When Colchester United Football Club moved from its former home at Layer Road to the Weston Homes Community Stadium at the start of the 2008-09 season, it selected a Toro TDC Turf Decoder Controller irrigation system to ensure the rapid establishment of its new pitch.

Comprising fifteen 690 Series sprinklers managed by Toro’s TDC controller, LS Systems installed the system on the newly constructed pitch at the 10,000-capacity stadium in summer 2008. But with the new football season fast approaching, the pressure to prep the pitch was on.

Colchester United’s Dave Blacknall, left, with Lely’s Roger Lupton

“Because this was a new-build, we worked to a tight schedule to get the system up and running so the pitch would be established in time,” recalls LS Systems project director Tim Griffiths. “The club needed simple but robust and reliable irrigation, and so the Toro system was ideal.”

Eliminating the costs associated with traditional valve wire bundles, Toro’s TDC system provides wide and flexible sprinkler coverage ideally suited to large installations and sports grounds, such as Colchester’s pitch. The League One club’s head groundsman, Dave Blacknall, agrees that the system delivered the rapid establishment required.

As he explains: “We went from seeding to play in just seven weeks, which is very good. Even though there was quite a bit of rain, we wouldn’t have achieved that without the irrigation. The grounds are now in excellent condition and we’re very happy with the system – it does exactly what it says on the tin.”