Sports field maintenance: no skill without knowledge

Appropriate support for clubs and local governments

Anyone who wants to keep all the balls in the air for the maintenance of soccer and other natural grass fields faces a tough challenge today. The ever-changing and increasingly extreme weather conditions, the sometimes high playing load and ever-shorter rest periods, the lack of technical staff and the continuous evolution in both insights and solutions are causing even the most wealthy and well-organized clubs to seek external help. With De Ceuster, for example, which offers a wide range of support services for local teams and boards as well as major professional clubs.

De Ceuster is no stranger to the world of sports field management. For years, the contracting company has been responsible for the maintenance and improvement of all kinds of sports facilities, with the emphasis on natural grass fields, mainly for soccer, but also baseball, rugby and golf. Top quality is always the highest goal, although the way to get there may vary. 

From one-off advice to complete turnaround

"The questions we get from our customers are as diverse as the clubs themselves," says Thierry De Jonghe, technical advisor for sports at De Ceuster. "A top club from the first division with an extensive team of its own may only need specific advice in case of unforeseen problems; other clubs don't have the staff to do so and entrust the complete sports field maintenance to us; and cities and municipalities mainly have questions about which pesticides they are still allowed to apply or what they should pay attention to when tendering for a new sports field or park. For us, all these questions are equally valid, and the great thing is that we have both the knowledge and the resources in-house to provide appropriate answers to them at short notice."

Renovation season

In the early summer months, it is all hands on deck at De Ceuster. A lot of clubs call on the contracting company at that time to renovate their fields. "A good renovation is specialist work. On the one hand because the deadline by which the field has to be ready to play again is getting shorter and shorter, and on the other hand because no two years are the same. So you can't just do the same thing year after year; conditions and possible problems must be duly considered." 

"There used to be perhaps the idea that you just had to 'patch up' the field during such a renovation, but that is passé now. The intention is to prepare the field as well as possible for a new season. That means it is also the perfect time to address any problems and to think about such things as sprinkling, choice of grass, and so on. These are all things we think about. We not only supply the machinery and any personnel to carry out the renovation, but also seize the moment to provide targeted advice."

Field service

For clubs that prefer to enjoy such support throughout the year, De Ceuster offers an interesting formula with the so-called "field service. In exchange for a fixed monthly fee, clubs receive a number of services and man-hours at their disposal, which may be spread freely throughout the year. "Such a contract is always tailor-made. For example, one club needs a weekly consultation and contract workers; another has its own staff and needs only a monthly consultation. In any case, everything happens with the utmost transparency. Clubs can check at any time how many hours or budget remain. So they can schedule work according to their needs, but have the accounting advantage of a fixed monthly cost."

The right hardware

The extensive expertise and technical knowledge in De Ceuster's sports team - Thierry himself has a past as a greenkeeper at Sporting Lokeren, KV Mechelen and Anderlecht - is backed up by that of the infra and horti teams on the one hand, and an extensive and innovative fleet of machinery on the other. "We have all the machines for proper sports field maintenance at our disposal and, thanks to our extensive arsenal, we can invariably keep waiting times short. But we also continuously invest in new machines and developments. For example, we recently acquired a company with an exceptional specialization in drainage and we are working hard with drones to digitally map golf courses or detect problems on sports fields faster. This innovative outlook is also peculiar to De Ceuster and allows us to offer an even better service."