IOG 2000 Fund – overview of investments

FOUR PROJECTS WHICH LED THE WAY

The first four projects to benefit from the IOG 2000 Fund were carried out by the STRI, Royal Holloway College (University of London) and Elmwood College, Fife.

PROJECT ONE

DOCTOR ALAN GANGE, senior lecturer in environmental biology at Royal Holloway, carried out a comprehensive trial into the use of biostimulants on football pitches.

The extensive findings were revealed in a report given to groundsmen at an IOG conference and the results are available through the IOG.

PROJECT TWO

DOCTOR STEPHEN BAKER of the STRI carried out research into the use of rubber crumb on sports turf rootzones.

The extensive results led to new information which answered the questions frequently asked by groundsmen looking for new ways of reinforcing sports turf.

PROJECT THREE

DOCTOR STEPHEN LAWSON of the STRI carried out comprehensive trials on the use of nitrogen fertilsers on football pitches.

Because nitrogen comes in so many forms, the research revealed the various options open to football groundsmen and what results could be achieved by the application of various products.

PROJECT FOUR

GEOFF BRERETON, senior lecturer at Elmwood College, Fife, looked at developing distance learning packages for grounds staff.

The college has developed distance learning packages for both football and cricket with rugby and bowls packages under development. Candidates will be able to study the related theory to their chosen sport at their own pace.

SPACE-AGE TECHNOLOGY

ONE OF THE most interesting projects to be revealed in the last few years has been electrokinesis.

Doctor John Lamont-Black of Newcastle University and his colleagues used technology from the construction industry involving driving water through materials using electric fields.

They applied this to sports surfaces and the results have shown that it is possible for water to be moved from a sports surface using insulated electric cables placed under pitches.

Space-age technology made possible in the sports turf arena by innovative research.

Update available here; Electrokinetic Turf Management – The perfect playing surface

ARTIFICIAL SURFACES

The IOG 2000 Fund sponsored an Engineering Doctorate Programme at Cranfield University’s Centre for Sports Surfaces, together with the government’s Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC). 

Andrew McLeod, former head groundsman at the Royal Hospital School, Ipswich, has an MSc is Sports Surface Technology from Cranfield University. He joined the project in September 2003.

The project’s role is to fill knowledge gaps in maintenance techniques and strategies in artificial turf, and provide operators of artificial turf surfaces with technical and financial information that will assist in decision making.

Research has been carried out into the appropriate techniques for maintaining surfaces and the effects of existing maintenance practices on synthetic turf, sand infill and rubber shock pads.

Key outcomes from the project will include:

• Strategies and techniques for maintaining artificial surfaces.
• A fundamental understanding of the role of maintenance in preventing surfaces from deterioration from usage and the environment.
• Budgets of the costs and benefits of owning and maintaining artificial turf pitches correctly – including life-cycle costs which will look at how pitch life – before replacement, can be extended.

GRANTS TO STUDENTS

THE IOG 2000 FUND has made it possible for grounds care staff to work towards higher education qualifications, including Masters Degrees at Cranfield University.

Colleges have also benefited. Reaseheath College in Cheshire has taken groups of students on research trips to Spanish golf courses, using money applied for from the 2000 Fund.