Winter Sports
Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium pitch is in the care of Head Groundsman, Simon Marshall. Now in his six season, the last four in the Football League, he has won a number of accolades for the quality of his pitch.
With strong ties to the FA’s St George’s Park complex, the quality of his playing surface has resulted in the ground hosting International matches at various levels, all of which add to his workload.
Laurence Gale MSc reports
champions in 2008-09. After a first season that saw the
S
Brewers comfortably consolidate their new found status with a thirteenth place finish, the second term in the Football League was a more difficult campaign, given that the club had to play over half of their league matches in the final three months of the season after numerous postponements left them with up to eight games in hand on their rivals. From a comfortable position just five points off the play-offs in December, their inactivity meant that, at the start of February, a relegation battle ensued, with a six game unbeaten run at the end of the season eventually confirming their League status for a third season with just a game to spare. The club’s rise through the Conference and into the Football League coincided with the move from previous ground Eton Park to their current home, the Pirelli Stadium, built just a stone’s throw
eason 2013-14 sees Burton Albion competing in the Football League for a fourth season, following their promotion from the Football Conference as
from their former home on the site of the Italian tyre giant’s Sports and Social Club.
Albion began life at the Lloyds
Foundry ground on Wellington Street, but high attendances meant that the club quickly searched for a more suitable home. Eton Park was built off Derby Road and officially opened on 20 September 1958, coinciding with the club’s promotion to the Southern League. From then, until its demolition in 2005, the Brewers played all their home games at Eton Park. The club has also had spells in the Northern Premier League (NPL), because of their location in the central Midlands. Indeed, they entered the Conference in 2002 upon winning the NPL title.
Built at a cost of £7.2 million, the
Pirelli Stadium’s capacity was originally set at 6,200, but later raised to 6,912. The first match was a friendly between Burton Albion and Chester City on Saturday 16 July 2005. The club’s Head Groundsman is Simon Marshall who joined the club in 2008. Simon previously worked at Derbyshire
County Cricket Club for ten years, so it was quite a career change for him in terms of managing a Fibresand pitch compared to a heavy clay loam cricket facility.
Up until 2011, Simon looked after the pitch on his own, however, he was able to persuade the club to take on an assistant groundsman as part of the Government’s apprenticeship scheme. This worked out really well, with his first apprentice going on to work at the FA’s new St George’s Park Football Centre. So, the club have now taken on Nick George under the same scheme. Nick has already shown an interest and aptitude for groundsmanship by attending a number of training courses, including a Pitchcare Lantra accredited course led by Dave Saltman. Simon says that he is only too pleased to be able to help train the next generation of professional groundsmen.
Having another member of staff helps enormously, especially when maintaining a sand-based pitch which requires a high level of input in terms of feeding, watering and presentation. Simon has already received several
The Burton Albion pitch ready for the new season 64 PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
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 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156