The Week - UK (2021-07-17)

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17 July 2021 THE WEEK

By contrast, anunevenplayingfield
hampersthequickpassingof the best
teams;it levelstheplayingfield, so
to speak.

Thissummer’sEuropean
Championshiptook in11 cities
acrossthecontinent,butthepitches
werelargelyin Britishhands.Uefa
assignedeachstadiuma“pitch
expert”,workingalongsidethe
residentgroundskeeper todeliver
tournament-quality surfaces.Apart
fromRichard Hayden andGreg
Whately, who areIrish,allthe
pitch experts were fromtheUK.
ForWembley Stadium,thehost of
thesemi-finalsandfinal,the pitch
expert was Dale Frithand the groundsmanKarlStandley, a
36-year-oldEnglishmanwhoseaccolades includetheTopTurf
Influenceraward.

Speakingfourweeksbefore England’s openingmatch at
Wembley, Standley soundedfocusedbut relaxed,likea
formidablypreparedstarstudent ontheeveof anexam.Yes,
hiswork onthe Euroswouldbeviewedbymorethan abillion
viewers,buthe wasn’t fazed. “We’veplannedforthistournament
foryears,”hetoldme. “Weplanto the pointthatwe try to
be unbreakable.”

Foryears,Englishpitcheswereabominable. Inhotweather,they
weredryanddusty. When itrained,they becamequagmires.In
winter,theyturnedto ice. “PeoplelovedcomingtoWembley
becauseitwasprobablytheonly
pitch inEngland that hadgrass
on it,” saidCalderwood. Bad
pitchesmeant cancelled matches,
whichmeant lost revenue, which
ledsomeclubs towardssynthetic
alternatives.In1981, Queens
Park Rangers installed OmniTurf, asyntheticgrass,andstarted
winningon theirnew surface;ahandfulof other clubsfollowed
suit. Amid unrestthatso-called “plasticpitches”gavehometeams
anadvantage,in 1 995 the FAbannedthem.But bythistime,
groundskeeping’snew chapter hadbegun.

As withmostmodernfootballstories,theriseofeliteturfcareis
astoryaboutmoneyandtelevision. Inthe 1990 s,as TVrevenue
poured intothe newPremier League,clubsstarted spendingmore
on transferfeesandplayerwages.The morevaluabletheplayers
became,themore essentialitwasto protect them frominjuryby
ensuringahigh-quality playingsurface. Andsogroundskeepers,
long overlooked, acquired new importance.

More than just protectingplayers, there were TVviewers to think
about.Ifthe Premier Leaguewas to becomeaglobalbrand, it
neededto look good on television.Broadcasters began todemand
“snooker-table-likepitches”, saidCalderwood.Andaspitches
improved, thegame itselfbegan to evolve. “Fromwhere we were
with the pitch at OldTrafford totheway itbecame wasnightand
day,” Alex Ferguson,theformer Manchester Unitedmanager,
told me via email.“Aconsistentsurf acemakesahugedifference.”

At thecentre ofthis turfcare revolutionwasSteve Braddock. Since
joining Arsenal in 1987,Braddockhas done morethananyone to
make flawless pitchesthe norm. Former Arsenal managerArsène
Wengerdescribedmeetinghimasone of hisgreatestpieces of
luck. “FinallyIfoundsomeonewhohad asimilarpassionfor the
perfect pitch,” he toldme. Braddockwaskey toraising standards
acrossthe Premier League, he said.

On ablustery spring morning, Braddock drove me alongwinding
lanesto Arsenal’s Hertfordshire trainingbase, whereheoversees

11 pitches.It washis first week

back atworkfor overayear,ashe

hadshieldedthroughthepandemic

whileundergoingtreatment forskin

cancer.Uponarrival,heshowedme

around, stoppingat onepointto

tellanengineerthatthefan beltof

oneofhis tractorsneededtightening

–hecould hear itsqueakingfrom

50 metres away –andatanotherto

complainabout anassistantwhowas

movingagoalpostwithoutlifting

thewheelsup.“It’llleaveamark,”

he explained.Braddock’sattention

to detailislegendary:oneformer

assistanttoldme hewould cutthe

grasswithscissorsifhecould.

When Braddockjoined Arsenalasheadgroundsman, hewas

just23.Intheearlydays,hewasforced tocomeupwithhis

ownmethods.Themostsignif icantwastheannualrenovation

–pullingupthepitchattheendofeachseasontoremove

unwantedweedgrasses. Intime,Braddock’smethods,including

his liberaluseof sand toencourage draining, wereadopted by

othergroundsmen.

Gradually,theroleofgroundskeeper begantochange.From the

late19 90s,whenthePremierLeaguemadeitarequirementfor

themto beeducatedinplant science,the job becameincreasingly

data-driven.Newtechn ologyhelped,too. Amower atastadium

like Wembley mightbe working25-30hours aweekfor50weeks

ayear.Thesemachines beginat£11,000. When Ivisited the

DennisfactoryinApril,they wereassembling12mowersfor next

year’sWorld CupinQatar.

ToBritishturfcare experts,

Europeanstandards remain

pitiful.“They just don’t

understandwhatittakes,” said

Stones, reflectingonhistimeas

headgroundsmanat theStade deFrance.Calderwood believes

it comesdowntoeducation. Likemanyoftheleadinglightsof

turfcare, hestudied turfscienceatMyerscoughCollegein Preston.

“Even doingsomethinglikeadiploma,that’snotpossible in

France;there’sno such thing,”he said.Whenhe arrived atPSG,

Calderwoodwasshockedby what hefound. Thegroundsteam

didn’tevenownthe rotarymowersneededtovacuumupdead

grassafter amatch.“Evensomethingassimpleasthat,they

didn’tknow,”hetoldme.Calderwood’sdeputy, aFrenchman

calledArnaud Meline, added thatinhis nativecountry there

simplyisn’tthesame“vision”forthe grass.It’s “just aplaceyou

goto BBQ withfriends”.

P

reparationsfor the Euro2020pitches began more thantwo

years ago. In theearly hoursof25April 2019,Dale Frith set

off down the M6 toWembley, where Uefa wasgathering its

team of pitchexperts fora“kickoff”meeting.By10am,many

of thegiantsof turfcarewerearound the table.Besid es Frith,

therewas Hayden, who claimstobethe only turfexpert to have

successfullyreplacedapitch mid-tournament–inLille during

Euro 2016.There was Dean Gilasbey, whohas trained aspiring

groundskeepers across theworld,fromMacedoniatoGhana.

Therewas AndyCole, whohad workedonthree World Cups.

Thesemen are notgroundskeepers; theyare turfconsultants,

specialists whosupervise multipleongoingprojects.

Uefa’s representatives laid outtheir expectations forthecoming

months. According toUefaguidelines, surface tractionshouldbe

above30Newton metres (NM),aunitoftorquethat measures

aplayer’s interaction with thesurface.Too much tractionputs

strain onligamentsandrisks injury; toolittl eand playerswill

lose theirfooting.Surface hardness should be70-90gravities –

ameasurement of howquick ly ahammer deceleratesonimpact.

Thelast word

The state of play at Leeds United’sground in 1966

“Richard Hayden claims to be the only turf

expert to have successfully replacedapitch

mid-tournament–inLille during Euro 2016”