The value of being of member of a professional industry body was illustrated this past week.

You may remember the controversy back in January when Southend Utd abruptly sacked their groundsman of 27 years following the postponement of a match against Bolton due to a frozen pitch.

There was widespread condemnation of the firing of Ken Hare at the time, with the incident making headlines in the mainstream press and the IOG stepping in to both offer support to Ken and to raise awareness of the role of the professional groundsman. The social media campaign they orchestrated to get football crowds to offer a minute’s applause during that weekend’s games across the country, gained a lot of publicity.

As we hoped at the time, the IOG along with the trade union Prospect, who represent football officials, cricket umpires, grounds staff and other sports professionals, have been assisting Ken behind the scenes to reach a satisfactory conclusion to the ugly situation.

It’s now been reported that Prospect national secretary, Alan Leighton, represented Ken in the negotiations with Southend chairman, Ron Martin.

Alan Leighton has said this past week, “The negotiations were tough, but conducted in a good and fair spirit with each side acknowledging the other’s position in order to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement.

“The nature of the negotiations was typified by the kind offer of two season tickets for Ken as part of the arrangement. Ken gratefully accepted the offer and hopes to see Southend promoted in 2017/18.”

The terms of the agreement are confidential, but Ken said, “I am delighted with the outcome and would like to express my thanks to Prospect, the IOG and the Chairman, Ron Martin, for helping reach a mutually satisfactory agreement.”

Ken went on to express his gratitude to the trade union and professional body who aided him in his negotiations. “Without the support of my union, I would have had difficulty resolving this without incurring the cost and stress of it potentially being determined at an employment tribunal. I would encourage all my grounds staff colleagues to join Prospect and the IOG.”

Alan Leighton added: “This was a hugely important issue for Ken and for grounds staff more generally. Employees in football clubs need the support of an independent friend in the workplace because problems can arise at any time.

“Prospect was able to provide crucial professional advice and representation.”

It seems fair to point out that Alan Leighton paid tribute to Ron Martin of Southend for being pro-active and prepared to compromise and reach a mutually satisfactory agreement.

Tim Gray for the IOG said, “Ken’s case was a classic example of why the partnership between IOG and Prospect is so important. It shows why grounds staff should be members of both the IOG - for professional advice and development – and of Prospect, for employment advice and representation.”

And an incident cropped up in the press just yesterday, which illustrated why membership of a professional body is important to both volunteer groundstaff as well as full-time employees.

The Hull Daily Mail reported the on-pitch sacking of a group of volunteer groundsmen at Hull FC on Saturday.

Read it in full here, but it’s a pretty sad story about some enthusiastic volunteers who have been helping out with the pitch maintenance for years in exchange for free entry to games. Seemingly out of the blue, the group were told their services were no longer required whilst they were working on the pitch after Saturday’s defeat to Sunderland and were ushered away from the stadium.

Nowhere in the sacked individual’s account of the incident, who the paper only names as ‘David’, does he mention that he’ll now seek advice from his professional body. If this means they weren't members, one has to presume that the prospects of them negotiating with Hull to regain their positions are pretty slim.

I suppose some sort of local social media campaign could whip up some sympathy in their favour - but this is clearly no real alternative to the security of professional backing.