Schools & Colleges
in determining how the sportsturf they tend is utilised day to day. “Our heads of specialist sports consult with me to decide if fixtures are played or not, and if the students are allowed on to the pitches at certain times,” says Brian in typically no- nonsense Northern fashion. “We had to cancel a load of games
through November last year, either because of flooding or freezing. It’s just one of those things, but it’s important that we don’t have games played for the sake of it, as it’s ultimately detrimental to the quality of the pitches.” Once, groundsmen would have been dismissed for voicing such sentiments, but the times they are a changing as operators begin to take the longer view, and recognise that maintaining quality provision is a question of managerial balance.
A stone’s throw from Noel and Liam Gallagher’s Burnage birthplace, the school has a large acreage devoted to sport, thirty, no less, on both sides of Old Hall Lane, with rugby and football played opposite the site of the main
gates - with a short drive up to a rather severe ‘citadel’ styled brick entrance building, redeemed by a picturesque clock tower.
In total, Brian and his team of five
are responsible for seven rugby and six football pitches, two cricket squares, four sets of nets, nine hard tennis courts, whilst, in the summer, a 400m grass athletics track and softball pitch add to the provision. Trouble with flooded or frozen rugby pitches is a constant niggle, and new drainage systems might be the answer, Brian explains. “A cancelled game is the low point of my year, but there’s no skills development to be had when playing on a pile of mud or sheet of ice.” “There’s another crucial consideration,” he adds. “The school is extremely health and safety conscious. We have two full-time nurses in our Medical Centre who are always on hand for matches during the week, and a part-time nurse one on duty for Saturday games. Both Peter Mellor, my deputy, and me are St John Ambulance
qualified, so can be right there should accidents occur."
Whilst MGS is noted for its academic
excellence - the 1,500-pupil school is one of the biggest feeder schools for the Oxbridge universities, alongside the most notable public ones such as Eton and Harrow - sporting excellence has deep roots here, primarily in cricketing terms.
But, I cherish memories of another pursuit as, back in my sporting youth, I recall battles royal as the seat of my secondary education - William Hulme’s Grammar School, sited only a few miles away - pitted its lacrosse skills against MGS. As, arguably, the premier school in the country for what is still sadly a minority sport, WHGS invariably prevailed (or so my memory would have me believe). The lacrosse world championships
were staged in Manchester a few years ago, with barely a nod nationally. My old school gave up the sport in the 1990s, finally preferring football, but MGS still soldiers on, with a natural grass pitch occasionally marked out,
“Our heads of specialist sports consult with me to decide if fixtures are played or not, and if the students are allowed on to the pitches at certain times”
Brian Minshall, Head Groundsman, Manchester Grammar School
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