As Ian Richie, Chief Executive of the All England Club, stated in the official press release that announced Neil’s appointment: “We are delighted that we have appointed the best person to ensure that Wimbledon’s lifeblood, its grass tennis courts, continue to play their vital role in the future success of the club and the Championships.”
Neil commented: “It is an honour to have been appointed, and I am delighted at the prospect of being able to build on the fantastic work done by [current Head Groundsman] Eddie Seaward and the team.
“As soon as it was announced, my colleagues in the grounds team gave me a spontaneous round of applause – which was greatly appreciated,” says Neil, who is set to take over when Eddie retires on 31 August 2012, a few days after the Olympic Games. Eddie then will have completed 52 years as a grounds professional; the latter 21 years as Head Groundsman for the AELTC.
“Neil’s appointment is certainly a popular choice,” says Eddie, “since it seems that everyone involved here in Wimbledon was asking me how he was progressing in the interviews – I even had some of the building contractors enquire about how he was getting on!”
Neil joined the AELTC 16 years ago and was promoted to Senior Groundsman in 2002. For the past two years he has been groomed to take over Eddie’s role, but Eddie is quick to confirm: “While Neil was identified some time ago as the person who could take my job, it was not a foregone conclusion that he would take the mantle. Maintaining the dynamics of the team was an important aspect, among many other considerations.”
Eddie continues: “For the past two years, Neil has effectively been fulfilling the role of Head Groundsman here, accompanying me to the many meetings, discussions and debates that are inherent in running such a venue, and providing input and involvement with, for example, our various specialist suppliers as part of the club’s constant quest to further enhance our playing surfaces.
“Neil has also taken on some of the numerous media interviews and industry presentations, for instance, that I’m constantly in demand for. Everything gets discussed here,” says Eddie, “and Neil and I discuss everything – there are no secrets between us.”
This process of Neil ‘shadowing’ one of the industry’s most revered grounds professionals will continue until after the 2012 Olympics, when Eddie will officially hand over the reigns of one of the most coveted jobs in the professional groundscare industry.
“There will be no change in the way we do things,” confirms Neil who, at 41 years of age, will become the AELTC’s youngest ever Head Groundsman. “Although, of course, I will constantly strive to maintain the AELTC mantra of continual improvement in everything we do, and for this reason ‘tweaks’ will obviously be made to our regimes.
“But for the foreseeable future, it’s a case of continuing ‘as you were’ and maintaining the high standards that, globally, set Wimbledon’s playing surfaces apart from any other venue. There’s been years of dedicated hard work and deeply-involved research and development invested to make these courts what they are!” There are 41 grass courts (where 8 mm is the optimum sward height) and nine hard courts.
“Since 2007, I’ve effectively ‘stepped back’ away from much of the day-to-day hands-on work here,” continues Neil. “I’ve enrolled on a Foundation Degree online course with Myerscough College and become more involved with, and taking more responsibility for, aspects of Eddie’s role involving, for example, staff training assessments and direction.”
Eddie adds: “The grass is just one aspect of the job, which is also as much about building relationships with people and departments, and taking care of the requirements of our members. People tend to forget that the club is open all year-round – the grass courts are opened up during the third weekend in May; the hallowed Centre Court is used only for The Championships. We also have to accommodate external tournaments as well as The Championships, and deal with, for instance, match referees. The whole point of such an elongated and comprehensive Designate period – I experienced a similar spell when I joined here – is to ensure a seamless handover.”
Neil confirms that Eddie will be running this year’s Championships; “though next year may be different”, he says with a glint in his eye. “But I’ll still be here, no doubt affirming whether Neil has considered this or that – to the betterment of the playing surface, of course,” quips Eddie, who in 2008 was awarded an MBE for services to sport and, with a view to ‘occupying myself during retirement’, intends to devote more time to his role as Patron of the IOG, being a Fellow of Myerscough College and his role as Patron of the Land Drainage Contractors Association.
The two of them clearly see eye to eye – obviously both on the current practices and on the inevitability of future improvements that are always enthusiastically embraced to take advantage of every relevant development in grass science. Indeed, the AELTC annually invests a substantial amount in turf science research; and all research findings are made available “for the betterment of the industry”, says Neil.
And both are also viewing next year’s calendar with a certain level of expectation, as the Olympics will follow shortly after The Championships, giving the AELTC groundscare team just a 20-day maintenance window between these two major events.
“We’ve already trialled some new Limagrain cultivars (from our regular supplier, Sutton Professional Products) on the practice courts to see if we can gain any improvement in wear tolerance and winter colour - not that there is anything wrong with our existing perennial Ryegrass cultivars,” says Eddie. “This, like our current investigations with fertilisers (working with Scotts Professional) is all part of our continuous improvement programme, and may bring benefits in our preparations for the Olympics.”
Neil takes up the story: “The club runs The Championships – but it will not be running the Olympics; all AELTC staff, including security and catering people but not the groundscare team, will be ‘shipped out’ to accommodate the Games. There is a team of 15 full-time professionals who look after the playing surfaces – 10 groundscare, two machinery mechanics and a water engineer.
“We’ll have just under three weeks to get the surfaces back,” says Neil, “aside from dealing with a whole host of other requirements – in fact, we’re already discussing and planning aspects of the Olympics that could impact the courts, such as cabling and commentary boxes. Indeed, at this stage the plan is to install the Olympic cabling after this year’s Championships!
“Another aspect that we’re considering is manpower; The Championships occupy a four/five-week timeframe; the Olympics will demand eight/ten weeks, so we need to take this into account in terms of the grounds staff.
“Like The Championships, the Olympics regime will have to be a military-style operation, but I don’t foresee any problems,” Neil confirms. “It’s all about preparation – we never leave anything to chance!”
Such a positive attitude is characteristic of everyone involved at Wimbledon, and is certainly the case with the grounds team, as Neil says: “Every member is encouraged to think for themselves and to come up with ideas. Eddie has always encouraged all the team, me included – and I’ll being doing the same going forward.”
Published: 03/03/2011
