Winter Sports - Lacrosse
Barry Livesey with Kubota and roller combo
“Money isn’t any use in the bank, and is spent wherever
possible for the betterment of the club but, in order to do this, money needs to come in in the first place”
with the ground started. As part of his junior duties, he volunteered to mow the grass and mark out the pitch ready for the junior games and, with this, was, in his own words, gradually sucked into the club. He has acted as treasurer before becoming chairman and, of course, groundsman. Barry is 71 now and has been looking after the ground for over thirty years and has never had any formal training; everything has been self taught. Originally, the plan was for him to retire at 70, however these plans did not come to fruition when Barry’s wife decided that she did not want him cluttering up the house, so he still visits the club most days.
The methods of work have changed considerably in these thirty years. In the early days, the grass was mown using a gang mower towed on the back of Barry’s car! Nowadays, the club has two small tractors to do the towing and there is a ride on mower as well. During the winter lacrosse season,
Barry spends about two to three days on the ground - which is mainly a mixture of clay and sand - with his week starting after the weekend games, as the pitch marking is still the responsibility of the junior managers.
Monday morning and Barry can be seen on the ground rolling the pitch flat again after the weekend’s battles. He does take pride in making it look as nice as possible. In addition, he spikes and slits as he remembers being told once that this aeration encourages root growth. There is a train of thought within the club to play wherever possible, and Barry is often fighting with himself over the decision to play or not. In one respect, wanting to keep the damage to the pitch at a minimum but, on the other hand, to not deny the players a chance to play.
Barry Livesey - his car is no longer used! 56 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014
Generally, he comes to the decision that there is no point having a pristine pitch if no one is ever allowed to play on it; it does somewhat make it a pointless exercise. So an awful lot of sand is used to keep the mud at bay at the risk of
limited new growth. Fortunately for Barry, this sand spreading is now much easier with a mechanical scoop on one of the tractors filling the spreader, which can be then towed by the other tractor. Previously, this was done the old fashioned way - wheelbarrow, shovel and legs! This has been a recurring factor as time has passed and Barry has got older, the amount of machinery has increased. Maintenance is also kept in-house to reduce costs. A mechanic known to the club performs tasks as and when required.
The pitch is solely used for lacrosse, mainly at weekends, for both men’s junior and senior games (the ladies and girls play on another pitch) but is also let out to local schools. It is not used a great deal in the summer other than the previously mentioned American crossover games for both boys and girls, including being the training venue for the Americans, so repairs tend to wait until then. The main areas of the creases (the circular area around the goal), the wings and the centre - areas which get a great deal of traffic - are scarified and then the application of grass seed and soil, nothing more complicated than that. Turfing of the worst affected areas was tried once, but failed, probably due to the need for sanding. Although Barry does not have any staff or a nominated assistant, players do help at reseeding time, and the cricket groundsman assists, wherever possible, with Barry reciprocating during the summer. Pest and weed control is also done annually by outside contractors, but this is generic maintenance as, so far, the grounds have not suffered from any specific disease outbreaks. The pitch is also fertilised on an annual basis. Day to day problems come from badgers and foxes, but is not excessive and is just lived with.
Although the club does not have an official environmental policy in place, the needs of local flora and fauna are considered wherever possible. Barry does have one concern, and that is for the future. There is nobody waiting
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