Post
by RobYeltz » 30 Dec 2014, 17:41
I've done some (very limited) pitch maintenance in the past having worked in the sport and leisure industry for a while. I worked at a place that was an athletics venue as well as football and we had one week to do whatever essential work was done as the football season ended and the athletics season began. The verti draining, top soiling, seeding, fertilizing, re turfing etc was done during that week as was the marking out of the athletics on the field. It was chaos, but needed good organisation and planning. During the athletics season the pitch was still regularly cut, fed, and of course watered daily. It was also very expensive, but it helped the football pitch during the season. We had two teams use the pitch, who played at home on alternate Saturdays and they played probably once a month each during midweek. Regular work was done on the pitch of course during the season and most importantly after each game - replacing divots etc.
The issue really is, does the extra income from the other teams using the pitch cover the damage being done to it? I see other teams like Tividale for example who generate a load of money through their social club. (Their average gate is around 100). We have 400 plus folk attend a game on average how many of them use the bar before, during or after the game to help the club generate money? At Tividale there isn't a local pub on the estate so the social club has become a regulars pub, which has people in it generating money every day of the week. They don't spend masses on the pitch but I know they have a bigger squad than us, and they're squad size (and quality) certainly helped them gain promotion last season. At Halesowen this doesn't happen, the amount of pubs nearby and The Yeltz Bar prevent this from happening. I know the James Grove Lounge can be hired out for functions etc but how often does this happen and how much is generated from it?
Fortunately Chris and Selfie have done a great job in gaining additional advertising this season which of course helps a lot. I guess if more people came to The Grove, spent more in the ground then there may be a possibility we wouldn't need extra teams playing on the pitch as revenue. I agree though that more expertise is needed at the ground. Ant is a top bloke and the volunteers who helped him in the summer did a great job, but volunteers (in my opinion) should be a bonus - not a necessity. We would not have played any games pre-season at The Grove without the volunteers - this should never happen again. Just an opinion of course.
Proud owner of THREE 'Georges'
The artist previously known as AVFCYELTZ
