An appropriate maintenance programme will enable your club to provide a higher quality pitch for your players. It will also create an increased pitch carrying capacity to enable more of them to play more often each week.

Rugby Groundsmen Connected (RGC) is the RFU’s easy access, two-way communication network between the RFU and rugby union groundsmen. It is the main communication channel for the RFU to provide information and advice to groundsmen and also has special offers and exclusive benefits for members. Everything the RFU does related to pitch maintenance will now come under the banner of Rugby Groundsmen Connected. Groundsmen Connected is for anybody that has any involvement in the upkeep of rugby pitches; complete novice to Premiership groundsmen. Anyone can register to join RGC at no cost. Registration is by email to groundsmenconnected@rfu.com. Once signed up they will receive regular communications with advice, information and the opportunity to ask questions.

Club consultations
RFU Head Groundsman Keith Kent visits approximately 100 community rugby clubs per season to provide advice and guidance on the maintenance of their natural turf pitches. Visits last for approximately one hour and are followed up by a detailed report compiled by Keith, specific to the issues identified during the visit. The visits will be coordinated on a rotational regional basis and are completely free of charge to clubs as long as they have a groundsman registered with Rugby Groundsmen Connected. For more information or to register your interest, please contact groundsmenconnected@rfu.com.

General guidance on pitch maintenance
Check out the videos and downloadable resources from Keith Kent, below, which will help you to deliver a better pitch maintenance programme.

*Keith Kent’s Rugby Club Equipment package (PDF 351kB). Please also see Pitch Care video in the above playlist
*Keith Kent’s 12-month pitch maintenance guide (PDF 2.45MB). Please also see Quadraplay System and Multitiner videos in the above playlist
*Follow us on Twitter @rugbygroundsmen
*For further snippets of advice, follow Keith on Twitter @RFUgroundsman