Muddy Pitch

A pitch which has been worn, with limited or no grass coverage in some or many areas, with exposed soil being the surface on which a game is played.

This is primarily caused by overuse (see Carrying Capacity) of an area, combined with inadequate and/or incorrect maintenance inputs (especially when carried out under unsuitable ground conditions) and lack of repair and renovation activities.

Maintaining a muddy pitch: In most cases it is advisable to keep machinery, especially ride-on machines and tractors, off a wet muddy pitch; the reason being that the soil will be squashed together, causing it to become compacted and the surface of the pitch will be smeared which will seal the surface and further reduce any drainage capability.

If some work needs to be carried out, then vigorous hand forking to open up the surface to help water to try and drain away and also to get air into the surface to help dry it slightly. The application of sand by hand (from a wheelbarrow) will help to dry the surface quicker than if left alone.

The use of a wheelbarrow will cause compaction and smearing from its wheel but the disadvantage of this might be subjectively considered as 20% whilst the benefit from the forking and sanding might be considered as 80% so the positives far outweigh the negative impacts.

If a pitch needs to be cut under unsuitable ground conditions, then the use of a pedestrian rotary mower would most likely be the most appropriate equipment to use.

For a full-sized football pitch this might take a single person 2.5-3.5 hours, whilst for a rugby 3-4.5 hours, depending upon the size of the cutting width, speed of operation and if a grass box is used or not.

In this type of situation, it would be beneficial to ensure that two pedestrian mowers are available, so the work could be readily completed within about 2 hours at most. Whilst this is significantly longer than with a ride-on or tractor operated mower, it will prevent undue machinery damage being done to the soil and surface.