shakus
Member
- Dec 14, 2005
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taken from Barclays Prem League website
Groundsman spurred on by award
Tottenham Hotspur's Darren Baldwin reveals what it takes to be named Barclays Premier League Groundsman of the Season.
The grounds manager and his team of diligent workers are just some of football's unsung heroes. They work tirelessly to ensure the playing surface is of the highest standard, often in difficult conditions.
If the weather isn't making their lives harder veering from torrential rain to never-ending sunshine, they have to deal with 22 footballers taking just 90 minutes to destroy their lovingly prepared pitch. Add to that the stream of fixtures, busiest just when the weather is at its worst, and it's hard to see how groundsmen can enjoy what they do.
But, after winning the Barclays Premier League Groundsman of the Season award for his work on the White Hart Lane pitch during the 2006/07 campaign, Tottenham Hotspur Grounds Manager Darren Baldwin says he wouldn't change a thing. "It's fantastic; I wouldn't wish to do any other job," he says. "It's hard work and the hours are challenging. Christmas is a non-event - we play Boxing Day and I'm in Christmas Day with the first-team. We tend to play New Year's Day too. Over Christmas last season, I didn't have a day off until New Year's Day. But I'm not complaining - that's the job."
best pitch
It may be the first time he has won the award, but after being shortlisted for three consecutive years, Darren remains modest about his achievements.
"It's a great honour for myself and the rest of the Grounds team," he says. "I've been close before, but never quite managed to scoop the award. It's not the easiest stadium for growing grass, so to achieve the best pitch in the Premier League is a great honour."
Darren got the nod ahead of Tony Bell at Middlesbrough and north-London neighbour, 2005's winner, Paul Burgess at Arsenal but reveals there is little rivalry in his business.
"Groundsmen are like goalkeepers; we stick together and help each other out," he says. "We had a situation once when a machine went down, and we actually borrowed a machine from a club nearby to cut the pitch at White Hart Lane."
It is a sign of how much he has achieved that he has also been named the Institute of Groundsmanship Professional Groundsman of the Year for 2007. As Grounds Manager, Darren is in charge of a team of seven, responsible for the stadium, training ground and academy. All of which is a far cry from how he started out.
"My dad was groundsman at Buckhurst Hill Football Club, the local non-league ground. At 14, I took over and followed in his footsteps. One of my earliest memories is sitting on his lap in a Land Rover with the gang-mowers on the back on a Saturday morning driving up and down the pitch."
So what is involved in becoming an award winning groundsman? There's certainly a lot more to it than just cutting the grass before a game as Darren outlines.
moisture content
"On a Monday morning with a game on Saturday, we brush the pitch to remove the dew from the grass," says Darren. "That helps to prevent bacterial or fungal diseases you get from the grass laying wet for long periods of time. We'd then cut the pitch every day. It becomes more intensive should we have a problem during the week, like an outbreak of disease.
"The match-day is the busy day. First of all the pitch gets cut, secondly the white lines go down and the ball-stop nets and the main goals go in, the advertising centre-circle sign goes out, we water the pitch if required. It all builds up to a crescendo when the game kicks off.
"When the crowd get to the stadium before the game, all we're doing is checking moisture content and deciding whether we need to put any more water on and checking whether any foreign bodies, like bottle tops, have been left behind by the players.
"We'll also check the goals after the warm-up, just before the referee's assistant checks them. We'd rather find a problem that might have occurred before the teams kick-off so we're not delaying anything.
"At half-time, we put back any obvious divots and check the moisture content of the pitch. In August and September it can dry out rapidly.
"After the game, the preparation for the next game starts immediately. We'll start the divoting and mow the pitch using a rotary mower to pick up the debris of the game. When a tackle goes in, you'll get some debris of leaf tissue. It's unhealthy to leave it to rot down, so you almost hoover the pitch to clean the surface. Finally we'll bring the synthetic lights in and switch them on."
synthetic lighting
Darren is keen to embrace all the latest pitch technology that can help him do an even better job, and is an enthusiastic advocate of synthetic lighting.
"Modern stadiums are fantastic, but they cast big shadows on the pitch," says Darren. "The newest innovation to combat this is synthetic lighting, and at White Hart Lane we can now grow grass in the south end.
"In the difficult months (October - March), we can grow grass in the south end as what the north end would grow, using synthetic lighting. Yes they are a big investment to start with and the running costs are quite high, but I believe they've helped us to produce a pitch worthy of Premier League football."
In mid-season, around the Christmas holidays, Barclays Premier League matches are played more frequently than at any other time of the season, not to mention all the cup matches that teams are involved in. It is a complicated logistical exercise for groundsmen in how best to care for their pitches. Darren explains how Spurs combat this issue.
"You need a bit of luck in terms of the weather," he says. "We do our routine maintenance and might let the grass grow two or three millimetres longer but it wouldn't play any differently. When you've got games coming thick and fast, the grass actually thins slightly, so leaving it a bit longer isn't noticeable."
hard work
So surely after all that hard work during the winter, the grounds staff can take a nice long holiday in the summer? This is a common misconception according to Darren.
"The close season is the busiest time believe it or not. I actually get asked where I'm going on holiday and what I'm going to do for the next six weeks, because the players are off so people assume I am too," he says. "But grass plant is a living tissue. Someone's in at the stadium every day.
"We completely strip all the vegetation off the pitch at the end of the season, we'll top-dress the pitch with straight sand to address any undulations that are there from the renovation, re-seed, and then go again. No sooner have you done all that, the training ground has to be done as well, and before you know it, the team are back at the beginning of July for pre-season training."
For any budding groundsmen, Darren is keen to point out that it's not easy, and it's not for those who just want to meet their sporting heroes.
"You need a passion for grounds care," he says. "I've seen so many people who want to be near players or sit and watch football, but it's really not about that. At my level, yes, I have to discuss requirements with senior players, and the same for my Head Groundsmen. But for my assistants, it's a fact of life that they'll barely speak to players because they have their job and we have our job in looking after the pitch.
"It's all about dedication and hard work."
full article and pics :
http://www.premierleague.com/page/Magazinedettail/0,,12306~1239676,00.html
Ok so this refers to the 2006 / 07 Season but they only announced it in May this year. I found it admirable that we have the best groundsman at the Lane in the most competitive and demanding league in the world. Well done
Groundsman spurred on by award
Tottenham Hotspur's Darren Baldwin reveals what it takes to be named Barclays Premier League Groundsman of the Season.
The grounds manager and his team of diligent workers are just some of football's unsung heroes. They work tirelessly to ensure the playing surface is of the highest standard, often in difficult conditions.
If the weather isn't making their lives harder veering from torrential rain to never-ending sunshine, they have to deal with 22 footballers taking just 90 minutes to destroy their lovingly prepared pitch. Add to that the stream of fixtures, busiest just when the weather is at its worst, and it's hard to see how groundsmen can enjoy what they do.
But, after winning the Barclays Premier League Groundsman of the Season award for his work on the White Hart Lane pitch during the 2006/07 campaign, Tottenham Hotspur Grounds Manager Darren Baldwin says he wouldn't change a thing. "It's fantastic; I wouldn't wish to do any other job," he says. "It's hard work and the hours are challenging. Christmas is a non-event - we play Boxing Day and I'm in Christmas Day with the first-team. We tend to play New Year's Day too. Over Christmas last season, I didn't have a day off until New Year's Day. But I'm not complaining - that's the job."
best pitch
It may be the first time he has won the award, but after being shortlisted for three consecutive years, Darren remains modest about his achievements.
"It's a great honour for myself and the rest of the Grounds team," he says. "I've been close before, but never quite managed to scoop the award. It's not the easiest stadium for growing grass, so to achieve the best pitch in the Premier League is a great honour."
Darren got the nod ahead of Tony Bell at Middlesbrough and north-London neighbour, 2005's winner, Paul Burgess at Arsenal but reveals there is little rivalry in his business.
"Groundsmen are like goalkeepers; we stick together and help each other out," he says. "We had a situation once when a machine went down, and we actually borrowed a machine from a club nearby to cut the pitch at White Hart Lane."
It is a sign of how much he has achieved that he has also been named the Institute of Groundsmanship Professional Groundsman of the Year for 2007. As Grounds Manager, Darren is in charge of a team of seven, responsible for the stadium, training ground and academy. All of which is a far cry from how he started out.
"My dad was groundsman at Buckhurst Hill Football Club, the local non-league ground. At 14, I took over and followed in his footsteps. One of my earliest memories is sitting on his lap in a Land Rover with the gang-mowers on the back on a Saturday morning driving up and down the pitch."
So what is involved in becoming an award winning groundsman? There's certainly a lot more to it than just cutting the grass before a game as Darren outlines.
moisture content
"On a Monday morning with a game on Saturday, we brush the pitch to remove the dew from the grass," says Darren. "That helps to prevent bacterial or fungal diseases you get from the grass laying wet for long periods of time. We'd then cut the pitch every day. It becomes more intensive should we have a problem during the week, like an outbreak of disease.
"The match-day is the busy day. First of all the pitch gets cut, secondly the white lines go down and the ball-stop nets and the main goals go in, the advertising centre-circle sign goes out, we water the pitch if required. It all builds up to a crescendo when the game kicks off.
"When the crowd get to the stadium before the game, all we're doing is checking moisture content and deciding whether we need to put any more water on and checking whether any foreign bodies, like bottle tops, have been left behind by the players.
"We'll also check the goals after the warm-up, just before the referee's assistant checks them. We'd rather find a problem that might have occurred before the teams kick-off so we're not delaying anything.
"At half-time, we put back any obvious divots and check the moisture content of the pitch. In August and September it can dry out rapidly.
"After the game, the preparation for the next game starts immediately. We'll start the divoting and mow the pitch using a rotary mower to pick up the debris of the game. When a tackle goes in, you'll get some debris of leaf tissue. It's unhealthy to leave it to rot down, so you almost hoover the pitch to clean the surface. Finally we'll bring the synthetic lights in and switch them on."
synthetic lighting
Darren is keen to embrace all the latest pitch technology that can help him do an even better job, and is an enthusiastic advocate of synthetic lighting.
"Modern stadiums are fantastic, but they cast big shadows on the pitch," says Darren. "The newest innovation to combat this is synthetic lighting, and at White Hart Lane we can now grow grass in the south end.
"In the difficult months (October - March), we can grow grass in the south end as what the north end would grow, using synthetic lighting. Yes they are a big investment to start with and the running costs are quite high, but I believe they've helped us to produce a pitch worthy of Premier League football."
In mid-season, around the Christmas holidays, Barclays Premier League matches are played more frequently than at any other time of the season, not to mention all the cup matches that teams are involved in. It is a complicated logistical exercise for groundsmen in how best to care for their pitches. Darren explains how Spurs combat this issue.
"You need a bit of luck in terms of the weather," he says. "We do our routine maintenance and might let the grass grow two or three millimetres longer but it wouldn't play any differently. When you've got games coming thick and fast, the grass actually thins slightly, so leaving it a bit longer isn't noticeable."
hard work
So surely after all that hard work during the winter, the grounds staff can take a nice long holiday in the summer? This is a common misconception according to Darren.
"The close season is the busiest time believe it or not. I actually get asked where I'm going on holiday and what I'm going to do for the next six weeks, because the players are off so people assume I am too," he says. "But grass plant is a living tissue. Someone's in at the stadium every day.
"We completely strip all the vegetation off the pitch at the end of the season, we'll top-dress the pitch with straight sand to address any undulations that are there from the renovation, re-seed, and then go again. No sooner have you done all that, the training ground has to be done as well, and before you know it, the team are back at the beginning of July for pre-season training."
For any budding groundsmen, Darren is keen to point out that it's not easy, and it's not for those who just want to meet their sporting heroes.
"You need a passion for grounds care," he says. "I've seen so many people who want to be near players or sit and watch football, but it's really not about that. At my level, yes, I have to discuss requirements with senior players, and the same for my Head Groundsmen. But for my assistants, it's a fact of life that they'll barely speak to players because they have their job and we have our job in looking after the pitch.
"It's all about dedication and hard work."
full article and pics :
http://www.premierleague.com/page/Magazinedettail/0,,12306~1239676,00.html
Ok so this refers to the 2006 / 07 Season but they only announced it in May this year. I found it admirable that we have the best groundsman at the Lane in the most competitive and demanding league in the world. Well done
