FOOTBALL
Getting Personal
Callum Robinson - everything Liverpool and truly dedicated to his job
Who are you? Callum Robinson. I am one of two groundsmen for Tranmere Rovers.
Family status. In a lengthy relationship.
Who’s your hero and why? I’ve idolised Steven Gerrard since I was three and I was lucky enough to meet him when we hosted Liverpool U23s last year.
What would you change about yourself? To stop stressing when things don’t go to plan.
What’s your guilty pleasure? Curry rice and chips from the chippy.
What’s been the highlight of your career so far? It’s split between two. I’d say the first time I stepped onto the pitch at Anfield or the first time I stepped onto the pitch at Wembley. Both were incredible.
What are your pet peeves? Leaving Mohawks after mowing or wonky mowing lines/marking lines.
If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? To Anfield ... I can’t stay away from the place.
What’s the best part of your job? It would definitely be summer time. Nothing beats the first cut on a newly renovated pitch. The best time for a groundsman in my opinion.
… and the worst? It has to be the winter. Not having undersoil heating means moving frost covers on and off which isn’t my idea of fun.
Do you have a lifetime ambition? I hope to be involved at one of the facilities at Liverpool, but I just have to keep working hard and see where it takes me.
Favourite record, and why? Belter by Gerry Cinnamon. We listen to it on the coach following Liverpool to away games and it gets the lads bouncing around. Gives out good vibes.
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? My girlfriend.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Buy new machinery for the pitch.
70 PC December/January 2019
If you were to describe yourself as a musical instrument, what would you be and why? Drums, because I’m very loud and annoying.
Which three people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party? Steven Gerrard, Lionel Messi and my girlfriend (just in case she reads this).
If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why? Probably Dave Roberts (Liverpool, Grounds Manager). He is in charge of maintaining my favourite team’s pitch. We share the same passion for the same job and I would love to be in charge of Anfield for a day.
Do you go to bed worrying about the next day’s workload? It depends what the weather’s like! If it’s dry, the day is pretty much a normal one, but if it’s raining or snowing it changes everything.
What are you reading at the moment? I don’t read at all as I don’t get much time. The closest I come to reading is fertiliser brochures.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? It’s one of Karl Standley’s quotes for his team; “Being challenged is inevitable, being defeated is optional.”
What do you do in your spare time? Sleep.
What’s the daftest work related question you have ever been asked? Is it astro?
What’s your favourite piece of kit? Allett C34 Buffalo.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Hard working, consistent, a bit slow in the head.
What talent would you like to have? Fly, to take birdseye view pictures of the pitch.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? No goalkeepers in the goalmouths.
a brief walk through the stadium, we walk out onto the pitch, where I meet Aaron Wilson, eighteen years old (groundsman) who was divoting away. After a brief chat, we leave Aaron to carry on the good work whilst Callum takes me for a walk around the facilities before we sit down for a conversation in the media office that overlooks the pitch.
Callum and Aaron have both worked at the club for a year and a half. Callum tells me they both studied sports science in the college which is based in the North Stand of the ground. From the stand, they would see the groundsmen working on the pitch. “I would stay behind after class and watch them work, I was always interested in how they put the patterns on the pitch.” On a careers day at college he was asked what he wanted to be in life. “I told them I would like to try being a groundsman, so they put me on a day release here. I started by cleaning the linemarkers and machinery. I then moved on to the Honda rotary mowers cleaning up the debris on the pitch. Whilst on the Hondas, I thought ‘yes, I am really into this’.”
Callum then started to do volunteer work Community pitch
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