Agrovista Amenity looks to the future at St George’s Park

Over 60 grounds professionals recently attended Agrovista Amenity’s The Future of Football Estate Management seminar, which was held at St George’s Park – the home of England’s national football teams.

Agrovista Amenity is committed to offering training and development and this insightful seminar focussed on the future of football estate management. Content included discussions on legislation, environmental pressures, fertiliser coating technology and nutrition, and ecology management.

The company joined forces with DLF, ICL, Campey Turf Care, and BASF to ensure the seminar programme featured a variety of expert speakers.

Andy Gray, Head of Grounds and Estates at St George’s Park, was delighted to host the seminar and stressed the importance of industry events: “Covid stopped events like this for a while, and it isn’t until they do stop that you realise how much you miss them,” he said.

“Throughout my career I have always found events such as these to be very beneficial – they are priceless in many ways.

“I’m very proud to show people what we have achieved in a small amount of time here. If one person takes just one thing away from what we do here at St George’s Park, then that is enough for me.”

Danny Stunt, Head of Grounds at Tonbridge School in Kent, was one of many delegates who benefitted from attending the seminar: “To visit St George’s Park was amazing and the event has given me something to aspire to. Not only that, but it has showed me how to get there. This has been the best place to come to help further my career.

“We are very invested in ecology and sustainability so to find out more about that was fantastic,” continued Danny. “I will be going away and introducing wildflowers to certain areas at the school, and I will be putting lots of things I have learnt today into practice.”

Joe Berry, Head Groundsman at Bristol City FC’s training ground, was particularly interested in finding out more about BASF’s Attraxor® plant growth regulator: “I am planning on using this product soon, so to see the presentation on that was very helpful. It has given me the confidence to go and use it during the grow-in period – which is what I was hoping to achieve by attending today.

“Events like this are very important to not only experience new products but also to speak to people in the industry and pick their brains about what they might be doing on their sites at different times of the year. The more we talk to one another the more we learn from one another.”

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Pete Ashworth, Head Groundsman for Preston North End FC agreed: “It has been brilliant to come to this stunning venue to see old and new friends – it is great to share stories with one another and catch up. Sometimes you get stuck in a rut with products and other things, so it is good to get out and learn about new technologies. Going around the pitches at St George’s Park and seeing what Andy and the team do here has helped me to pick up a few new ideas.”

Reflecting on the seminar, Dan Hughes, Agrovista Amenity’s Head of Commercial, said: “It is really important for us to bring experts and expertise together. When you put professional turf managers together, they start sharing their problems and solutions; and at Agrovista, it is core to our ethos to facilitate that. I hope that today has inspired ideas to focus on, and the future challenges we will be presented with. I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone that attended.”