Winter Sports
Laugardalsvöllur National Stadium
Burgess giving me that chance was really important and I’m very grateful for that opportunity.” “When I got back to Iceland, I continued to work at the National Stadium over the summer but, in September 2005, Paul Burgess invited me back to work at Highbury and the Emirates, working alongside himself, Paul Ashcroft and Mark Petitt. After a great year, where I honed my skills further, I decided to return home to become head groundsman here.” Since 1957, various work has been
carried out to modernise the stadium, including a stand rebuild between 1965- 70, which also saw a roof being added. In 1992 an eight-lane athletics track was added followed, in 1997, by a new stand. Between 2005-07, the old stand was
C, almost permanent night-time in winter and permanent daylight in the height of summer, you might expect such requirements to be a foregone
demolished and replaced by a state-of- the-art 6,300 seater stand. During all these improvements, very little work was carried out on the pitch, apart from a re-turf in 1976 and a partial re-turf (one third) in 1992. Basically, it is the old soil construction from 1957! “The pitch is very old and, subsequently, has no undersoil heating or irrigation, and I do not have lighting rigs,” continues Kristinn. “The drainage is bad and, because the pitch is so old, I’m not even sure of the original soil type but, today, it is a mix of a lot of things!” With temperatures ranging from an average low of minus 6O 15O
C to a maximum
conclusion, but Kristinn says he is experienced in working with what he’s got, adding; “since I started to work here as a full time groundsman I’ve never had to re-turf any part of the pitch.” “I’m the only full-time groundsman but, in the summer, have an additional four to six people to help me. These are mainly college kids ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-two. Last summer, there were six of us; myself, Hallveig Ólafsdóttir, Snævar Ingi Hafsteinsson, Hjörtur Árni Jóhannsson, Ingvi Hermannsson and Elías Bóasson. This was Hallveig’s fifth year, Snævar’s second, Hjörtur and Ingvi’s third and Elías’s first year. I try to keep my staff summer after summer but, sometimes, that is not possible. They are a great group of people who enjoy their job and put a lot
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