Football Pitch Annual Staffing Requirements

How many hours does it take to maintain a football pitch?

This will depend on the number of games which are planned, as well as those which actually take place, the soil type and drainage potential, the current weather and soil conditions and the geographic location of the pitch.

A useful starting guide can be given to provide a range of inputs for different expectations from play.

a) Minimal inputs to possibly reflect uncertainty over work requirements, limited games, often on heavier soil type which typically results in a high number of match cancellations; the surface may have considerable patches of weeds, areas of moss at certain times of the year, may have some depressions and undulations on the pitch, the sward coverage will be good at the start of the season but readily wears out in the centre strip of the pitch, with goal mouths soon becoming worn and bare; the touchlines soon wear into muddy patches.

Grass coverage is still reasonable on the wings for much of the season.

Pitch preparation will typically be mowing once a week and then marking out on a Friday before weekend games.

Selected overmarking of worn lines, rather than a full overmark, may take place on a Sunday morning.

Ground conditions often prevent maintenance activities taking place if serious damage is not to be caused to the surface and underlying soil structure.

A pitch will typically sustain one or two adult games per week at most, but only during suitable weather conditions, so annual game numbers with a minimal satisfactory playing experience is limited to maybe 25 – 50 games at most. 150 – 250 hours.

b) Good level of inputs to produce a good standard for much of the season, although extra hours of mowing or brushing might be put in so as to aid presentation, although without any significant material difference to the playing quality or experience.

Grass coverage will be retained for longer during the season, and weeds may not be as dominant as in a lesser maintained surface. Grass cover in the goalmouths will typically wear fairly early on in the season, although on freer draining sandier soils, and for those in the south of the country, grass coverage will be retained for longer.

Overmarking of a pitch will be carried out at the beginning of each day that a game is played.

The playing surface will be suitably consistent for the majority of players at lower to intermediate tiers of play, with a pitch typically sustain two or three adult games per week (∼70-105 games per season), although if pitches are located on clayey soils then during wet spells match cancellations due to waterlogging will be typical.

High end pitch surfaces could also be achieved within the range of maintenance inputs given here, especially where usage was more limited, to maybe one game per week for much of the season, or where school children are the main users an increase in usage of 6-10 games per week might also be achievable.
350 – 700 hours.

c) High level of inputs to maintain higher end pitches meeting the requirements of higher tier leagues and semi-professional leagues, or high-end training pitches, but excluding elite professional pitches where a team of ground staff will be employed (See ‘Reinforced Pitch Maintenance’).

A significant variation in the inputs will arise at this type of pitch as these will typically range from very good school pitches to limited use pitches for the very good clubs wishing to protect their main pitch by paying special attention to detail to try and imitate the more elite pitches which are frequently seen on televised matches. 700 – 1200 hours+.