How Castleford Tigers achieved the ‘healthiest grass ever seen’

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After having to rely on outside assistance for the past few years, Castleford Tigers RLFC are now able to keep all of their turf maintenance tasks in-house after purchasing a brand new Dennis G860 cylinder mower.

Stuart Vause has been involved with the club for 13 years part time and three years as head groundsman after 30 years in the trade working for a local authority.

“The season runs from February until the back-end of September and the first-team has approximately 17 home games. In addition, the Under 19s and Under 16s play their home games here and the first team also train on it four times a week during the season. Sometimes the pitch can be used up to six times a week and that is quite a lot for an ageing pitch which has no drainage or irrigation system.”

With limited resources Stuart continued to do a remarkable job but when his ride-on mower appeared to have had its day, he knew the time had come to seek investment and look for a new machine.

“I looked at a whole range of mowers. I spoke to other groundsmen and got their advice; I did my own research looking online and comparing various mowers and looked at what other users had said about them. The Dennis G860 kept coming up and from my previous position of working for a local authority I was already familiar with the brand. We used to have Dennis mowers for a number of bowling greens and cricket wickets so I knew that they were robust, performed excellently and any replacement parts were easy to get hold of.”

Featuring an interchangeable cassette system, users have the option of fitting different types of heads including scarifiers, verticutters, brushes, spikers, and slitters.

“In my opinion, the G860’s best feature is the interchangeable cassette system – it’s unbelievable. It means that you’ve got one machine for so many jobs and it’s just so easy – one-out-one in – and if you have a good day at it, you can scarify, brush, and cut all in one day. It’s made a massive difference.

“I’ve always wanted to be more self-sufficient, and I now feel as though I finally am and the grass is the healthiest it has ever been.”