Spearheading Spurs’ 14-strong team is Grounds Manager Darren Baldwin, whose hard work was recognised at the close of the 2006/07 season after being awarded the Barclays Premier League Groundsman of the Season, a high point for anyone in the business and achieved while he was still only 38.
Harnessing youth talent is something close to Darren’s heart, the success of which was made evident at the 2010 IOG Industry Awards where Spurs collected two of the biggest accolades of the night; the Professional Sports Ground Management Team of the Year Award and the Young Groundsman of the Year, won by the promising Nick Phillips.
The 22-year-old is Deputy Head Groundsman at Tottenham’s first team training ground in Chigwell, Essex. The judging panel commented on Nick’s excellent personal interaction skills, his model of good timekeeping and punctuality and, importantly, his huge enthusiasm for his work. Nick has so far gained Levels 1, 2 and 3 NVQ in Sports Turf Maintenance and Management.
“It’s people like Nick that keep you grounded and make me realise why I got involved in the industry in the first place,” explains Darren. “When you look at the industry as a whole and see what Nick has achieved here at such a young age, it is no surprise he was awarded the title. He’s passionate and this is the job he’s always wanted to do. We need more young people like him in this business.”
Darren shares much in common with his young prodigy, both having “grown up around tractors and machinery”. Darren’s father was the groundsman at local side Buckhurst Hill Football Club so he got the taste for the career from an early age.
“When I was growing up, all I wanted to do, other than be a professional footballer, was to work in groundsmanship. Nick came from a similar background, with his dad being head groundsman at Bancroft School in Woodford, so from the time he joined, I knew he would succeed.”
Nick joined Spurs from school aged 16 and Darren set him straight on to the club’s programme of Continued Professional Development, taking his NVQ Levels 1, 2 and most recently his Level 3. Completion of Level 3 certification coincided with Nick being awarded the deputy position at the training ground.
In addition to this site, where six staff are based, the club is temporarily located at the interim training ground at Frenford, which it leases from Frenford Sports Club until Spurs moves to the new purpose-built training base at Bulls Cross - a stone’s throw from the M25 - which reaches completion in April 2012. The remaining four groundscare staff work at White Hart Lane, with the three newly appointed gardeners working on the new development, while Darren shares his time among them all.
Spurs is a club committed to investing in staff training, and has a healthy annual budget of £15,000 to devote to IOG training courses throughout the year. “We usually send the lads on an average of five courses a year with an overall cost of between £12,000 - £14,000,” Darren reports. “It’s no small investment but it’s what is required at this level to get the skills we demand. We strongly believe in training up staff as highly as we can, even if that ultimately means in the long run some of the team may well move to occupy higher positions at other clubs.”
He admits that it’s never nice to lose a key team member but insists that most important for him is to see the lads progress as far as they can and pass on the same practices he learnt.
“It’s important for me to instil in the next generation the value of good training that I learned in my time at Arsenal. If they see the good it does them, then when they move on to other clubs, whether in or outside football, they will hopefully adopt the same practices.”
With a grounds team of only 14, Spurs has a relatively small outfit, yet the club is currently setting in motion plans to recruit several enthusiastic youngsters. But for Darren this has highlighted a concern about where the new crop of younger grounds people will come from.
“There’s a real problem with how we recruit in the business now,” he states. “The industry needs to be doing far more to improve its appeal at a grassroots level. If we take Essex as an example, a county with professional clubs like West Ham, Colchester, Spurs and others, the potential is significant. Yet there are few routes that can be accessed by youngsters who want to get into the trade, or at least to experience it.”
Darren advocates the use of regional reps, who can work closely with schools and promote groundsmanship as a trade, in the same way as plumbing or electrical apprenticeships, insisting that football is still lagging behind in this regard.
“We can learn plenty from cricket, where the ECB/IOG are great at promotion at grassroots level, compared to football, a sport with far more revenue and which in my opinion is not doing nearly enough to attract keen young groundsmen. Ultimately we would like to see more advisory bodies akin to cricket.”
While Darren is in an enviable position with a healthy budget at his disposal, he stresses that having support from ‘above’ in promoting training or the value of pitch investment is crucial. “I’m extremely lucky for the support I receive from the chairman and management, who place high value on a top quality surface, yet I’m well aware of the plight of many smaller clubs working on a shoestring budget, expecting to provide top quality surfaces.
“My work with the FA in judging non-league groundsmen helps keep me grounded and in touch with the industry at all levels, which has helped me form a good picture of where big changes need to occur,” he adds.
This, for Darren, highlights one important aspect about investment in playing surfaces among clubs that are short-sighted in this respect and which ultimately pay the price when problems show through.
“Groundsmen will often take the brunt of criticism in the media, as on the whole we have no right to reply, yet this does little to help quash the still lingering belief that our job is just about cutting grass. “Golf is another sport where we should take note,” Darren insists. “Private members recognise that the course is the most important aspect. If that isn’t good, then essentially there isn’t a club at all as players will not join. More football teams need to adopt similar principles and understand more about what resources are needed to deliver high standards.”
Published: 03/03/2011
