Soccer fields in top shape year-round

Krinkels closes soccer season

The start of the summer vacations means a brief "breather" for Krinkels. Because the landscape contractor maintains more than 300 soccer fields in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia throughout the year. From weekly mowing to annual re-laying at the end of the season. The man behind the crazy maintenance planning is site manager Steven Mattelin.

Child at home on almost every soccer field

You can find Krinkels at the highest divisions of the Jupiler Pro League: including KV Oostende, KMSK Deinze and Le Canonnier in Mouscron. They take care of the soccer grounds in our major Belgian cities: Ghent, Antwerp, Charleroi and Ostend. And they maintain the sites of Sport Vlaanderen. 

With that, Krinkels puts seventy people to work full-time, from eight locations. They mow the turf every week, check the lines, goal nets, posts and any playing damage. And they provide extra maintenance of fields and access roads against important tournaments and matches. Think of the KDB Cup in Drongen.

Weekly maintenance and regeneration

Steven Mattelin: "Take Ostend, for example, with its twenty soccer fields. Training sessions and matches take place there throughout the week. In order to maintain those fields, I make a meticulous planning in consultation with the customer when we can work on which field. Six days out of seven we are busy! Besides the weekly maintenance, the annual regeneration of the fields is one of our specialties. At the end of the soccer season, we remove the top layer of the field. Then we bring in fresh dress soil to get the field completely level again. We aerate and sow new grass. That way the fields are ready to play by the start of the season." "Not only the planning of our people, but also that of logistics is a feat. We have numerous trucks and trailers to move the more than 20 tractors including aerators, sedgers, scarifiers, mowers, ecodressers, wheel loaders, dumpers, mowers, substrates, grass seeds and fertilizers."

Drought problem

"That I have to rearrange the schedule on a regular basis is something I'm used to by now," Mattelin explains. "Then there is still a tournament at the end of the season, an extra training session, or an event for which we have to prepare the fields. But what is more challenging is the changing climate. Our clients expect their fields to look tiptop and playable at all times. But when the drought lasts for weeks, that's a real problem. Then when we aerate or ecodress the lawns, the sand just blows away instead of falling back onto the property. It requires a different type of maintenance. We adjust our types of grass seeds, treat the grass so it absorbs moisture better, and work with systems to better buffer rainwater. But it does add stress. You don't want to know how often I check the weather forecasts."

Innovation

To allow even more customers to enjoy a perfectly maintained turf, Krinkels invested in lining robots a few years ago. These line soccer fields precisely, quickly and economically. The contractor also works with weed robots: they scan your sports fields for weeds and carefully drill out the plants you would rather get rid of. You can also rent such a robot. You then receive a short training before you start working with it.

Total package for maintenance of sports grounds

Mattelin: "Our offer goes far beyond soccer fields. We construct, maintain and repair all types of play and sports grounds. Finnish slopes, skate parks, BMX tracks, omnisports fields including the bicycle and walking paths around them. Natural grass, artificial grass and hybrid grass: all that expertise is in our house." Krinkels put a sweet ending to the soccer season this year. One of the employees nominated the team for a 'Joe Gateau' made by pastry chef Roger van Damme. A tasted ending!