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BEST PRACTICE

ELITE SPORT

By Greg Rhodes Feature writer

BEST PRACTICE

CODE OF CONDUCT Excellence is the only level of provision BT Murrayfield’s IOG award-winning rugby turf care team understands

ilver Saturday at Scottish Rugby’s home, BT Murrayfield stadium, saw the men’s and women’s grassroots game culminate in six finals across its pitches. Testimony to Scottish Rugby’s proud claim to have one of the finest pitches in the UK, the April-end action day was business as usual for head groundsman Jim Dawson and his five-strong team. Everything from grassroots schools rugby through to domestic cup finals and international fixtures were staged at the iconic stadium during the 2017/18 season. Whatever the level of competition though, the groundscare team delivers matchless provision and as proof, three years on from its last IOG award accolade, it is again celebrating the mark of excellence bestowed on it by industry peers – this time the Kubota Professional Rugby Football Union Grounds Team of the Year Award. After landing two IOG awards in 2015 – Jim was named the Alex R Millar Groundsman’s Groundsman of the Year and he and his team also collected the Rugby Union Grounds Team of the Year – was it easier in 2018? “We’re old hands at this,” says Jim, “but were still white as a sheet and terrified on the night as we were up against some tough competition.” The 183 hours of use that the International Desso GrassMaster stadium pitch withstood across amateur, professional and international competitions last season were

“We didn’t need any special pre-match preparations… the pitch is so resilient”

set to rise further, to 235 hours this year, and intensity levels apply ever more pressure to deliver the consistently high quality that players expect. “Silver Saturday was a hectic day, with rugby finals from 10am to 8pm,” says Alex Latto, assistant head groundsman, who’s in charge of the stadium surface, “but we didn’t need any special pre-match preparations – just divoting between games – as the pitch is so resilient.” This month (June) the Spice Girls are due to play there to an audience expected to top 50,000, with 20,000 audience members on the pitch. “The contractor and house staff will strip off the surface and kill the turf to prepare for the decking laid over the pitch, and after the event we will re-sow with diploid seed – overseeding with tetraploid in winter,” Alex explains.

NEW RECRUITS

Jim carries the air of unshakeability, a quality vital in this year-round cauldron of activity on- and off-pitch. Probably one of his toughest tasks fell to him in 2016 – recruiting a new groundsperson. The new recruit was Joanne Curran, who arrived from a horticultural position at Edinburgh Zoo. “We had no notion that we wanted to take on a woman,” he remembers, “but now Joanne’s on the team, we can see how her presence improves the dynamic.” She’s not the first female in turf care at BT Murrayfield. Heather McKinnan, who later moved to Edinburgh’s Oriam national performance centre for sport, was there in the 1990s. Jim says that Joanne is the perfect fit and pulls her weight physically: “We share the same humour,” he says. “Joanne does have her own changing room but, apart from that, there’s no concessions. Everyone is equal. We don’t

MACHINERY MATTERS MT Murrayfield turf care equipment includes: • Manitou forklift • Three Dennis G860 mowers • Three Allett RM34 mowers • Ransomes Jacobsen Tri-King ride-on mower • Three Ransomes Jacobsen Parkway ride-on mowers • Ransomes Jacobsen Spider • New Holland Boomer 25 compact tractor • Iseki 325 compact tractor • Iseki 545 tractor • Three Stihl leafblowers • Stihl strimmer • Husqvarna strimmer • Two Ezgo buggies, flatbed buggy and medical buggy (for carrying off injured players) • Cushman blue flatbed buggy • Three Flymos • Hako road sweeper • Raycam UniRake, with four independently controlled wheels • Hardy 6m boom sprayer • Toro ProCore • Aera tractor-mounted seeder • Wiedenmann Terra Spike Testing the pitch with the Clegg Impact Hammer