“WORLD CUP games this summer will be played on pitches using marking technology developed by a company in South Wales.

Bowcom, part of the Fiddes Group, specialises in pitch marking products for sports fields. It has just gained a foothold in the South African market at a time when the country is gearing up to hold football’s most prestigious event.

The company will be supplying equipment and paint for stadiums in South Africa to mark their pitches with, as well as on the 32 training pitches used by countries taking part in the tournament.

Bowcom supplies some of the UK’s leading sports clubs and stadiums – including Manchester United and the Millennium Stadium – with its equipment.

The company has developed specialist technology for use by clubs, councils and schools to mark fields with.

Bowcom’s line-marking system was developed from Fiddes group’s main site in Cardiff, where it also acquired offices and land next to its factory off Penarth Road in the city.

It has invested more than £200,000 in lab and production machinery and developed an electric marking machine to allow the firm to compete both in the UK and international markets.

Bowcom worked with the National Centre For Product Development And Research to develop and manufacture its electric pitch paint applicator, the Bowcom GM, which is manufactured and assembled in Cardiff.

The equipment took three years to develop and the company said it “has proved critical” in allowing it the opportunity to move into new markets – including the lucrative 2010 World Cup.

Bowcom is also sole supplier of the paint for the pitch-marking machinery and it has developed recyclable paint boxes for use in the GMX equipment.

Robert Fiddes, Fiddes managing director, said the pitch-marking division of the company was becoming increasingly successful.

The company has set up Bowcom South Africa to exploit a growing market for the Cardiff firm”.