Peter Ashworth, the current League One Groundsman of the Year, knows more than most about the skills of the job, having been at Preston North End FC for nine years.


Peter Ashworth shows the sward coverage on the Preston North End training pitches sown with Rigby Taylor's R14CR

In mid-April he used Rigby Taylor’s new R14CR seed mix on two of his four training pitches – and says the results have been “outstanding”.

The pitches had been Koro’d in early April and original soil replaced following drainage on what had been fairly wet grounds with lateral drains every six metres and split drains of gravel banding at .75metre intervals.

“After sowing we did very little apart from some early watering,” says Peter (35). “Then we had some cold weather but as soon as it warmed up the new RT, with creeping perennial ryegrass, started to romp away.

“I have been very impressed with the results and the sward is being mown weekly at present and kept at 25mm height.

“R14CR is proving to be a great asset on the training grounds and handles the natural soil conditions, which are on the clay side, very well.”

As well as being responsible for the main Deepdale Stadium, Peter looks after the four training pitches at the Springfields ground about five miles away which is used for regular training by the first team – and on Saturdays the second team.

He has three full-time and one part-time staff and is proud of the results they have achieved.