Chelsea Football Club’s pitch at Stamford Bridge and state of the art training facility at Cobham in Surrey are maintained by a team of 16 led by head groundsman Jason Griffin with assistant head groundsmen Kevin Fowler (at Stamford Bridge) and John Eves (at Cobham), and the help of an equally large team of John Deere machines.
Jason Griffin, who was appointed head groundsman five years ago after being on the Chelsea groundstaff for over 15 years, arranged the purchase of the machines through area sales manager Ray Bennett of Golf & Turf Equipment of Wokingham, one of the UK’s largest, and oldest established, independent John Deere groundscare dealers.
The recently completed 152 acre site at Cobham features 32 grass pitches and two all-weather playing surfaces, one inside an inflatable dome. This is one of the biggest professional football training grounds in Europe, maintained by the biggest John Deere fleet in the Premiership and Football League.
This fleet currently features four 2653B triplex cylinder mowers, four fairway mowers including a new 3225C model, six E-Gator electric utility vehicles, one HPX 4x4 Gator, an Aercore 1500 aerator, plus X740 and X748 diesel lawn tractors equipped with rotary mower decks and 580H high-tip materials collection systems.
There are also four compact tractor models including a 2520 with front loader, a 4410, a 4520 and a 4710, plus a 6210SE utility tractor on low ground pressure turf tyres. In addition to general materials handling and hauling duties, between them the tractors are used with the Aercore aerator, two sizes of Verti-Drain, a Verti-Top Vac on the outdoor synthetic pitch, a Trilo grass collector and a Vicon fertiliser spreader.
“John Deere equipment was recommended, and the board felt it was the best available on the market,” says Jason Griffin. “I’d hired in one or two of their machines in the past from Golf & Turf, so I already knew I wanted to use them, and the dealer provides us with full service and maintenance back-up, so we can be confident that the machines will always be working properly. Since I’ve been at Chelsea we’ve never had equipment as good as this, and it makes a big difference.”
Cobham’s assistant head groundsman John Eves adds: “The 2653Bs are lighter mowers, so we use these on all the training pitches across the site, cutting every day to 25mm during the growing season and then mostly every other day in winter. The larger five-gang fairway mowers are used on the areas around the pitches, cutting at the same height, but rarely on the pitches themselves.
“In winter, with the reduced cutting regime, we go over the pitches with a tractor-mounted brush which makes it easier to collect debris with the lawn tractors, which also cut the grass banks and tree lined areas throughout the year. The Gators are perfect for pulling trailers when we need to box off grass clippings, for example, in addition to being used as general runabouts throughout the year.”
February 2009
