This Performance Quality Standards Interactive Playing Surface Estimator helps you determine what the specified level of quality the playing surface of the football pitch meets.
Full details of Performance Quality Standards for Football Pitches are available from the Institute of Groundsmanship.
Whilst the following table shows all of the current performance criteria, for ease and practicality of use, not all of them may be needed all of the time. Some criteria may be more important for some people than others, whilst at different times of the year other criteria from the full list may wish to be included.
A recommended minimum number for any evaluation table would be 12 performance standards, covering the full range of component categories. It is also recommended that 'Evenness' is always included within any evaluation, as this is the minimum criterion needed to give an indication of pitch safety.
The reason for having an evaluation table is to help in the effective management of football pitches and is meant as a positive aid to producing the right results.
The points scored are as follows:
If, for example, a standard level of quality is being aimed for then the optimum result would be 3 points for each criterion, with a total of 96 points overall (using the 32 performance standards). In a practical situation this is not necessarily realistic and therefore a overall impression of pitch quality is determined 'on the whole', which expects the points to be no less than 85% of the optimum number available for the desired level of quality. In this example, the points would therefore need to be at least 32 x 3 x 85% = 82.
Once the points have been totalled, these would need to be compared with the level that was being aimed for. For example:
The important thing to remember is that Performance Quality Standards can provide you with objective information on which to make your decisions.