FOOTBALL


T


he Deva Stadium - also currently known as the Swansway Chester Stadium for sponsorship reasons - is the home of Chester FC. The name Deva


comes from the original Roman name for the fort Deva Victrix, which became the city of Chester. The stadium has a capacity of 5,376 (4,170 seated). It sits on the border between England and Wales; the border running alongside the rear of the east (main) stand. The address of the ground is officially classed as England, due to the main entrance of the building being in England.


Tucked away at the back of a large retail park, I turn into the stadium car park, where Head Groundsman Michael Barrow is waiting to meet me. Once signed in, he takes me through the stand and onto the pitch via the players’ tunnel. We only manage to have a brief look at the pitch as


the first team are setting up for a training session before they travel to Brackley FC that evening, so we head off to the groundsman’s shed for a chat.


Michael is a life-long supporter of the club and has always had an interest in football groundsmanship. His career started out at the MBNA Business Park on the outskirts of the city, where he used to look after a small 3G artificial pitch, a full-size grass pitch and a running track. Chester FC had used the facilities in the past to train.


Mike explains, “I was approached at a Chester away game about applying for the job as Head Groundsman. The club decided to give me the job even though I was new to it. They could have given the job to someone else with more experience, but I’m grateful they chose me as I am a lifelong fan.” He started his new role in December 2015, where his first game was against Torquay United.


“My partner was due with Isaac, so I had a divot fork in one hand and a phone in the other. Luckily, Isaac arrived the next day.”


Mike gained his spraying certificates whilst studying for an NVQ in Landscape at Reaseheath College, and he now wants to start working towards an NVQ Level 2 in Sportsturf as soon as time allows. Michael works on his own, looking after the stadium pitch on a day to day basis, but is grateful to the volunteers who help on match days, no matter what the weather. They also get a good response when they put a shout out on the website to help remove the eighteen frost covers. “Last year, we got some freak weather that came out of the blue when we played Solihull in December. No snow was forecast. Then, the day of the game, I woke up and it was horrendous. Three of us attempted to move the snow off the pitch


PC December/January 2019


75


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