My colleague, Editor Steve Gibbs is visiting family this week in California, which is why I’m ‘driving’ the TurfPro newsletter this week. It also gives me a timely opportunity to recognise the amazing contribution of groundsman to our cash-driven and results-based sports scene in the UK.
Virtually all the effort and expertise exerted by groundsman (and greenkeepers) goes on behind closed doors, in empty stadiums and sporting venues. Perception rather than detailed appreciation still drives the public’s awareness of the skills and dedication involved.
Pity we are a couple of days beyond 1 April because we might have been tempted to run a story about the FA insisting on a parade of mowers before the game, or the head groundsman accompanying the match officials to the centre circle in order to ‘hand-over’ the pitch. (A tradition that is maintained at Lords before the first ball of each Test Match)
We always talk about perception but it’s true that the crowds at football matches do see the grounds staff at work, but that work is normally tramping down divots, brushing the pitch, repainting lines or easing the turf with forks – thus reinforcing the perception of a crew with the simple skills set of wielding a fork or a paint brush.
The industry should, and still can, do more to promote the talents and professionalism of the ‘turf doctors’. For example, an ongoing and highly popular event at the Sydney Ground is the Curators Breakfast. For years, the SCG Head Curator Tom Parker has been giving an insight into his work on the second day of a Test Match.
Tom presents an overview of the preparation and upkeep over breakfast before a trip out to the middle, usually accompanied by a professional cricketer and a member of the TV commentating team. The talk which also covers the challenge of moving from the Aussie Rules programme to the cricket season at the SCG, is always over-subscribed and has to be balloted.
It is those sort of initiatives that could really help the understanding, appreciation, even sympathy for the role of the grounds team – and cannot do anything but heighten awareness of career opportunitees.
Two positive examples have shone through in recent days to showcase the profession. First at the DW Stadium in Wigan last week where Ian Forshaw and his team worked their socks off to ensure that two matches were able to played on the same day. First Wigan Athletic hosted Rochdale in League One at 1.30m before Wigan Warriors faced Hull KR in the Super League for a 8.00pm kick-off.
Both matches had their timings rescheduled to accommodate the double header, but it is ineviatble that the future will rely on the resourcefulness and dedication of the groundstaff as more and more dual code games are being played on shared grounds.
The other example was the stunning visual impact of Leicester’s King Power Stadium for high-flying Leicester City’s televised game against Southampton yesterday (3 April). John Ledwidge and his team have developed a growing reputation for not only the quality of the playing surface but for the presentation and patterns which are gaining rave reviews in the press and social media.
Those are ways in which the pivotal role of the groundsman can get traction in the press. Great players can often negate the impact of a poor pitch, but a great pitch can drive players to greater heights - and that has to be the motivation.
