“Had I started doing this job 25 years ago I think I would liked to have made a career of it”
Eddie Giles, Head Groundsman, Stourport CC
A commitment to the cause is not uncommon amongst volunteer cricket groundsmen but, when the weather turned nasty, Eddie Giles, Head Groundsman at Stourport-on-Severn Cricket Club, turned his hand to building some roll on roll off covers!
C
ricket, that quintessentially English game that, quite frankly, the English national side aren’t very good at; well, not the men at least! Every weekend thousands upon thousands of would-be Freddies and Harmies turn up at their respective clubs to do battle against their local rivals. They are generally met with a perfectly cut outfield, a nice new strip, boundary markers in place and a tea to die for! Five or six hours later, and regardless of the result, the players head for the bar. In all that time, very few will have given a second thought to how much effort had gone in to preparing the ground, and it is doubtful that anyone will have noticed the lone figure scratching around on the square repairing the damage from the day. There is, after all, cricket banter to be had.
Fortunately, cricket, or to be more precise, a cricket club, gets into the soul
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of some members and it is these folk who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure its survival.
Eddie Giles, Head Groundsman at Stourport Cricket Club, a few miles south of Kidderminster, is one such person. He has served his club for over thirty years as a player, treasure and, now, groundsman. He is one of a breed of volunteer groundsmen involved in grass roots cricket which, without his like, would be in terminal decline. Eddie takes up the story.
“I have been involved with Stouport Cricket Club for over thirty years. First as a player then, as my day job was in machinery repairs, I started tinkering with all the club’s old machines, getting them into some sort of working order. I got into groundsmanship by cutting the outfield twice a week. The square was maintained by my older brother so I had the easier job! I would take my two year old son with me and sit him between my
SEV
legs on the tractor - within ten minutes he would be fast asleep. Health & Safety would have a fit these days! As the years went by, and my family started to grow up, my father took over the cutting of the outfield and I took on the club captaincy but, all the time, still keeping the machines running.
When my son reached sixteen he took on the outfield cutting and my brother decided the time was right to call it a day - he had been doing it for twelve years - so I took it on.
Even though I had worked alonside my brother, I had no experience of actually preparing wickets, so I had quite a steep learning curve. I knew that the bounce was low and the top surface wasn’t holding together, and was sure that this was not how it should be.
So, I phoned Roy Maclaren, the then Head Groundsman at Worcestershire County Cricket Club, for some advice. He was really helpful and came to take a
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