FOOTBALL


Stoke City Same but different!


In the worlds of turf maintenance and sport, some things are different, and others are the same. The ultimate aim is to produce the best surface possible and win games, but the methods of achieving both can vary. Blair Ferguson talks to Stoke City’s Andy Jackson about working methods outside the UK


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hether it is preparing the gridiron at the 81,441 capacity Lambeau Field for the Green Bay Packers or readying the pitch for


another cold and windy night at Stoke City Football Club’s bet365 Stadium, the aim always remains the same - produce the best surface possible. Working to those aims at Stoke City is Head Groundsman, Andy Jackson. He started his career at the English Championship football club twenty-five years ago and has seen the landscape of


turf technology change dramatically over that time. To keep himself up to date with the latest developments, he often attends conferences and exhibitions, including the STMA Conference. Whilst in America, he gets the opportunity to speak to fellow professionals about the different methods they use and how they compare to his own maintenance regime. Before a word is spoken, it is known the most significant variants between the United Kingdom and America is the sports themselves in terms of the pressure on the pitch and the length of seasons. Typically,


the pre-match pageantry and stress on the turf during an NFL match far outweighs that of a football or rugby game. In recent times in the UK, NFL games held at Wembley have demonstrated the damage that can be done if the weather and other circumstances aren’t on your side. But, for Andy, clubs in the UK have only got to a point of hosting multiple sports in a season because of the leap forward in the machines they use for renovations, and the other maintenance apparatus that has been developed within Europe. Andy explained: “I think some of the


PC June/July 2020


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