ROVERS AIM TO BE MOYLES BETTER ...
crowds but were viewed by a wider audience during the ‘Eddie Waring’ years of rugby league coverage on BBC’s Grandstand. The present capacity of the stadium is 6,750.
When the Super League was formed in 1996 it was proposed that they unite with neighbours and rivals, Castleford and Wakefield Trinity, to form Calder RLFC which would then be eligible to play in the newly formed summer league. This was fiercely rejected by the club who have since failed to make it into the top flight of the sport.
In 2006 the club’s board approached Chris Moyles, DJ on BBC Radio One’s breakfast show and, more importantly, a ‘huge’ fan of the club, about possible sponsorship. Through his morning radio show he keeps his eleven million listeners up-to-date with Featherstone’s results, regardless of whether they want to know or not! He was delighted to be asked, and the ground was renamed The Chris Moyles Stadium in November 2006. Rob Smith has been with the club since 1990 when he first got involved as a
volunteer steward. He suffered an horrendous motorbike crash in the mid 1980s and had been unable to work for a long time. The opportunity to become a steward at the stadium helped with Rob’s rehabilitation and fitness after the accident and, over the years, he began to get more involved with club activities. Firstly, by looking after the changing rooms and club kit and, as his fitness levels improved, he started to help the then groundsman, Fred Levene, prepare the pitch. When Fred retired in 2003 Rob was offered the job. Rob is responsible for looking after the main stadium pitch and two training areas adjacent to the ground. The pitches are heavily soil based with only the stadium pitch having a primary drainage system.
The rugby league season officially runs
from February through to October. However, the pitches, especially the main stadium pitch, are in constant use for training all year round. The first team train on the stadium pitch at least three times a week.
With so much activity Rob often spends up to fifty hours a week on the stadium pitch alone during the playing season. Rob initially learned his
groundsmanship skills from Fred and by reading books and talking to other groundsmen. However, in 2006, he decided he needed qualifications to help improve his knowledge and career prospects. So, he attended Askham Bryan College and passed NVQ level 2 in Sports Turf. This involved him attending the college, two days a week for two years and being assessed in the work place. Rob managed to get support for the course through the GMB Union who paid all his fees, but the two years he was on the course restricted his time at the ground
When you see the amount of work involved it is even more surprising to learn that Rob is only contracted for eighteen hours a week; the rest of his time spent there is completely voluntary. And, on top of this, he also cleans the changing rooms and manages the kit on match days!
77
Chris Moyles with 2007 Grand Final winning team ©Bob Nunn
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124