TURF LIFE
A view from the dug-out
What a wonderful World Cup we've just enjoyed! Made so much more entertaining as soon as England were out of it, stinking the place up with their scrappy, dour play! As an English football fan, as soon as that weight was lifted, there was so much to relish watching teams who deserved and desired to be there, truly shine. And shine they did on great surfaces. All that pre-Italy game hype about the pitch in Manaus proved to just be column inch filler, because after that, the quality of the pitches were never called into question again. A superb tournament, which is a shame to see end.
Conversely, Trent Bridge groundsman Steve Birks has come in for heaps of criticism over the past five days for the flat pitch at Nottingham - from both players and pundits. Stuart Broad said, "I think the best thing that's happened is Trent Bridge have come out and said 'Look, our mistake', and apologised for the pitch." Whilst Nasser Hussain writing in the Daily Mail went as far to suggest that it was some sort of money making conspiracy - "Cricket deserves a better surface than this. . . . It can only be a reflection of how perilous some counties' finances must be if they're so desperate to ensure a fifth day that they come up with something like this."
So it was good to see Trent Bridge Chief Executive Lisa Pursehouse come out publicly in Steve's defence. She told the Nottinghamshire Post , "Steve is the most important employee I have. I could turn my hand to every other job in this place but not his. There is no one else that can do what is the most important part of the operation. Being a groundsman is harder than being a goalkeeper in football. Steve has never made an error like this before. I'm leaving him alone because he's a bit fragile but we'll speak after the game, just as we would normally. What he has said to me is he would change nothing about his preparation." All of us here at Turf Pro hope Steve is doing OK after what must have been a very trying few days.
Groundsman Ian Pritchard is the latest member of staff to leave crisis non-league club Hereford United. Ian who has gone unpaid by the club in June, is quoted by the Ledbury Reporter saying, "I decided enough was enough. I stopped doing anything and maybe should have done that during Keyte’s reign. But I was loyal to the club and fans and kept going until the end of the season. I received my agreed weekly payments for July to November 2013 then the cash crisis came and I was paid lesser amounts, leaving me £18,000 outstanding. Keyte promised me that I would get my money immediately when a new investor bought into the club. Fool me to believe this.”
Excellent article in the Telegraph on Saturday from Alan Titchmarsh asking why aren't gardeners, and indeed all who work outdoors nurturing the land, be that groundsmen, greenkeepers, landscape architects etc, respected? It's well worth a read with some choice quotes from Alan including:
- "There is still a deep-seated belief at most levels of society that 'outdoor jobs' are the province of those who lack the intellectual scope to do anything else."
"From landscape management to arboriculture, from commercial horticulture to garden design, from journalism and media involvement to agriculture, turf culture and gamekeeping, the opportunities to work outdoors – with hand and heart and mind – is something that those who choose this path seldom regret." - "I long for a time when society respects those who work on the land and encourages more of its sons and daughters to do so."
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