Winter Sports - Football “
Some well-qualified guys turn up at 9.00am and leave at 4.00pm. I work for the local authority, so I put the extra effort in. I’ve got experience, which is helpful, and I stay as long as the work needs me to
Shay during its first council‐run stretch, in 1989. The tender was then taken by a private company and many others took over during Ozzy’s first twenty years throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
He began working as a casual, night‐only employee, and was appointed Stadium Supervisor after six months in the maintenance role, which also entailed management of the ground’s five‐a‐side artificial surface, as well as painting and other routine maintenance work. Whilst in charge of these other activities, he recalled, he was “thrown in at the deep end” with turf maintenance and, in 2000, was appointed Head Groundsman. He has now been in this role for seventeen years. Of training and personal development, he said: “I’ve had all the minor certificates that you need to do the job safely, but I’m not what you’d call a formally trained groundsman. I don’t have NVQs or City & Guilds, or anything like that.”
“However, I think you see a lot of people with all the bells and whistles who just know
“
the same things as the people without them.”
“With me, it’s about application and really caring about what I do. Some well‐qualified guys turn up at 9.00am and leave at 4.00pm. I work for the local authority, so I put the extra effort in. I’ve got experience, which is helpful, and I stay as long as the work needs me to.”
As with many groundsmen who are contracted to work at one venue, ownership circumstances have not forced Ozzy to move around and find new work, as he has simply been passed between the organisations in charge.
Since his arrival at the stadium, the rugby league club has joined the fray which, like at other dual‐use venues, has occasionally caused friction.
This was in 1998, and naturally Ozzy has since had to accommodate both sets of fans, which has at times been challenging. However, he told us he is often able to communicate with the managers of both clubs simultaneously, and they are
I got into this work originally because I’m a huge Halifax Town fan, I love The Shay as a venue and I remember always wanting to work here. I always did
42 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018
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