With Mick McCarthy at Wolves
retrieve the numbers and email address of all twenty head groundsmen but, in the end, the hard work paid off. I set to work composing an email to every ground to explain what I wanted to achieve and if I could have their permission to mow just one strip of their pitch. I have to admit part of me felt really cheeky asking, but I couldn’t let this idea go out the window.
Slowly, but steadily, the head groundsmen began replying with their consent, which got me really excited. For the first moment since this project first came into my mind I thought I could actually pull this off.
With all four Midlands clubs replying, and giving me permission, I started mowing my way through the Barclays Premier League.
Wednesday February 16th: Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium is where I started, before travelling back down the M6 to West Brom, then over to Birmingham City, before finally finishing off at Aston Villa.
The day was very enjoyable as it was the first stage of my journey. I was accompanied by my girlfriend, Danielle, who has been extremely patient and helpful throughout the whole campaign, through her fantastic photography skills and also lending a hand with vital paperwork.
Stoke’s Andy Jackson and Jonathan Calderwood at Villa were very welcoming, sharing with me their general pitch maintenance programmes whilst, at West Brom, there was a lot of banter with Rob Lane about the Black Country rivalry between the Baggies and the Wolves. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my fundraising project.
Wednesday February 23rd: This was the trip I wasn’t looking forward to, not because of the grounds I was going to mow, but for the journey. Today was the
Mowing the Britannia pitch
day I headed to Newcastle and Sunderland. I wanted to get these two clubs out the way as they are the furthest grounds away from Wolverhampton.
I started off early in the morning and was at St James’s Park for 9:30am before I travelled the short journey over to the Stadium of Light in Sunderland. Although the journey took a lot out of me, I adored my time in Tyneside. I had never visited this area of the country before, yet alone be on the pitches at the football stadiums up there.
Newcastle’s Andy Tulley and Adrian Partridge at Sunderland were really helpful and gave me a good insight into their maintenance regimes. It was particularly interesting to get feedback from Andy, as Newcastle have the same fibrelastic pitch as we do at Wolves. Overall, a great trip up to the North East. But, I know one thing, I’ll never drive to Newcastle and back again in one day!
Monday March 7th: The start of a two day trip around all the London clubs. Monday saw me mow Craven Cottage, Stamford Bridge and Upton Park. Like Newcastle and ourselves, Fulham has a fibrelastic pitch, so it was interesting to hear Dave Fellow’s perspective on the pitch.
On the Tuesday, I finished off in the country’s capital by mowing Arsenal and Tottenham. It was fascinating to see the wide range of equipment that Paul Ashcroft had at Arsenal and to hear about his pitch maintenance programme at one of England’s biggest and most successful clubs.
Adam Singleton at Tottenham has been great in helping me support this project, through numerous tweets, and it was great to talk to him about his time at Wolves. With twelve clubs now mown and out the way, I was well over halfway and looking forward to finishing off in the North West.
Geordie boy
Celebrating at West Brom
With the Villa lads
On the Villa pitch
A touch of touchline mowing at Sunderland
i did want to go to Chelsea
With Dave Fellows at Fulham
Cottage industry at Fulham
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