Module 1:

What is a football pitch?

1.3.5

Describing performance features

Your next exercise is to have a think about the purpose of each feature and why it might be of use in contributing to looking after a football pitch.

If a feature has a relevant purpose and is able to have some figures or values added to it so it can be measured (which is something we will look at in the next module), then it could form a useful performance standard.

This could then be used by a groundskeeper to see how well their pitch is standing up to wear and tear, in contributing to an overall pitch quality grade and also to help judge how effective is the maintenance work that is being done on the pitch.

Use this printable sheet with the 26 features on, which you can download, and try and complete the purpose section.

Use just a short sentence, in most cases, to indicate why a particular feature might be of use in contributing to looking after a football pitch.

Try not to look at our completed suggestions until after you have attempted your own ones.

As we are only looking at brief descriptions, there could be many possible answers for some of the features.

We’ve given an example for the first two just to help provide a general indication of what might be termed a short sentence.

Take your time looking through the worksheet and try and put something for each of the features, before checking against our guide statements, which we have provided on the next page in section 1.3.6.

Feature	Purpose
Uniform green colour of stripes:	To provide for a well-presented pitch.
Bare areas:	To be kept to as low as possible as these affect playability and pitch appearance.

Download worksheet

Here is the worksheet you can download to complete your own statements for the purpose of each feature.

We have kept the first two example statements in the worksheet.

Open worksheet to be completed

Feature	Purpose
1. Uniform green colour of stripes:	To provide for a well-presented pitch.
2. Bare areas:	To be kept to as low as possible as these affect playability and pitch appearance.
3. White lines:
4. Smooth even surface:
5. Goal post, net, and corner flags:
6. Surface water / ponding:
7. Pitch dimensions:
8. The pitch is clear of leaves and debris:
9. Sward height:
10. Root depth:
11. Earthworm activity:
12. Live ground coverage:
13. Weed content:
14. Disease damage:
15. Pest damage:
16. Desirable grass content:
17. Undesirable grass content:
18. A safe run off area:
19. Grip for players:
20. A firm surface:
21. Bounce of a ball:
22. Distance a ball rolls
23. Soil pH:
24. Soil nutrients:
25. Organic matter content:
26. Water infiltration and drainage rate:

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Module progress: 75%