Module 1:

What is a football pitch?

1.3.3

Pitch details

If we continue to take the same approach as in the previous exercise for the motor vehicle, we can look at some of the finer technical detail to help develop how a football pitch can be even better described.

Can you identify the three features that have been highlighted from this picture of a pitch profile?

There will be quite a few features that are not readily noticeable, and these will become better understood as you gain a deeper understanding of groundskeeping and from studying more of this course, as well as other courses.

Hopefully these are the same as our three suggestions.

Comments for the corect answer

We can now add the following to our list of football pitch features:

9. Grass height (or Grass length, or to include all vegetation it would be Sward height).
10. Root depth.
11. Earthworms or more practically it would be Earthworm activity (on the sward surface).

You have now identified and been made aware of at least eleven features that can be used in describing a football pitch.

Expanding a range of different features helps to provide not just a more detailed description of a football pitch, but also provides the start of a framework that can be used to determine overall pitch quality.

Before we arrive at a position where we can provide a realistic and representative assessment of the pitch quality, we do need to develop the features into performance standards, but more of that shortly.

What is a performance standard?

This is an indicator that is relevant and can be clearly defined with a readily measurable parameter.

Performance standards are used to help manage expectations, which can be very useful in groundskeeping because these can set the limits and constraints that can be placed on a football pitch for playability and the expected playing experience that can be provided by a particular type of pitch when maintained in an appropriate way.

Module progress: 60%