Sports Pitch Contractor Gene Pool

Whilst it is a widely held view the Football Foundation Framework Agreement has on the whole improved the quality of pitches being delivered into grassroots and club football, it has been noted a new generation of contractors has been spawned. Companies have become focussed on volume and a ‘sausage machine’ mentality. People are largely employed as names in boxes to develop the biggest organogram, a paper exercise to gain maximum marks to win tenders and positions on framework agreements seems to be the target, quantity over quality. Many of these personal don’t know a football pitch from running track when the enter the industry.

I have arrived to look at a tender which very much needs a considered and meditative approach, the ability to problem solve and not just fill a field with a green plastic rectangle, ‘standard’ floodlights and fencing to boot. I am at a loss for choice as I am of the opinion that the current vein of larger contractors are all geared up for dropping pitch after pitch in a one size fits all approach.

Pitches are essentially civil engineering projects with a flat playing surface dropped on top, however the odd project will deliver complex ground conditions and civil engineering challenges demanding considered and intelligent design solutions backed up by a thinking approach in the field. There is the odd exception of course, but to populate a tender list with three, heaven forbid four suitable tenderers?