Module 2:

2.3 Assessing Pitch Quality

2.3.8 Dynamic Pitch Management

1   Sometimes, you might hear the term dynamic pitch management. This means that a club will often plan for a gradual decrease of pitch quality as the season progresses.

This is an approach that is quite realistic, will often happen in practice especially for most grassroot and lower league clubs. This approach can also ensure that the required number of games can be played on the pitch, whilst achieving a pre-stated level of quality, so everyone is aware of what to expect at different points of the year.

2   As an example, it might be that the minimum overall pitch quality is grade 2, but at the start of the season it is fairly easy to maintain many of the performance standards as would appear within the grade 4 values.

After one to two months of use (depending when the season started and the extent of use) it is allowed to gradually degrade to a grade 3, at which it stays for a further 2-months and then is maintained at no less than grade 2 until the end of the season. In practice the end of April might degrade to a Grade 1, whilst the beginning of May might be a Grade 1 to slightly into the Ungraded category.

During the renovation process the pitch would typically and initially be at grade 1 or ungraded for many of the performance standards, but gradually increase to maybe a Grade 3 for the end of the month. As the results of the renovation develop over June and July, the pitch would again revert to its starting position of mainly grade 4.

3   The process can be represented by the following graphic:

4   If the pitch was actually mostly a grade 2 pitch at the start of the season, especially regards live ground cover (with this being between 70% and 79%), then the number of game playable on the pitch would be reduced if the standard was not to drop below the overall grade 2 quality rating.

5   This dynamic approach to managing pitch quality, along with acceptable (gradual) degradation rates, can help a grounds manager to better utilise resources. It also allows coaches and players to have a better understanding of the realistic expectations from pitch performance given available finances and planned usage.