5.2 Not doing an activity
5.2.21 Tractor / Power unit
If football pitch maintenance relies entirely on the use of pedestrian operated machinery, in contrast with the use of tractor powered activities, what is the most likely impact this would have on a management programme?
Due to the size of a football (adult) pitch and the heavy-duty nature of a lot of equipment, the use of a tractor is realistically an essential item of equipment to have for efficient maintenance work to take place.
Some activities such as mechanical decompaction to depth or surface removal cannot be adequately undertaken without the use of tractor operated equipment. With increasing pressures on staff resources, and often the unavailability of suitably qualified or trained groundskeepers, the need for increased mechanisation is, arguably, continuing to increase.
5.2 Summary
The picture that is being presented here is of a ‘pitch’ that, if not suitably maintained, will clearly not be suitable for the playing of football, or at least not for any competitive game.
Now that we have looked at some of the negative consequences that might arise from not carrying out the activities, or carrying them out in an ineffective way, we can now think about the opposite: why the activities are needed to contribute to the desired quality standard.
We have already touched on this in Module 3.2, but we are now wanting to provide some more detail and extend this further.