Steve: ''Hi I'm Steve from Allett Mowers and today I'm with Terry who's the Head Groundsman here at
Brocton football ground in Stafford. So just tell me a bit about the football ground Terry; how long
have you been here?'' Terry: We've been here about 14 years it used to be the Staffordshire Police
sports ground'' Steve: ''Ok yeah''. Terry: We were derelict for
five years before we took it over. We've got a long a long lease on it and we've had
funds through the football foundation to build the structure here'' Steve: Fantastic.
So how many pitches and leagues have you got here? Terry: We've got two pitches there's three teams;
we have a first team that play in the Midland Football League which is
step six, we have an under 21 team which plays in the Midland under 21 division,
we've got an under 12 team they playing the Mid-Staffs Junior League and also there are a
couple of other teams junior teams that play on the second pitch on a Sunday'''. Steve:
''Fantastic so you've got your work cut out then? A lot of preparation to be done. So we're with
Terry today with the Allett C34 and he's using the Verticut cartridge. So what's made you look
at the Verticut unit?'' Terry: ''Well we've got a lot of the thatch and the lateral growth out with
a quad rake and now we just want this to finish it off before we get the rest of it out before it's
re-seeded''. Steve: ''Ok yes so we're here in April so we're just preparing now for
the pitches now for the new season''. Terry: ''It's been done the end of next week''. Steve:
''Yeah fantastic so I believe you've got a history as well with the groundsman of the year
award?''. Terry ''I've been there a few times yes I won it once and I've been placed a few other
times as well''. Steve: ''Ok yeah so how close have you been placing over the past few years?''.
Terry: '' I finished highly commended three times which is top four, third
twice, second once and I've won it once''. Steve: ''Brilliant so yeah you're considered
well in the groundsman area then? Terry: ''I don't know about that.
We've got an Allett Buffalo; the one without the cassette'' Steve: ''Yes the dedicated cylinder
mower''. Terry: We've got an Allett 34 inch cylinder mower and we think they're excellent''.
Steve: ''Have you had that for a few years now have you?'' Terry: ''Yeah we've
we've had it I think about four or five years I'm very pleased with it.
We cut the pitches whenever sometimes it's two three times a week in a really heavy going
season but usually down to once a week or twice a week''. Steve: ''Ok yeah I believe you've got
the rotary as well have you? Terry: ''Yeah as well for cleanup that's very good''. Steve: ''Brilliant
okay so we'll get the verti-cut out then and we'll take some videos and see what we're removing''
So we've just done some verticutting with Terry so we've done two widths
of the pitch as you can see and what we've taken out is almost a full box of light
debris. So we've got a lot of thatch in here. We've cut a lot of the horizontal growth as well
and also lifted some of the horizontal ready for cutting next time. So it's all light bulky
material that you don't want in there especially this time of year when you are over-seeding
and top dressing. So why do we use a verticut cartridge? So with the Allett verticut unit the
blades are spaced quite nicely close together and the speed that the cartridge is going at it very
cleanly lifts the material and throws that right to the back of the box so as you saw earlier with
the video from Terry we really filled that box just after two runs and what we are doing so
we are cutting the rhizomes and stolons so we're just trimming those back which then will encourage
new growth that will give you a more thicker grass sward as well and we're also lifting
the horizontal growth as well so as you can see here we've lifted a lot of growth there so when
we come past with the cylinder we will then trim that neatly and that lateral growth is something
you don't want in there as well especially on the football pitch and that will slow down your ball
speed and also take a lot of the the impact out for the bounce ball as well so cutting that out
will really improve the speed and also the bounce of the ball as well. So along with the lateral
growth and the rhizomes and stolons you'll also be helping with weeds as well so deterring those
so it will help cut those back and give them a hard time to stop them spreading and growing.