The Pitch.

[davieG]

Leicester City head groundsman John Ledwidge keeping King Power Stadium pitch perfect

By Mercury_Sport  |  Posted: June 26, 2015

Picture: Alex Hannam

 

Leicester City Head Groundsman John Ledwidge

 

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While the rest of us sit back on a Saturday night and tune in to Match of Day to watch some of the world's best players ply their trade, the attention of Leicester City head groundsman John Ledwidge is elsewhere.

"I spend a few minutes looking at each pitch and fast forward," he says.

"The only game I actually watch is the Leicester game."

That is not because Ledwidge does not like football, far from it. His dream was always to become a professional player himself.

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But when it became clear that was not about to happen, for a 13-year-old Ledwidge growing up in Coventry the next best thing was to become a groundsman.

"I was a chubby little child, a frustrated footballer, and I just wanted to get on the pitch," he recalls.

"At the time, I didn't really know what a groundsman was but my dad told me to write to the groundsman at Highfield Road and ask to help out, and they agreed.

"I started to help out and it all sprung from there."

Plumb Images

 

The artificial lights help the grass grow quicker at the King Power Stadium

 

From those tiny shoots grew a fascination with how professional pitches are looked after and developed to help produce the best spectacle possible on a match day.

"It got under my skin," he says. "I did my work experience at Highfield Road and at the training ground when I was 15, and then when I was 16 I was offered an apprenticeship.

"I had got good grades at school and a lot of people were trying to convince me to do A levels and go to university, but I knew what I wanted to do.

"By 19 I was deputy head groundsman at Coventry. I moved to Aston Villa at 21 to be deputy there but then, after 14 months, I moved back to Coventry to be the head groundsman until 18 months ago when I was offered the position at Leicester."

Ledwidge, now 29, may not have gone on to traditional further education, but his academic ability has certainly helped him in a career that is about so much more than just 'mowing the lawn'.

Facts and figures:

• If one person cut the King Power pitch on their own at the end they would have walked seven miles.
• At the end of each game the groundsmen do a clean-up, which involves smaller mowers to pick up small divots and grass.
• Each of the 64 bulbs on one artificial grow light rig uses 1,000 watts. City have four of them.
• Every day the firmness of the pitches is tested using a cleg hammer so there is a reduced risk of injury. Head physio Dave Rennie likes to keep it between 65 and 80 gravities.
• At the end of each season the grass is killed off to kill weed grass and a new pitch is reconstructed.
• In a full reconstruction of just one pitch at the training ground 10,000 tonnes of sand is used, which equals 5,000 lorry loads going through the front gate.
• Half a tonne of grass seed is used on one pitch every season.
• Three tonnes of fertiliser a month is used.
• 2,000 litres of paint are used every year to mark the pitches out.

Gone are the days when pitches would be worn out by the end of autumn and the image of one man and his fork desperately, but futilely, trying to repair huge divots in a pitch at half-time are a thing of the past.

These days a modern groundsman must be a scientist, accountant, artist, a great communicator and a man manager as well as a horticulturist.

"The role has changed quite a lot in the 16 years I have been around it," he says.

"I have seen it evolve from the perception that it is one old man with a gammy leg pushing a mower and rolling mud.

"There is still that stigma attached but, if you look around the Premier League and into the Championship now, the standard of the pitches has risen enormously and the science involved is quite in-depth.

"We are well-respected now and there is a young generation coming through, but I guess we will always be perceived as just grass cutters."

Ledwidge heads up a team of eight at City, one of whom is a full-time gardener, to look after seven-and-a-half pitches at Belvoir Drive, plus the pitch at the King Power Stadium.

One of the pitches at Belvoir Drive is identical to the pitch at the King Power Stadium, complete with undersoil heating and the Desso GrassMaster technology, which involves artificial grass being sewn into the soil to stop the turf tearing under foot.

Both pitches have now been extended by a further five metres to conform to Premier League standards, while a second pitch has been set up to be similar to the non-Desso pitches in the Premier League, like the fibre sand-based pitches at Southampton and Newcastle, so Nigel Pearson's men can replicate in training what they will encounter in away games.

Will Johnston

 

The King Power Stadium pitch still in pristine condition for last game of the season against QPR

 

"The characteristics of the pitches play differently," Ledwidge explains.

"There may be more movement in the surface with the fibre sand pitch.

"No stone is left unturned in preparation and, hopefully, the investment the club has provided for us to do these little touches pays off.

"You could be the best groundsman in the world but without the budget to do what needs to be done we wouldn't be able to do the job to the standard we currently can."

It can still be a physically tough job. The pitches could be mown up to three times a day in the summer to ensure the best cut of grass at all times.

"We always get some cuttings up when we do that. It grows that quickly.

"We are pumping resources into the pitches to make them grow and recover quickly.

"We also have the artificial grow lights as well that simulate sunlight throughout the winter, which helps the growth and recovery.

"At the end of the day, the players and the management team here demand quality and we want to give them that. We speak to them every day.

"We could accept good pitches, but we want them to be exceptional all the time.

"That can only happen with the support of the club," he added.

Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Leicester-City-head-groundsman-John-Ledwidge/story-26773693-detail/story.html#ixzz3eBUD2CV5 

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[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

That was a much more interesting read than I anticipated, he does a great job

[Stevosevic]

I read that as we have a bigger pitch next season by 5 metres? Or was that just the training ground?

[promised land]

I read that as we have a bigger pitch next season by 5 metres? Or was that just the training ground?

King power and the training replica is how I read it, when they extend them, is this just width?

If it's length then the goal posts need shifting, not a big job I suppose but a ball ache non the less.

Mowing 3 times a day and 2000 litres of paint. We take all this for granted.

[Wymsey]

Didn't he win the 'Mawn Mower of the season award' recently/last few years?

[Narborough_fox]

Didn't he win the 'Mawn Mower of the season award' recently/last few years?

 

That was Ed Mowe, I think, who's down groundsman at St George's Park. 

[Stadt]

Watford's pitch is tiny, do they even have room to extend?

[promised land]

That was Ed Mowe, I think, who's down groundsman at St George's Park.

http://www.lcfc.com/news/article/130513-way-to-mowe-ed-819735.aspx

[StanSP]

Fair play to him, and to any groundsman across the country/world who keeps a pitch in pristine and perfect condition throughout the season given the amount of sport that gets played on them. They do a superb job. 

[ithuriel]

They tore up the old pitch after the steward/police charity match.

Got to have a few cracks at goal before the match , sat in the managers dug out drinking beer and had a decent afternoon, the police won yet again.

[promised land]

I'm fairly sure they don't tear up the old pitch, more they kill it off.

The pitch stays as it has the dresso fibres in it, they burn it all off and regrow it.

[ithuriel]

Had heard they were doing extra work to it, improved drainage or some such but it was a few weeks ago and I'd had a few beers.

[Bert]

It's not just John that keeps it in tip top. They all graft their absolute nuts off. He wouldn't be getting the praise if it wasn't for the rest of the lads too.

Very interesting knowing that even stuff that goes into consideration which could help prevent injuries etc.

[lnkstern]

Wow.  I knew it took work to maintain a quality pitch, but I never realized exactly how much work is required!

 

I salute the grounds crew.  I only see the pitch on TV, but it always looks beautiful.

 

Here in the states, we occasionally have conflict between promoters wanting to stage stadium concerts and the groundskeepers who object to damage to the playing field (most Yanks wouldn't know the word 'pitch' even if you shoved their face down into it).  Are there the same sorts of conflicts in the UK?

[promised land]

 

Here in the states, we occasionally have conflict between promoters wanting to stage stadium concerts and the groundskeepers who object to damage to the playing field (most Yanks wouldn't know the word 'pitch'even if you shoved their face down into it).  Are there the same sorts of conflicts in the UK?

Another one the yanks say that really grates me, 'soccer', it's football.

You can forgive the groundsmen as it takes them weeks of graft to get it looking perfect and we all know you only need to lay a sheet of ply on grass for one night and it completely ruins it. Imagine that over the whole pitch, then thousands of people jumping up and down for a couple of hours. No wonder they hate concerts taking place.

[lnkstern]

Another one the yanks say that really grates me, 'soccer', it's football.

You can forgive the groundsmen as it takes them weeks of graft to get it looking perfect and we all know you only need to lay a sheet of ply on grass for one night and it completely ruins it. Imagine that over the whole pitch, then thousands of people jumping up and down for a couple of hours. No wonder they hate concerts taking place.

 

Well, here in the states, using the word 'soccer' prevents discussions/explanations/arguments.  In the US, football has a very specific meaning, which is of course different from the rest of the world.  And, while the arguments are occasionally fun to have, explaining yourself every time you want to talk about 'soccer' becomes wearying.

 

As well, I am a huge 'American football' fan.

[DB11]

That was quite an interesting read but he doesn't half look demented in that first picture

[aefevans]

Watford's pitch is tiny, do they even have room to extend?

The club seems to say we do!

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Another one the yanks say that really grates me, 'soccer', it's football.

Aye, but then we use "yanks" incorrectly, with it actually meaning those from the greater New England region. I think!

[Ashley]

Desso grass and £500,000 plus later and our pitch is ****ing mint probably the best in the Prem

[Vlad the Fox]

That was quite an interesting read but he doesn't half look demented in that first picture

The blue eyes. He's been possessed by a Leicester City demon.

[TrentFox]

Good read. Agree that our playing surface seemed, (as much as one can tell from the stands), as good as any in the league. Looked in stunning condition every time I saw it.

[Hollism]

Desso grass and £500,000 plus later and our pitch is ****ing mint probably the best in the Prem

It was always the best in the Football League but we played on a lot of nice pitches this year. OT's and Emirates' are like carpets.

[Bagworthblue]

I read that as we have a bigger pitch next season by 5 metres? Or was that just the training ground?

we must have had a very small pitch before if we are having to extend it to met these regulations....

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/rules_and_equipment/4200666.stm

 

my bad - although i did a search on premier league pitch requirements, this article is generic and not PL specific

[Dan]

I do think we've got one of the best pitches in the country. It literally always looks on point.