FOOTBALL
All the hard work paid off in 2017 when they made me the Head Groundsman, which was a very proud moment for me
History
The club plays at Adams Park, which is situated on the western outskirts of High Wycombe, and traditionally play in quartered shirts of navy (Oxford blue) and pale blue (Cambridge blue). The club’s nicknames are “The Chairboys” and “The Blues”.
In 1887, a meeting held at the Steam Engine public house in Station Road, High Wycombe saw the formation of Wycombe Wanderers F.C. It is highly likely the club was named Wanderers after the famous Wanderers, winners of the first FA Cup in 1872. The club played friendly matches between 1887 and 1896. It first entered the FA Amateur Cup in 1894 and the FA Cup in 1895.
In 1895, the club moved to Loakes Park, which would become its home for the next 95 years. In 1896 the club joined the Southern League and competed in the Second Division until 1908.
The club has played at the stadium since 1990. During the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons, the stadium went under the name of the “Causeway Stadium” for sponsorship reasons. The move was financed almost solely by the sale of the club’s former Loakes Park stadium
82 PC December/January 2020
to the health authorities to facilitate the expansion of Wycombe Hospital.
The stadium has a capacity of 9,448 with four stands. The original seating stand (Beechdean Stand) is on the north side of the stadium, with a capacity of 1,267. The largest stand in the stadium is the Woodlands Stand on the south side of the ground, which was built in 1996, replacing a covered terrace. It has two tiers, the upper tier being known as the Frank Adams Stand (like the stadium, named after former captain Frank Adams); the lower tier is the Origin Family Stand. It has a total capacity of 4,936, including sixty brand new ‘2020’ seats, which can be used by both seated and standing spectators.
The away section of the ground, on the east side, is the Hillbottom Stand (Lords Builders Merchants Stand) with a usable capacity of 1,816 (although the physical seating capacity is actually 2,059). This stand was rebuilt in 2001, almost doubling its previous size. The stadium also has one terrace, on the west side, which is the Valley Terrace (BMI Healthcare Terrace) and is the home supporters’ end. It has a capacity of 1,429.
What’s in the shed?
the fertiliser programme together depending on what budget they have available for the season. They will also look back at what has worked in previous seasons. The programme generally consists of a 50/50 split of granular topped up with a liquid fertiliser mixed with bio-stimulants and turf hardeners. They aim for around 250 to 300kg of nitrogen a season as the budget allows but, at the same time, they believe this helps reduce disease. They are now trying to go down a biological and mechanical route to try and strengthen the plant rather than use fungicides. “To try and help suppress disease, I
will put the dew brush over the pitch in the mornings before I cut. It’s hard work but, on the upside, it keeps you fit; the downside is I’m blowing out my backside by the end of it!”
“Wycombe have a training ground comprising two and bit pitches and a goalkeeping area on. This has very little done to it apart from being cut and marked and then a couple of fertiliser applicatins per year. In winter, we will try and get the pitches verti-drained and shockwaved to help keep them dry. We don’t have a pop-up irrigation system, so it’s a real battle in the summer months.”
The machinery Sean uses is owned by Turf Tonics who like to try and find the right machinery for the job and are not committed to any one manufacturer.
I put the question to Sean that, if money was no object, what piece of kit would help improve the quality of the pitch? “That’s easy. 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.”
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