of specialist input that Spurs can bring. I walked out through the tunnel into blazing sunshine and a most unexpected experience. “Isn’t the ground small,” I blurted out. Darren laughed. “That’s what most people say when they first see the pitch. It’s the television camera angles that make it appear so much larger than it is. Everyone used to remark on the size of the old Highbury pitch when, in fact, ours is only an inch shorter.”
Jim Buttar and Darren Baldwin on the White Hart Lane pitch
“I’m honoured that both our chairman and Harry Redknapp really listen to what I and my team have to say, and that they respect my opinion and professional judgment”
Hart Lane in 1996.
“I knew I always wanted to be involved with football,” he says, “and, at 18, I realised that it wasn’t going to progress at the playing end, so decided to focus on groundsmanship, which I was really drawn to as a career.” “Joining a Premiership side proved a
real baptism of fire though and I soon realised that I’d been thrown into the deep end at a very tender age - something I’m now very grateful for, however.” Working alongside Darren is Jim Buttar - head groundsman at White Hart Lane - who takes over much of the responsibilities of the first team pitch throughout the season. Jim has a deputy and two assistants to aid with the punishing task of maintaining the Desso
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Grassmaster reinforced pitch. Paul Jones takes the role as the second of the club’s two head groundsmen, his responsibilities resting with the upkeep of the current training grounds at Chigwell, Essex. So, Darren has overall responsibility of managing and overseeing no less than four separate sites and projects - White Hart Lane, the development of the new training ground (he’s in charge of a £10m plus spend), Chigwell and the recently acquired interim training ground at Frenford in Barkingside - the two-year deal signed with the sports club means Darren and the team will also take over the responsibility of maintenance of all the club’s sports pitches for the duration of their time there. What a boost for a site in much need of the kind
That said, the 36,000 capacity will swell to more than 52,000 in the new stadium, due to open next door in 2012/13 (subject to planning permission). With post-season renovation completed just days before, the surface structure of the Desso pitch was clearly visible - neat rows of freshly germinated ryegrass interspersed with sand, and germination sheets still shrouding the shady south end, where, to coin a phrase, the sun refused to shine.
White Hart Lane is not alone in battling the effects of lack of sunlight - many modern stadia, with their arena seating towering above the pitch, suffer similarly. “We have to work to produce the best surface we possibly can, regardless of the constraints,” says Darren. “That’s what we’re paid to do, not to get a pat on the back when something goes right. We have to be constantly on the top of our game.”
The bulk of the post-season pitch
renovation began here on May 12th. Plastic reinforced pitches are now common in Premier League clubs - about half of them are Desso Grassmaster, and nearly all with some sort of synthetic- base.
The plastic blades of grass stitched into the turf keep the ryegrass growing upright and help the root establish itself in the early stages after germination. The artificial roots are embedded 200mm deep and the grass stitched in at 20mm intervals with seed sown in between - the one rootzone aiding establishment of the other, giving a playing surface less prone to movement and divoting.
The sand construction also allows for much freer drainage, explains Darren - a
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