Winter Sports - Football


W


alking into Oakwell, home to Barnsley Football Club, one is struck by the size of the stands. They look far bigger than its 23,000


capacity would suggest. This is both blessing and curse ‐ Oakwell is one of the shadiest pitches in the English Football League. The East Stand follows the touchline, and is the marquee stand, accommodating a potential 7,500. It rises in two equally deep tiers, and is a very popular seating area. At the southern end of this is the corner‐ filling Britannia Drilling Ltd Stand, which connects the East to the CK Beckett (South) Stand. Any light which would otherwise be


able to sneak in through the corner is, therefore, blocked. And the South Stand isn’t particularly short either.


Thankfully for David Anderson, the Head Groundsman at the site for the past four years (plus a further seven as groundsman), his club decided to invest in a lighting rig, on the suggestion of both him and the FA itself. David told us: “The FA asked me to do a shade pattern diagram, which I think they asked of every club in the English Football League.”


“November is perhaps our worse month for shade here, and we don’t get light anywhere on the pitch until about 10.00am, and then it’s completely gone again by about


three in the afternoon.”


“So that’s all you get ‐ about five hours. And that isn’t full coverage anyway. There’s most of the time through the winter when that corner [the South‐East] doesn’t get any sun at all. They told us we had the darkest pitch of any they assessed in the second, third and fourth tiers.”


“The lighting rig has been brilliant for us. I didn’t expect the technology to be as helpful as it was. Last season, we had the best coverage we’ve ever had, and I put a great deal of responsibility for that improvement on the lights.”


“It’s especially handy through the winter. We just have one to tackle the one area, but


PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018 I 49


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