When Scottish Premier League team Glasgow Rangers Football Club decided to upgrade their playing surface at the 51,082-capacity Ibrox Stadium, they contracted Turf Irrigation Services (Scotland), Ltd. (TIS Scotland) through pitch construction contractor Souters Sports Ltd. to supply and install the pitch irrigation system. TIS Scotland then selected Hunter Industries as their manufacturer of choice.

This particular Scottish Premier League team is not one to settle for anything less than the best, having won 51 Scottish league titles and racking up more major trophies than any other football club worldwide. So, naturally, they have some pretty high standards.

Head Groundsman David Roxburgh outlined some of the club’s needs which included:

• Flexibility to irrigate different areas within the pitch with individual head control
• No large sprinklers in outer perimeter of turfed area where TV cameras are located
• The ability to “slick down” playing surface pre-match and at halftime, with a maximum 12 minute window
• The ability to select individual areas to slick down as they become available
• A straight forward control system which was sophisticated enough to anticipate varying client needs

As part of the overall pitch construction program, Robert Smith of TIS Scotland collaborated with Adrian Mortram of the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) and RHA irrigation consultants, along with Hunter’s John Shepherd, to ensure Roxburgh’s needs were met to help Rangers’ continue to play at the highest European club level.

For the center sprinklers, TIS Scotland installed eight Hunter I-90s with sod cups at 24.5 m spacing, the industry’s longest distance rotary sprinkler for sports fields. Each head was individual head control from Hunter 1.5” ICV solenoids with Accu-Set™ located behind the goals. Eight I-90s with turf cups were also installed along the sidelines, four on each side, and each with 180 degree arc. Along the goal lines, eight Hunter G995E sprinklers were installed, four on each end, also with 90/180 degree arcs. These were installed directly onto the ring without individual isolators. The system passed the consultants’ pressure (Creep) test with the VIH sprinklers and solenoid valves “live”. No leaks were detected.

To irrigate the goal mouth triangles, one Hunter I-20 was set inside the centre of each net, at a 90 degree arc, each on their own 1” Hunter ICV with Accu-Set. For around the perimeter collar where the TV cameras are positioned, 76 Hunter MP Rotators, set at 180 degrees and 5 m spacing, were installed to spray into the turved area.

Click here to see the system design

A stand alone Hunter ACC-99D was installed to control the entire project, with the new ROAM remote used extensively to save precious time during the pre-match and half time slick downs.

Not only were all system needs met by the Hunter products but also the entire system was installed using only excavations by hand to allow the irrigation pipe system to be installed below the level of the existing under soil heating pipes. The installation of the system was also completed within a seven day window to enable the main pitch contractor to control the moisture within the root zone being applied and to ensure good germination of the new seed.

David Roxburgh stated, “The complete operation from design, installment, to hand over was carried out in a very professional manner, and, as Head Groundsman, I applaud them for their input into our exacting standards.”