New John Deere equipment supplied by Carmarthen dealer Powercut is in the side that is keeping Swansea City Football Club and the Ospreys Rugby Union Club's Liberty Stadium pitch in an award-winning condition.


Swansea City FC grounds staff at the Liberty Stadium with the new John Deere 3720 compact tractor and cab, and four of the R54RKB walk-behind rotary mowers. (left to right: groundsmen Ben Arthure & James Williams and head groundsman Dan Kirton)

Dan Duffy, Swansea City FC's grounds manager, has overall responsibility for the maintenance and presentation of a lot of grass: one Desso hybrid pitch at the main Liberty Stadium, plus two and a half fibresand grass pitches and a 3G pitch at its Landore Training Academy. There are also three fibresand and four ameliorated full-size grass pitches and a half-size grass pitch, as well as two 3G pitches, 10 miles away at the club's Fairwood facility.

Added to that is the fact that the Liberty Stadium is the home ground for both Swansea City FC - the Swans - and the Ospreys Rugby Union Club. "This season five double-headers will have been played on the ground by Christmas," says Dan. "With either Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday games, we generally end up with just three free weekends a season."

Maintaining the pitches at the Liberty Stadium, Landore and Fairwood under these pressures therefore requires a comprehensive machinery fleet. "We pick the machines that we consider do the operations best and are suited to what we are doing," Dan explains. That rationale has seen a continuing investment in a full range of John Deere equipment suited to the various operations and surfaces across the three sites.

The machines are supplied and maintained by John Deere dealer Powercut (Wales) Ltd of Carmarthen. "Over the years we've dealt with a number of companies," Dan says. "The John Deere equipment is always competitively priced and Powercut's after-sales service and mechanical side is second to none."