Andy Richards, Grounds Manager at Haileybury, one of England’s leading independent schools, has hailed MM Tetra Sport for setting a new standard in maintaining the school’s extensive sports pitches.
Praising its exceptional performance, Andy highlighted how the innovative seed mixture has delivered outstanding results on high-use pitches, transforming both their resilience and his team’s workload.
Nestled in 500 acres of stunning Hertfordshire countryside, Haileybury is one of England’s leading independent co-educational schools. Known for its academic excellence and vibrant co-curricular programme, Haileybury boasts national champions in girls' hockey, top-tier cricket teams, and competitive rugby and football squads.
Maintaining the school’s extensive sports facilities, which include approximately 180 pitches and courts, is no small feat, but Grounds Manager Andy Richards thrives on the challenge.
Now in his sixth year at Haileybury, Andy oversees the site with a team of 11 staff. “It’s a large site, and the co-curricular side is massive—not just sport but activities like mountain biking and horse riding,” he explains. “The sports side is huge, and we’re constantly working to maintain and improve the pitches to meet high standards.”
Andy was drawn to the role by the potential he saw at Haileybury. “It’s a big school and was a bit of a sleeping giant when I started. It wasn’t in the best condition, but they wanted to improve it and make it one of the best schools in the country. I liked the challenge—it ticked a lot of boxes for me.”
Having relied on MM50 and MM60 seed mixtures for years, Andy recently turned his attention to MM Tetra Sport, a winter sports overseeding mixture treated with Headstart® GOLD – a performance-enhancing grass seed coating. Impressed by tetraploid ryegrass trial results he’d seen, Andy decided to test MM Tetra Sport on one of Haileybury’s high-use rugby training pitches.
“What I’d heard about Tetra Sport was that it’s harder wearing and requires less water, which was ideal for us given the site conditions,” Andy says.
Its unique tetraploid ryegrass composition offers several advantages:
- Rapid establishment and germination, even in challenging conditions.
- Reduced water requirements, promoting deep rooting.
- High wear tolerance, perfect for high-use pitches.
- Outstanding disease resistance and excellent colour year-round.
The results were astounding. “We sowed Tetra Sport in three directions, then did a fourth pass after two weeks. The germination was really quick—helped by a rainstorm—but even when the weather turned dry, we didn’t need to water it as soon as we would have with traditional ryegrass.”
For Andy, the reduced need for irrigation was transformative. “Watering a pitch here takes 8 hours, with 290 metres of hose to set up. With Tetra Sport, we held off watering for 10-12 days longer than usual, which was unbelievable.”
After four weeks of growing in, the pitch was ready for its first training session. “It held together really well,” Andy notes. “The pitch next to it, which isn’t Tetra Sport, is like chalk and cheese. That pitch gets about 2 hours of use a week, while the Tetra Sport pitch averages 6 hours, and you’d think it was the other way around. The coverage is fantastic, the colour is natural and vibrant, and it’s incredibly resilient.”
Andy has also noticed other benefits. “We’ve had no disease on the Tetra Sport pitch, whereas other pitches have had issues like fusarium. It’s ticked every box we could have hoped for.”
Andy is so impressed with MM Tetra Sport that he plans to use it across the entire site next year. “I’m even going to experiment with it on a cricket wicket,” he says. “It shows how much seed breeding has developed — tetraploids used to be too coarse, but now the colour and performance are exceptional.”
He also credits MM Seed’s Matt Gresty for his support. “Matt is exemplary—always at the end of the phone and great for bouncing ideas off. He’s incredibly knowledgeable.”
For Andy Richards and the team at Haileybury, MM Tetra Sport has revolutionised pitch performance, proving that with the right seed, you can achieve exceptional results while saving time and resources.
For further information, please contact MM Sports Seed on 01386 791102 or visit the company’s website www.mm-seeds.co.uk.
You can also follow the company on X: @MM_Seed.
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