J Premier Pitch makes impressive debut at Dartford Football Club

Ticking the boxes for wear tolerance and fast germination, J Premier Pitch from Johnsons Sports Seed has impressed during its debut season at Dartford Football Club. Under the supervision of Head Groundsman Jay Berkhauer and the team at Jordans Sportsground Solutions, J Premier Pitch was chosen due to a tight six-week renovation window, delivering a quality surface for the first game of season and demonstrating great resilience, despite challenging conditions, ever since.

Jay has been in the industry for 20 years, working on all manner of sports surfaces from Premier League clubs to grassroots facilities, schools, cricket clubs and everything in-between! For the last seven years he’s been an operative for contractors Jordans Sportsground Solutions and has been based at Dartford FC, of the National League South, for five seasons. “This pitch gets a lot of use!” he exclaims. “We’ve got four teams that play here so when it comes to renovating and preparing the pitch we know we need seed that can handle high levels of stress and wear, and meets the budget and resources we have available.”

“We’d heard about the quick establishment and germination of Johnsons, and with only five and a half weeks between our renovation and the first game, this was going to be critical. We sowed J Premier Pitch end of May 2023, saw the first sprouts of germination within seven days and by the first game of the season we were as good as gold!”

J Premier Pitch has delivered proven performance on some of the greatest sporting stages globally. The new 2024 formulation blends five top-rated perennial ryegrass cultivars to create a mixture with exceptional wear tolerance, disease resistance and outstanding visual merit. “After the impressive initial germination, we’ve also noticed the pitch has held up really well given the very wet winter and sustained high levels of play. There has also been a significant reduction in the amount of Red Thread we’ve seen in comparison to previous years.”

“While we may not have the luxury of a big budget or two weeks of recovery time between fixtures, we still very much aim for professionalism in the product we deliver. By hand seeding goal mouths and spot treating problematic areas we can maintain a pitch that looks good and plays well for the whole season. J Premier Pitch, for us, has been the right balance of price and quality” he concludes.