Schools & Colleges
be nominated for Non-League Groundsman of the Year. Paul says he tries these days not to get out on the pitches as much, not wishing to intrude in the day-to-day work carried out by Chris. The Estates Department wanted someone who would play an active part in policy meetings and the like, so his job has changed significantly from what it was a year ago. His main role now is to oversee the whole picture.
Chris has the support of Dave Crowe, who started working at the university as an apprentice assistant two years ago after completing groundsmanship studies at Hadlow College, Kent’s principal horticultural study centre. Dave is the fifth apprentice to have worked on the university pitches since the scheme was introduced four years ago. It’s a feeder source for talent, you might say. Two other members of the team are in charge of all amenity grass surrounding the university buildings and student blocks. Regular cutting by triples takes place over nine months of the year. The pitches - grass and artificial - are all on what is known as the Park Wood part of the campus. The grassed area comprises three football pitches, two grass rugby pitches, and an 11-strip cricket square - all of it heavily used, week in week out. The underlying soil is heavy, claggy clay, so drainage is an ongoing problem and drains installed some years ago are only at ten metre centres. Before Paul’s time, they used to have a contractor carry out vertidraining, but now they use their own - both Wiedenmann and Sisis Mega-slit - and pretty much keep on top of it. If waterlogging ever occurs, Chris does not hesitate to put a halt to keep players off, though this is rare. Paul sympathises with the problems he himself had until a year ago, and backs Chris to the hilt with such decisions.
Student football is played to a pretty decent standard, with the first team playing in the East Kent League. All told there are three men’s teams and a ladies team, with season-long mid-week and weekend fixtures. Mini pitches are also made available to Canterbury Youth Football and the Under-16 Academy at Kent’s only Football League club, Gillingham. There is slightly less pressure on the rugby pitches, with fixtures confined to mid-week during term time only. American Football had also been popular with students in recent years and a dedicated pitch set aside for it. This waned and, at the request of those still wanting to pursue it for a handful of games, the hard-hat sport shares one of the rugby pitches. “The biggest problem with American Football is pitch marking,” said Paul. “We had to have number templates made up by staff carpenters. I’m very much a believer in sport for all, but we’re not heartbroken that the game is now off the students’ agenda. One game on the rugby surface virtually obliterated it, so we had to put a stop to it. “Rugby is a running game,” he said, with an engrained empathy. “Its affect on a pitch is more evenly spread. The American game gives a pitch a very central, unforgiving pounding. As turf carers, we’re not sorry to see the back of it.” Paul is also responsible for maintaining the
extensive amenity areas around all of the university teaching blocks and student accommodation. Completing the department team and working for him in these areas are a senior tractor driver who handles all of the flail cutting and hedge work, plus a tree man and a gardener for the bedding. All told his responsibility spans the university’s whole 300- acre site. His work will also include keeping the campus roadways and car parks clear and serviceable. Last winter, this was a massive task and, mercifully, twelve months on, with milder conditions predominating, he and his team are able to concentrate on groundswork duties. The pitches are all the better for it, he says.
“Rugby is a running game. Its affect on a pitch is more evenly spread. The American game gives a pitch a very central, unforgiving pounding. As turf carers, we’re not sorry to see the back of it”
Paul Griffiths, Grounds Maintenance Manager, University of Kent
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