Winter Sports - Football


“


The north end of the pitch does suffer slightly from shading from the terrace and a bit in front of the main stand, which both cut out the sun somewhat


planning permission from South Ayrshire Council for a new 10,200 all-seated stadium at Heathfield in Ayr, with an associated retail development. Unfortunately, the Scottish Executive


reversed the decision in respect of the retail development and, as the club needed this element of the scheme to fund the construction, the development did not proceed.


Then, in November 2006, a move was on


the cards again when United signed a contract with Barratt Homes who wanted to buy Somerset Park, after the club secured a new 20-acre site in the Heathfield area. The site was to house a new £18 million


stadium seating 7,650 as part of a ‘sports and business campus’, but this did not go ahead either. Jimmy Smith holds the record for scoring the most number of goals in a season for Ayr United, putting sixty-six goals past the opposition in only thirty-eight league matches from 1927 to 1928. The club’s overall record scorer is Peter Price, who scored 213 times in competitive matches for


All in all, it’s a decent pitch with a good soil structure. The grass grows well, but we do have to look after it


” 94 I PC APRIL/MAY 2017


the club between 1955 and 1962. At the time of writing, Ayr United, managed by Ian McCall, sit second from bottom in the Scottish League Championship and, for its loyal set of fans, things can only get better. ‘The Honest Men’, as the team are known,


play in black and white for home matches, which today attract around 1,500 spectators to each game. The pitch is really the jewel in the crown


for the club and the envy of many other clubs in the country. Not only does it drain well, it is also well looked after, and the man who is responsible for its superb condition is Jason Waddell from Ayr town itself. Jason has been working as the


groundsman at the club since December 2005 and fell into the role after a period of seven years working as an apprentice. Although predominantly working on his


own, Jason has access to outside contractors who come in for the more specialised jobs such as verti-draining or pest control. Roy Provan is the safety and stadium manager at the club and is also Jason’s line manager.


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