Winter Sports - Football


a team tends to only need to really focus on one area anyway, depending on where the sun hits.” “Our worst areas are where the goalkeepers warm up, which gets pretty chewed up, and an area where the outfield players do the same warm‐up every time they train or play.”


David Anderson “


“They go around in a sort of oval, so we have those two areas where we can risk poor coverage; an oval and a circle. So, it’s just the first team warm‐up area, the goalkeeper’s training area, and the goalmouth. We just rotate between the three.” “Including that, we focus on that corner for several reasons. The shade encourages various things, but one of the worst is algae. We use moisture absorption products to combat that as well as the lighting, which is the most effective tool we’ve got.” “Overall, it’s been a godsend to us. If they haven’t tried it already, I’d recommend investing in lighting rigs to the other clubs who can afford it, definitely.”


Like most clubs in the


Overall, the lighting rig has been a godsend to us. If they haven’t tried it already, I’d recommend investing in lighting rigs to the other clubs who can afford it, definitely


Championship or higher, Barnsley FC’s facilities are spread across several training and development pitches. These are all under the ‘Oakwell’ banner and, strictly speaking, the term applies to the whole facility, rather than just the main stadium pitch.


The stadium has been an all‐seater since 1995 and the three imposingly large stands, the North, South, and East, have all been installed since 1993.


David arrived after all this change, and has only ever worked at the stadium whilst in its current state, which makes for an attractive office.


Before this, he worked an all‐ rounder’s job in a Peugeot dealership. He was their mechanic, but also a parts salesman, pitching into the business where needed. Tony Stones, then the man with David’s current job, liked the fact that he had so much expertise “with spanners”, as David puts it, because he needed an in‐house mechanic. David’s love of football was the draw for him at the time, but once he joined the staff, he was trained in the other skills required for professional groundsmanship, most recently including City and Guilds Level 3, and climbed the ladder because he is multi‐skilled.


The enjoyment he took from helping a friend to landscape when they moved into their new house gave him familiarity with some tools and techniques suited to the job, and he said he had always liked “gardening and weeding”. He said the pull of those hobbies was the pride one can take in their immediate benefit; you do the work and see its results without delay. He is a fan of the club at which he works, as is so often the case with long‐time stadium groundsmen. He has lived there since infancy, after being born in nearby Rotherham. He is also a Manchester United fan ‐ but it seems he has that much in common with most people. His first day on the job was in March, and he was straight into grounds responsibilities, on the cusp of renovation time.


He said this was a necessity, due to the timing of that renovation, and that he was “chucked in at the deep end”. It was less a formal training regime, more a casual mode of


50 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018


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