patches
of ‘greasy’ or ‘soft’ ground. But now,
with Bob and his team of around eight
volunteers steadfastly applying lots of
sand in recent seasons complemented
by regular aeration, “thankfully the
surface water is nowhere near as bad
and it doesn’t stay on the surface too
long, either”.
He continues: “The pitches are
renovated each year (by Rigby Taylor)
with a concerted programme of deep
spiking, including Earthquaking,
and they have a lot of sand applied –
probably 30 tonnes over each pitch
each year.” Despite this, when there is
a lot of rainfall certain areas of certain
pitches do still have (smaller) puddles
so, says Bob, “we’re constantly aerating
to a depth of four inches and handforking
some areas then ‘topping’ up
the sand on patches. Problems like
these cannot be solved overnight, but
we are getting there”.
GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Summer 2020
35