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No Corners Cut at Groundsman Awareness Day

A wide range of figures were at Devon County Football Association HQ last Wednesday 6th June, as we held the ‘Total Pitch Care Groundsman Awareness Day’, an event for all our clubs and their groundsman to be educated on the latest machinery to keep their grounds at a high standard.

The evening ran from 6pm to 9pm and was designed for groundsman at clubs to get their hands on pitch care equipment and machinery, plus an opportunity to speak to the County and guest speakers to see how they can maintain their football pitch.

Groundsmen from around the County attended, with a number of our professional clubs making the trip to Newton Abbot.

During the evening there were demonstrations of the machinery from Masons Kings, domestic turf machinery dealers in the South West, plus Pitch Advisor from IOG (Institute of Groundsman) Simon Johnson delivered a presentation on how to keep pitches in the best possible condition.

2017 and early 2018 had to be one of the worst times for weather in the County for many years, therefore, we also had Dr Noel McKenzie from Rigby Taylor to give his knowledge on how to keep pitches playable throughout the season. Finally, Lee Kirk from Masons Kings introduced the Total Pitch Care Packages and talked about the best machinery to improve pitch quality.

CEO of Devon FA, Paul Morrison, was on hand to tell clubs how the County can help fund and support our clubs who were interested in the machinery, he added; “This was a superb evening for all our clubs to gather some vital information on how to maintain pitch quality in Devon.

“It’s no secret pitches were worn and torn during the winters months due to the bad weather, so we thought this event would go some way to helping clubs understand some key points.

“We want to thank our Clubs, Chrissie Amphlett & Lee Kirk from Masons Kings, Simon Johnson from IOG and Noel McKenzie from Rigby Taylor for their contribution to the night.”


Many grassroots and professional clubs attended the evening, Paul A’Lee of Twyford Spartans FC, a grassroots club in the East of Devon said; “I very much enjoyed the evening at Coach Road.

“Noel's presentation was excellent and very informative. I must also say the staff of Mason Kings were excellent.”

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