FOOTBALL
Wycombe Wanderers FC Just the tonic
EFL League One side Wycombe Wanderers are currently exceeding all expectations sitting top of the division, with hopes of promotion to the dizzy heights of the Championship. Adams Park Stadium is their home ground, which is where Lee Williams met with Turf Tonics employee and Head Groundsman, Sean Woodley on, what was, a very wet and windy morning in November
S
ean Woodley found his way into the industry through Colin Wilson, one of Turf Tonics founders and directors who was course manager at Wycombe Heights Golf Centre. “I’d been working in the kitchens at Wycombe Heights Golf Centre for twelve years and was at a point where I was getting frustrated and wanted a change. I knew Colin well, and I admired the work they did out on the course and it looked like a career I could get my teeth into. So, for months, I was hounding him for an opportunity to join his greenkeeping team but, unfortunately, there were no positions available. Colin then left the club to set up Turf Tonics with Steve Gardner. Then, one day, Colin phoned me up out of the blue and asked if I wanted a job? The opportunity was too good to miss.”
Sean was thrown in at the deep end and was immediately set to work as a groundsman looking after the Adams Park Stadium pitch. But he needn’t have worried as Steve’s dad Jim, a former groundsman for the club, was prepared to show him the ropes.
“Jim took me to the training ground, showed me how to mark out a pitch, string out and generally how to set a pitch up. Then it was up to me to put that into practice on the stadium pitch. Along the way, I have had lots of help and guidance from Colin and Steve, who have been very supportive. I took
on board everything they had to offer me, and the hard work paid off in 2017 when they made me the Head Groundsman, which was a very proud moment for me.”
I was surprised to find out that the stadium pitch was an eighteen-year-old Desso with a medium/fine rootzone. This is the same age as the Desso at Oldham Athletic which I worked on during my time as Head Groundsman, so I can sympathise with the issues and challenges Sean now faces. “London Wasps helped install the pitch when they were here eighteen years ago, so it does have undersoil heating which still works. It does cost a fortune to run so, before we switch it on, we have to send a report to the club who will then give the go-ahead as the cost to run it is not in the contract. We have a Hunter irrigation system with sprinkler heads around the outside, but not in the middle, which isn’t ideal, although we were recently given the budget to update the heads.”
I asked Sean if he had recently checked the depth of the Desso fibres. “Funnily enough, we looked at this a few months ago, and they are now at depths varying from 5-6 inches. This has started to affect the stability of the pitch and how it plays, but is just something we have to work with.” The pitch has a lot of use through the season as they host Reading Ladies who use it as their home ground. Reading’s under 23s play four or five fixtures and they are to host
I would like a full set of SGL lighting rigs. They would make a massive difference to the playing surface. In all honesty, even one lighting rig would make a difference
PC December/January 2020 79
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