In line with its carbon-neutral site, Galaxy Sports Little Kerse is using the Turf Tank One to meet their sustainability goals and raise the standards of their lines.
The 35-acre site in Falkirk, Scotland, has 11 pitches ranging from 11-a-side grass to full-size 3G and astroturf 6-a-side pods.
The facility is at the heart of the community, catering for everyone from children to amateur and professional footballers.
Whilst the Turf Tank fits perfectly within their sustainability ethos, Galaxy Sports' main aim was to raise the standard of line marking and relieve pressure on staff who would have to mark 11-a-side match pitches and bespoke PAN Disability Football League pitches regularly.
Operations Manager Sean wantedto provide the best pitches possible for the customers, and a significant part of that was looking for an alternative way to mark lines that fit in with their sustainability goals.
"The Turf Tank runs on a completely carbon-neutral site; it's all on greenenergy," Sean explained. "The energy that charges the Turf Tank batteries comes from the sun that's shining today, so it's a fantastic example of our sustainability and priorities at Galaxy Sports Little Kerse for the way forward.
"We used to go out and manually mark the pitches, but we realised we weren't meeting the standard we wanted. Now, the lines are night and day. They're a great standard, and the precision of the Turf Tank is fantastic. We're over the moon with it, and it's definitely saved us hours on end. We probably mark lines now for half a day and only mark out what we need, so we're saving paint and time.
"With the robot, it's been great because we're able to add our logo onto the pitches, and again, we use it during these busy periods where the customers can see it, and we get great questions and feedback.
"The logo marking is going to be a part of attracting sponsors to our Galaxy Foundation, and that's something we never would have been able to achieve manually. But for us, it's a fantastic marketing material and a talking point at the site."
While the Turf Tank produces consistently excellent lines and enables logos to be marked, its impact on the wider site is also important. With less time spent marking, the focus goes on tidying the site, maintaining goals and completing other tasks.
There's also some stress relief from keeping the lines marked in. The grass is cut once a week on-site, but rather than following it with a marker, pitches can now be lined as and when needed, and last-minute bookings can be accommodated easily.
A factor in doing that is the simplicity of using the robot. The set-up means multiple staff can contribute to line marking, and for Football Operations Manager Alastair, the ease of use comes hand in hand with achieving higher standards.
