Playing surface works

As part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring we have great facilities here at the Blue Cross, work has been carried out through the summer to repair and improve the playing surface.

A lot goes into looking after a football pitch and we’re thankful to Tony, our Head Groundsman and his team who have done a fantastic job in making the hallowed turf at Weston Park not only look amazing, but also a more enjoyable one to play on!

Just to give you an idea of what we’ve done, here’s a little summary:

• Scarify the goal mouth at the south end – this is because it get’s less sunlight down there. It removes unwanted organic matter that impedes the growth of a nice thick grass
• Weed & feed the whole pitch – it’s as obvious as it sounds! I kills unwanted weeds, while also feeding the grass encouraging growth
• Over seeding – we do this using a “disc seeder” to distribute seed, particularly to the more bare areas to thicken the playing surface
• Selective weed killer – our top man Tony inspected the turf to see what, if any, weeds are growing back. If he spots something, he will identify it and select the appropriate weed killer to persuade it to leave!
• We’ve also done some work to our warm up area behind the North goal. Similar to the main pitch, the area has been fertilised, weeded, seeded and leveled to make it a decent area for warming up or down before and after games, which ensure the playing surface isn’t subject to some of the harsh twisting and turning warm up routines that can speed up deterioration of the pitch.
• In November, Tony will “shock-wave” the pitch, which is a process that involves cutting thin, angled tracks across the pitch to de-compact the soil a little and help with drainage. This will help alleviate some of the excess water problems we’ve had in recent years.

So if you see the pitch looking good or have the honour of playing on it this year and you see Tony about, be sure to show him some appreciation – he works hard and of course most importantly does it for the love as one of the Blue Cross’ dedicated volunteers