Turf seminar a godsend for Maltese groundsmen

A successful two-day seminar in Malta saw experts share the latest information about the maintenance and relative qualities of natural grass and artificial turf.

The seminar, organised by the Malta Football Association (MFA) in cooperation with UEFA, provided plenty of new insights, with UEFA's head of national associations development Thierry Favre concluding: "I am sure this seminar will be regarded as a very fruitful and successful one for Maltese football in general."

The first day focused on natural surfaces, with Ipswich Town FC groundsman Alan Ferguson pleased to have the opportunity to address the conference. "These sorts of seminars being put on by UEFA are a really good initiative," he told UEFA.com. "Groundsmen all over the world should have access to the latest education and knowledge.

"The advancements in both natural and synthetic turf over the last ten to 15 years have been phenomenal," added Ferguson, who spoke to delegates about the standard required to keep grass pitches at optimal level for UEFA competition games and gave practical demonstrations on how to get the best out of natural surfaces.

Markus Keller, a UEFA and FIFA consultant on artificial pitches, also gave plenty of hands-on advice as the focus shifted to synthetic turf on the second day. He told UEFA.com: "Seminars like this give groundsmen more confidence to do their job. Knowledge is very important and everyone is eager to learn more and more about their profession."

Alastair Cox, a member of the UEFA artificial turf panel, and Tero Auvinen, infrastructure manager at the Football Association of Finland (SPL-FBF), also made valuable contributions.