130 FIXTURES ... and counting!
BROMSGROVE Rovers run a busy football club on a tight budget. They rely heavily on volunteers to carry out the work in and around the ground, including the
maintenance of the pitch. For the past five years the role of head groundsman, albeit unpaid, has been held by Alec Hodgkiss who has devoted
thousands of hours of his own time to the cause. As with many club
Bromsgrove Rovers FC, has over 130 fixtures to contend with each season
Alec Hodgkiss, Head Groundsman at
LAURENCE GALE MSc caught up with him to find out how he ever manages to get his work done!
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grounds, the cold weather in May, followed by the hot, dry summer, affected end of season renovations, particularly with the club’s water resources being so inadequate. Alec had to make do with just two sprinklers which, during the heatwave, barely kept the turf alive. In addition there were a few plantain weeds that had not been killed by the chemical treatments. Alec was waiting for the
contractors to come back for a second application. Like most Groundsmen, Alec was grateful for the heavy downpours in late
August; perfect timing for the start of the season. However, his linesman’s runs and some areas of the goalmouths were still sparse in some places and he was overseeding these areas when I arrived on site.
In the time that he has been at Bromsgrove Rovers Alec has significantly improved the condition of the pitch. In recognition of this, he was presented with the FA Groundsman of the Year award for Clubs at Level 3 and below for the North West and Midlands Region.
The pitch is soil-based with a herringbone drainage system. It stands up remarkably well when you consider the
equipment Alec has at his disposal - an old Kubota B5100 12hp tractor with mid-mounted rotary and an SCH towed slit tine spiker! A local contractor comes in each week to mark the pitch, using two Kombi spray jet line markers and the whole operation takes less than fifteen minutes.
Contractors also carry out overseeding, weed killing and fertilising. Alec recognises the value of aeration. The pitch was Earthquaked last year, decompacting it to a depth of 200mm. He will ensure it is aerated every fortnight throughout the season to keep it open, along with regular drag matting to restore surface levels. With more than 130 games played on the pitch each season, Alec’s biggest problem is actually finding time to get on the pitch to maintain it. A typical week sees the first team playing on Saturday, a veterans or guest game on Sunday, a reserve team game on Tuesday night and a youth team game on Wednesday. Regular training sessions take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays. With all these fixtures the opportunities to repair and prepare the pitch are limited. Whilst the pitch itself drains very well, it does suffer from flooding during heavy rain when
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