Winter Sports
ground, was what pushed the deal through, so we signed an agreement for two years, allowing them to use both sites as interim training facilities.”
Paul Jones
“Our job is also to keep the site as free of bottles, glass and used syringes as we can. I think we do as much as we can, given the
constraints. We have to move the machinery to and from the ground as site security is so limited”
The Spurs deal with Frenford Clubs means they will host their eight to 16-year-old Youth Academy players at the Oakfields ground for two seasons, ahead of moving to their new multi-million pound training centre. Frenford’s new development at The Drive was an important element in the deal, Graham stresses, with Spurs impressed with the quality of provision on offer, one that dovetailed with their needs. The new Jack Carter pavilion was one of the main attractions for the club and will play host to the Academy’s weekend and holiday training and playing activities. “The Youth Academy activity for our younger age groups had previously taken place at the Academy pavilion at Myddleton House, however this site had become unusable whilst being integrated into the development of our new scheme,” adds Tottenham Hotspur academy manager, John McDermott. For Spurs, the search had been a long process and had proved a fruitless one, until the club got wind of the Frenford plans. “We had visited over thirty potential sites in North London to find an interim facility that met our needs,” John continues. “Frenford have a fantastic pavilion that ticked all the boxes. Ultimately, we are all delighted that we have been able to agree this partnership with Frenford Clubs and can contribute to their charitable foundation with a considerable bulk of their groundcare, which we hope will put them in good stead once we leave.”
Under the agreement, the Spurs
grounds staff, headed up by award- winning grounds manager, Darren Baldwin, have committed to taking over full control of the two senior pitches at Oakfields to bring them up to the standards required by a professional football club.
Managing the Oakfields pitches on a day to day basis is Paul Jones, Spurs head groundsman since 2006. “This is an interim site, being used as the under-8s to under-16s Academy training facility until Bulls Cross opens later in 2012,” Paul explains. “We are running quite an extensive maintenance programme - cutting three times a week and line marking twice a week. The limiting factor is irrigation though. We are governed by the weather here. The site only has two stand pipes and two half-inch diameter hose pipes to hand and, if the ground dries out, we have problems.”
The Spurs grounds maintenance staff look after two full-size pitches, three 60m by 40m junior pitches and a 90m by 50m intermediate pitch, also cutting the cricket outfields. Limited resources have meant that the site had seen little in the way of feeding or seeding until Spurs rented the site. However, the maintenance programme started inauspiciously. “We’ve learned our lesson from last year,” Paul continues, “when we overseeded during the excessively dry spell during June and July. We seeded and fed everything, but only got a 50% take of seed. It was very difficult. This year, we waited until the dry period ended and the ground gained moisture before overseeding.” Paul uses four varieties of 100% ryegrass for the task, sourced from several suppliers, and applies 200- 300kg of seed per pitch, following a pre-seed feed of 10:15:10 fertiliser. “We apply three feeds a year to the whole site, using around 300 bags at £20 a bag. Last year, we seeded twice, using about 1,000kg at £60 a bag. That’s quite a commitment, and we have one to two groundsmen working here three times a week. The line marking alone covers several miles - we double mark twice weekly.” Added to that, for every visit, tractors and the Ransomes Jacobsen LS3400 five-unit mowers are moved by trailer to and from the club’s Chigwell site some 2.5 miles away. “This is an open park site
surrounded by housing - playing
State of the art pavilion was a big attraction ... 64 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2012
... offering good parking facilities
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