Winter Sports - Rugby Union
Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club
University Challenge
CURUFC is a wholly amateur student rugby club aiming to offer a rugby environment that is as ‘professional’ as possible. Equally being as professional as possible is their Grounds Manager, David Hurst
D
avid Hurst became Grounds Manager at Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club nine years ago, having progressed through various positions at secondary schools, sports grounds and as foreman of a sportsturf contractor. Whilst working at a “large secondary school” he was responsible for the sports turf maintenance of cricket, tennis, athletics and three rugby pitches so, when he saw the Cambridge vacancy advertised, thought he would apply. “My education in groundsmanship came in a roundabout way,” explains David, “starting with an OCN (Open College Network) in countryside management, then doing chainsaw certificates, spraying certificates and an OCN in hard landscaping, before eventually starting an NVQ 2 in Sports Turf and Amenity Horticulture.” “Two years later I started NVQ 3 in
Sports Turf and Amenity Horticulture at Pencoed Agricultural College, just outside Bridgend, where I had two great teachers, Paul Discombe and John Sullivan, who taught me there’s more to looking after grounds than simply cutting grass, marking lines and picking up litter. In the last two years, I have just finished an NVQ 4 in Sports Turf Management with the College of West Anglia. My very conscientious tutor was Phillippa McDonald, but the person who inspired me the most was my old foreman in Wales called Ken who, we found out when he passed away, had received the Burma Star. He was always happy in his work.” “The pitch area here is approximately two and a half acres and is the only university site in Cambridge with floodlights,” continues David, “therefore, we have a higher usage rate on the main pitch and our training pitches. Our
pitches are extensively used during the season for football, rugby union and rugby league.”
“Due to the structure of the ground being on a river basin, we have large silt particles and a bed of ¾” stone to pea shingle at about ten inches down. So we have to use an iron sand of 0.0015- 0.0025 size so that our sand particles are smaller than the silt particles. Drainage has always been a problem at the site!” David works alone but hires a contractor to undertake large work such as a renovations, vertidraining and topdressing. “We also have an agronomist who analyses the soil to make sure that everything is right. Apart from that, it’s all me!” His lone worker status has been tested
in recent years though with the expansion of the university, especially buildings for students accommodation, one of which, a five storey construction,
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