Artificial Surfaces GETTING Personal...
Mark Roche ‐ Piers Morgan, Donald Trump and Michael Jackson; some mad party!
Who are you? Mark Roche, Head Groundsman at the University of Birmingham and a father of two young daughters.
Who’s your hero and why? Ron Saunders, for winning the European Cup for Villa.
What would you change about yourself? I’d lose weight.
What’s your guilty pleasure? Piers Morgan.
What’s been the highlight of your career so far? The South Africa Rugby Union World Cup squad camping at the
university. We had to make the pitch Test standard.
What are your pet peeves? Whingeing staff.
If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Australia. I’ve always fancied it, and it’s warm.
What’s the best part of your job? Working with Mother Nature.
… and the worst? Mother Nature.
Do you have a lifetime ambition? To retire young and healthy, and play more golf.
Favourite record, and why? Bohemian Rhapsody. I was raised on Queen.
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? Denise van Houten.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Ring in sick. Or buy an Audi RS7.
98 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018
Which three people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party? Winston Churchill, Michael Jackson and Lord Lucan.
If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why? Donald Trump. He’s as mad as a hatter.
Do you have any bad habits? Swearing a lot.
... or any good ones? I don’t smoke.
Do you go to bed worrying about the next day’s workload? Occasionally. Not often.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? Do as you would be done by.
What’s your favourite smell? Curry (I’m from Birmingham).
What do you do in your spare time? I play golf, watch Aston Villa and watch Warwickshire cricket. The rest of the time I spend with the family.
What’s the daftest work- related question you have ever been asked? “What do you do in the winter when the grass doesn’t grow?”
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Honest, loyal and reliable.
What talent would you like to have? I’d be able to sing.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? I wouldn’t let people walk around with earphones in.
“I’m led to believe,” Mark said, “that the day the university took over the site, the grass was about three feet long. And there is no drainage in there at all, through what is eight inches of a reasonable‐ quality topsoil, on top of a clay base.”
“We do well on that pitch now, although that’s down to many years of aeration, renovation and adding sand to the top of the profile.” Just down the road, in the student‐heavy Selly Oak, the second site is clay‐based and would require even more work, although it thankfully commands a simple drainage system.
The Selly Oak site is also used heavily, mostly by the University of Birmingham School (state school), and this is another reason for the transition to synthetics. Central pitches are hired out frequently to the community to maximise both publicity and
revenue and, as an artificial surface can handle more hours of footfall per week, the new surface allows for a healthier revenue stream.
Aesthetically, the team are torn, as we often hear from groundsmen whose natural surfaces have been replaced. Mark explained this via anecdote:
“We had letters from a pilot once, who flew into Birmingham Airport. At the time, with it being the focal point of the campus, we used to mow patterns into the main pitch, and generally make it look very attractive.”
That is surely the balance to be struck when choosing the surface upon which to play in such a prominent location: 3G is durable, potentially profitable, and enjoyed by sportspeople; meanwhile, fine turf can prove a point of pride for both its maintainers and its spectators. As Mark said: “It was a lush image against its city location.
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