Winter Sports
UEFA Women’s U17 Championship
Here come the girls M
Our editor spends a day with Telford United’s Head Groundsman, Mick Conway, as he prepares for two matches in the UEFA
Women’s U17 Championship
atch day articles are always exciting, having the
opportunity to get an insight into an event and how it all comes to fruition is what I
enjoy. It is particularly interesting to witness, at first hand, the work required to get a stadium match-ready - and even better when the match is an international, and it is taking place just around the corner! In November, AFC Telford hosted the opening game in the UEFA European Women’s U17 Championship. The tournament was staged at four Midlands venues, all within an hour’s travel of St George’s Park where the international teams were being accommodated. The stadiums selected for use were AFC Telford, Hinckley, Chesterfield and Burton Albion. Teams taking part came from England,
Italy, Austria, Portugal, Germany Scotland, France and Spain. Mick Conway is the Groundsman at
70 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014 Mick Conway
Telford; he is someone I have known for many years, and he kindly invited me along to see the opening game of the
tournament - England v Italy - to record this very prestigious occasion for his club. The ground is council owned and Mick works for Telford & Wrekin Services (TWS), the council’s contractor; he has been there for ten years and is solely responsible for the maintenance of the pitch. Like many lower division football clubs, investment in the pitch is generally kept at a minimum. Over his years there, however, Mick has managed to accumulate some very useful equipment, including a Ransomes Matador 36 cylinder mower, a compact tractor equipped with a Sisis brush and a Charterhouse Verti-drain. As a result, the pitch is in very decent condition considering the time of year and the number of fixtures already staged this season (about thirty prior to the tournament).
Support has also been forthcoming
from the FA’s Head Groundsman at St George’s, Alan Ferguson, who made a number of advisory visits to Telford. The club was also given additional resources in the form of topdressing, seed and
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