Winter Sports - Football
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I don’t think there’d been any major refurbishment for ten or more years. It was now really a matter of starting afresh
he had previously worked on many a match day at the Valley. “One day, he rang me to say there was a
vacancy as head groundsman at Gillingham and he would be happy to recommend me if I was interested,” said Tony. “Of course I was, and very quickly applied, came for an interview with Gills’ chairman Paul Scally, and got the job.” That was in the summer of 2013. At just
thirty, Tony is now mid-way through his second season at Priestfield, after a testing first one.
“When I first arrived at Priestfield, it was obvious that the stadium pitch was being seriously affected by compaction and the sub-surface structure wasn’t functioning as it should,” he said. “I realised from day one that there was something major wrong. There was black layer all over. You could smell it a mile off. This could only be because of inadequate aeration.” “I distinctly remember the first home game of the 2013-14 season - and mine as head groundsman - against Colchester. A Gills player going for the ball slid on and on, and that shouldn’t happen at such a very early stage in a season. I knew then that I was
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going to have a difficult time in wet conditions later on. There was very little root structure and divots were too readily made in the surface.” Sure enough, last winter was the wettest
on record and getting through that first season was indeed tough. “We have our own Verti-Drain and weekly
all-over usage went some way to improving the soil structure,” said Tony. “The surface repeatedy retained excess water because compaction meant it had nowhere to go so, to ease things, I decided to purchase a couple of waterhog machines, which were very effective in taking up surface water, especially ahead of home fixtures. It proved a useful short-term investment and I reckon I may well have saved five games from postponement by getting up at silly o’clock to dry the pitch.” Tony did get through the season by hard
work and vigilance, but a longer-term remedy was essential. Priestfield is a naturally drained pitch, but only if nature is given every chance. There is no drainage construction or fibresand, so it is totally reliant on the efficiency of the rootzone structure. This had to be reconstructed and Tony made it his business
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