Public Places
Stanley Park was one of the first sports
grounds in the UK to be built specifically for grassroots football and, such has been its success, that former Chelsea player, Florent Malouda, visited the site when he was planning to create something similar in France. Other well known figures who have visited the site on fact-finding missions include Sky Sport’s Jeff Stelling, Olympic Bronze medal snowboarder Jenny Jones, former British Lion Danny Grewcock and South African rugby star Thinus Delport. Entering the site, one is immediately
struck by how well it is presented visually, a fact borne out by two recent industry awards for Best Public Facility of the Year and Grassroots Sports Ground of the Year, both of which are flagged up at the entrance. It is early March and the pitches still have the majority of grass coverage and look in very good shape. A Sisis Quadraplay is being put through its paces. Facility Manager, Pete Hussey is in charge
of a team of four; Assistant Manager Nigel Harvey, Assistant Groundsman Nick Johnstone, Caretaker/Groundsman Peter Claridge and Sports Development Officer Paul (no relation to Nigel) Harvey. Both Nigel and Pete are well respected within our industry and have a wealth of experience. Nigel came third in the FA Groundsman of the Year award last year and Pete was a speaker at the last two industry conferences. Pete has been at Stanley Park for the best
part of nine years. As a youngster, he had hoped to become a professional footballer and was a goalkeeper playing at a good level but, when that didn’t materialise, he took a job in catering. But football was his love and, when the Stanley Park position came up, he couldn’t turn it down.
Nigel has been at Stanley Park for eight
years. He started his groundsmanship journey at a very young age by helping his father on local cricket wickets. After jobs in pest control and working for a water company, he joined up with Pete with the aim of making an already good ground great. “The site is built on Oxford clay, so it
doesn’t drain too well,” explains Pete. “Fortunately, there is primary pipe drainage at 3 metres spacings throughout the site, which allows the pitches to be moved around, season to season, to reduce wear areas. The only pitch that doesn’t move is our ‘prem pitch’, which is fenced off and hosts the likes of Swindon Town’s under 16s and 18s. Nigel also enlists the help of Steve Gingell to help him understand what is going on underneath the surface. We both believe that hard graft and experience is the key to getting great results, but only if you get the balance right.” The pitches are cut with a Jacobsen 305
triple at a height of 25mm in the spring and summer, which is raised to 30mm in the late autumn and through the winter, although Nigel will judge when to raise it based on growth and weather conditions. “My maintenance regimes are not set in stone,” he confirms. He marks out his pitches every week at a
rate of 4:1 using a spray linemarker. Aeration is undertaken every four weeks using a Wiedenmann Terra Spike and scarifying takes place at the end of the season with a Sisis Quadraplay. The Quadraplay is also used for post-match tidy up and the brush is used to remove heavy dew to allow the air to get to the base of the plant. Nigel controls the spraying of the ‘prem
pitch’, with Complete Weed Control called in to spray the remainder of the site for weeds.
“
We have, on a few occasions, had to return next door’s chickens and goats that have ventured onto the ground
Pete Hussey and Nigel Harvey PC APRIL/MAY 2015 I 97
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