Viewpoint
to recover. That’s just common sense but, unfortunately, not all players and managers see it that way. Is it the weather’s fault or the team that played on the pitch?” “We have an unwritten rule that nobody
involved in grounds work at the club is criticised,” says Christopher. “We have the odd issue, but most people pretty much understand and generally appreciate the efforts of the grounds team, especially as our facilities are amongst the best in the league. Fortunately, no other sport is played at our grounds.”
Colin and Dave’s views are somewhat Junior coaching at the Peppard Ground
Dave, however, has more to say. “We decide whether matches are played except, nominally, for first team games, except when the decision is out of the club’s control. This penalises clubs which own their own grounds (and have to pay for repairs), but not those who rent from councils or other clubs.” “I won’t bore you with the detail, but
we’ve opted out of this after a referee, in November 2015, on being told on the phone that the pitch was on the margins of playable at 10.00am, but there was a severe weather warning for heavy rain at 2.00pm (kick-off time) said ‘I won’t call it off on a forecast’.
The game was played and was a farce, though fortunately it didn’t cause massive damage. Having said that, up here in the north-west, most teams didn’t play between that weekend and mid-February because of waterlogging and the leagues had to extend the season!”
Who gets the blame if things go wrong?
Martin is up first; “If we are talking about games getting called off; I live in the north east of England, the weather is not great and we get more than our share of rain, snow and frost. If a pitch is played on when it shouldn’t have been, then it will take weeks
more succinct. “Always the groundsman, isn’t it?” suggests Colin, whilst Dave concludes “I suppose, me!”
Conclusion
One final question regarding association membership was asked and all four participants said they were not members of any association. Using Pitchcare and social media appears
to be the way these particular lower level groundsmen prefer to gather their information, which is perhaps a damning indictment of the kowtowing to the top level groundstaff and the governing bodies that is a turn-off for Martin, Dave, Christoper and Colin.
Pitchcare would like to thank the four participants for giving their time to help compile this article.
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