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Greener Turf Management by Canaries

If you know your football, you’ll no doubt be aware of Norwich City FC’s Finnish connection. But while Teemu Pukki continues to lead the line for club and country, he’s not the only Finnish import making a big impact with the Canaries.

In summer 2019, Avant launched a partnership with Norwich City that included the use of an Avant 745 multifunctional loader at the club’s Colney training headquarters. We caught up with Gary Kemp, the club’s Head Groundsman, and Colney Grounds Supervisor James Randell, to find out how the Finnish machine is helping them to hit their own grounds maintenance targets.

Gary, who is a previous winner of the Championship Groundsman of the Year award, has been very impressed with the versatility and functionality of the Avant machine: “The Avant 745 has been a real game-changer for us. It’s a heavy machine, but we had it fitted with turf tyres so it can travel across our pitches without causing any damage. We have a 4-in-1 bucket attachment for general maintenance, and also pallet forks. The pallet forks have proved incredibly useful for unloading shipments; whether it’s bags of sand and fertiliser, or boxes of food and drink, there are always lorries coming in and out of the site delivering things. The forks are also brilliant for moving the portable dugouts and goals from pitch to pitch, and it’s so easy to switch between the two attachments; it only takes a matter of seconds.”