The Week - UK (2021-07-17)

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THEWEEK 17 July 2021

I

twasabigmomentfor

Englishfootballwhen

RealMadridpoached

PaulBurgessfromArsenal

in 2009 .Afterstartinghis

careeratBlackpoolFC,

Burgesshadarrivedat

thenorthLondonclubin

1999 ,risingtoprominence

atjust21.Heexcelledon

theEuropeanstageduring

Arsenal’sChampions

Leaguecampaignsinthe

early 2000 s,andshone

atEuro2 00 4inPortugal.

Fouryearslater,he put

inanothercommanding

performanceatthe

EuropeanChampionships.

Notlongafterthat,

RealMadrid, the most

prestigious club inworld

football,madetheir

sensationaltransfer swoop.

Ifyoudon’t rememberanyofthis,it’snotbecause Burgesswasa

flopatMadrid. It’s because hewasArsenal’sheadgroundsman.

Burgess’stransferwasthebeginningofaEurope-widespending

spreeon Britishturf talent. Real’srivalsAtlético snappedup

DanGonzález,whohad impressedwithhis work forAFC

Bournemouth.TonyStones, who gothisstartlookingafter

bowlinggreens inBarnsley,beforeeventually becominghead

groundsmanat Wembley, was signedtooversee the French

nationalstadium,the StadedeFrance.Fifa,meanwhile,signed

AlanFerguson,aScotwho had

wonseven Groundsmanof the

YearawardsatIpswich Town.

Thehighest-profile acquisition

of allwasJonathanCalderwood,

whojoinedParisSaint-Germain

from Aston Villain 2013.Atwo-time Groundsman of the

Year, the NorthernIrishman had been called theworld’s best

by Gérard Houllier,who managedLiverpool,Lyon andVilla.

The movecameatatime when PSG’s new Qatari ownerswere

investinghundreds of millions to attract the world’s top players,

including Zlatan Ibrahimovic andDavidBeckham. When we

spoke recently,Calderwoodsaid th etiming ofhismovewas no

coincidence.

“Theyhad aninjury list thelengthofyour arm,” hereca lled. A

more stablepitch wouldstart to solve thatproblem.Butthere was

amore tacticalreas on forsigning Calderwood: before hisarrival,

the pitch wastoo slow,toobobbly,too unpredictable for thekind

of high-tempo passing game playedby Europe’s elite teams. “The

owners realised it wasn’t about buying11 world-class players,”

said Calderwood. “Theyneededthing sbehindthem to allow

them to work. One of themainthingswasthe pitch.”

Since hisarrival, PSG haswon Ligue1sixout of ei ghtseasons,

andjust asimportantly,fromCalderwood’spointofview, the

LiguedeFootballProfessionnel’sbest pitch award sixtimes too.

Afterwinningtheleague

in 2014 ,then-manager

LaurentBlanccredited

Calderwoodwith 16 of

theclub’spoints,because

thispitchhadmadeits

attacksomuchsharper.

Theclubhasputhim

onbillboardsandinTV

adverts.Ibrahimovic,once

PSG’sstarstriker,joked

thatCalderwoodreceived

moremediaattentionthan

hedid.

When itcomesto sports-

turfmanagement,the

UKisatalentfactory

like noother.“We’re

tenyears moreadvanced

thananywhereelsein the

world,”RichardHayden,

authorofFifa’spitch

maintenancehandbook,

toldme.“Ifyouwanttoworkintechnology,yougotoSilicon

Valley.Well,theUKisthe SiliconValleyof turf!”

The Englishgrounds-management sector alone isvalued atmore

than£1bnandemploysmore than27,000people,withspecialists

ineveryarea, fromseedenthusiastswho canbreedgrasses that

growin the shade, toscientistswho developchemicalstomake

grassgreener.InWest Yorkshire, theSportsTurfResearch

Instituteisaresearch anddevelopmentpowerhouse,studying

everythingfromhowquicklywaterpasses through differenttypes

of sand tohow the finenessof

astemofgrassinfluencesthe

roll ofagolf ball.Inhardware,

too,theUKhasno rival.

Warwickshire’sBernhardand

Companymakesthe world’s

bestsharpeningsystemsfor

mowerblades;Staffordshire’sAllettprovides elitemowing and

maintenanceequipment; Derbyshire’sDennis makes mowers used

in to parenas,from Wimbledon toBarcelona’s Camp Nou.

The turf-care techniquesdeveloped in the UK havebeen a pplied

in tennis,golf, rugby andother s portsthattakeplace on grass.

But itis football, with itswealth andglobalfanbase, that has

poweredtherevolution. Nogroundskeeper wouldclaimtheir

work wasthe mainreasonfor an yteam’ssuccess,buttop teams

obsessover tiny details that canmake allthe difference. When Pep

Guardiola arrivedat Manchester City in 2016,he asked forthe

grasstobecut to ju st 19mm, in linewiththe ultra-fastpitches at

hisprevious clubs, BarcelonaandBayernMunich.(In the end he

hadtosettle with 23mm, becauseshortgrass is morevulnerable

to wear an dManchester’scold climatemeans it can’t recover

quickly.) Similarly,after the 2016-17 season, Liverpoolmanager

JürgenKloppcomplained that the pitch at Anfield wastoo slow.

Groundskeepers reconstructed thepitch over th esummer,and

Liverpool went the entirenextseasonunbeatenat home in the

league. Pitchquality is especially important totopclubs, who

want to maximise th etalentoftheir technicallygifte dplayers.

Thelast word

Thesearch for the perfect pitch:

Britain’s star groundsmen

Britishfootballpitchesusedtolooklikequagmires,icerinksordustbowls,dependingonthetimeofyear.Butasbigmoneyentered

thegame,pristinesurfacesbecamecrucialtothesport’simage–andgroundskeepersbecameinternationalstars.ByWilliamRalston

Pitches areexpected to be “snooker-table-like”:Asht on Gate Stadium, Bristol

“When it comes to sports-turf management, the

UK isatalent factory like no other. We’re ten

years more advanced than anywhere else”