Winter Sports
Grass in the goalmouths is ‘given a fighting chance’ by being left a few millimetres higher
with pedestrian rotaries. On Wednesday, it was sprayed with a liquid feed and the small lighting rigs were put into the goalmouths. No work was done on Thursday, allowing the pitch to rest The pitch was then hand brushed and given a single cut - at a height of 27mm - on Friday and Saturday, leaving Lee and Darren to complete the work on Sunday. Like most modern stadium pitches, the
remit is to refrain from putting any heavy machinery on the pitch, so most of the work is carried out using pedestrian equipment.
The pitch at the Etihad Stadium is a Desso Grassmaster, installed in 2010 by John Mallinson. According to Lee, it performs very well, but needs a lot of attention in respect of feeding, controlling hardness and ensuring the fibres remain upright. Keeping the surface clean is also a key factor to its success.
The soil pH of the latest Desso Pitch is a lot lower than the previous one. Current readings are around the 4.9-5.2 mark, whereas the old pitch used to be just over 7. Lee was keen to show me how well the new Desso was performing. Even after back to back games the grass in the goalmouths was holding up very well. Here, Lee raises the height of cut by a few millimetres to give it, as he says, a fighting chance which, along with the lighting rigs, appears to be doing the trick.
The club has invested heavily in lighting rigs for the stadium, buying nine large MU360 rigs and six smaller rigs which, says Lee, have made a significant difference in promoting growth and recovery during the winter months. All
Lee checks the pitch’s watering requirements from the comfort of his office ...
the rigs are stored within the stadium, being stacked against every available side wall!
Lee is able to activate the watering system from the comfort of his office. An external video camera relays a live view of the pitch which shows which pop-ups he wants on and, hey presto, with the press of a button, on they come. Usually, in mid November, a quick full cycle is all that is required. At midday, both teams arrived and the
stewards took their places as the match day atmosphere began to kick in. Roy Rigby, the club’s Grounds Manager arrived, along with the rest of the match day groundstaff.
The club employs twelve groundstaff in total, three at the Etihad, six at the Carrington training ground and three at their Platt Lane facility. On match days, eight members of staff are required to be on duty. This usually consists of Roy, Lee, Darren, Gary Conway (also based at the stadium full time but on paternity leave when I visited) plus four others. In a quiet moment, and there are not many of them, Roy tells me how pleased he is with, what is, a fairly young team. He confesses that he is a stickler for training and puts his staff on numerous courses, the latest being a trip to Ireland, which Lee organised, to catch up on the latest developments on nematode control with Dr Colin Fleming Fleming, which seven of the club’s groundstaff went on and took place the day after I visited. Back to the match. Lee likes to wait by the players tunnel to meet delegates, officials and players prior to kick off. He confesses that it’s mainly to make sure that everything is set-up and ready to everyone’s satisfaction, but he also takes
... and a quick full cycle is all that is required
the opportunity to remind the coaches of designated warm-up areas. With this game being on
Remembrance Sunday, the pitch also had to cope with servicemen parading on and around the centre circle.
I joined Lee at pitch side and was
introduced to a number of people, including past player, Mike Summerbee, a City legend who attends all of the home games. With warm-ups completed, the staff, with yours truly in tow, are out on the pitch to remove practice goals and repair scars, especially around the fast feet drill areas. With the two team emerging from the tunnel, we make a hasty retreat to the corner of the ground, where we are able to watch the game. Some of the staff grab a cup of tea and some food. Lee introduces me to Rose who, for close on thirty-six years, has run a cafe bar for the freelance photographers; here, the groundstaff take full advantage of her catering skills. Like most top flight sporting fixtures, time seems to pass by very quickly. At half-time City were trailing 1-0. Lee was keen to point out that the club had not lost a home league game in thirty-five matches, stretching back to December 2010 at the time of my visit, and if they lost this one, he would blame me! With very few divots to repair, thanks to the Desso surface, and the pitch still damp and, therefore, not requiring watering, we returned to our seats to watch the second half. I took the opportunity to catch up with Roy and find out what he had been up to.
The club, under the guidance of Roy and other key head groundsmen, has
Lee carrying out post warm-up divoting whilst the servicemen prepare for the two minutes silence ahead of the game
Our ‘legend’ with Man City legend, Mike Summerbee and Lee Jackson
Lee with Rose the cafe owner and tea lady - a case of Rosey Lee?
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2013 PC 55
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 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140