Keith Porter likes nothing better than a challenge – and he certainly got that when he was appointed Head Groundsman at Leigh Sports Village, as Will Collins reports.
The workload of maintaining and managing four natural turf playing surfaces for football and rugby – including one set in a 10,000-seater stadium that is home to Leigh Centurions and Leigh Genesis Football – plus a trio of third generation artificial football surfaces, a multi-use games area and an athletics track, would be enough for even the staunchest grounds professional.
But Keith’s remit embraces “everything from road sweeping to the playing surfaces” at the Sports Village, so when he accepted the position eight months ago, he knew he would face a series of unprecedented tasks. And that’s exactly why he’s there!
The £83 million project is Wigan’s biggest investment in public sports, recreational and educational facilities, and it is undoubtedly transforming Leigh into one of the finest hubs of sport and leisure activity in the North West.
“When I first saw the site, I saw challenges all around me,” he comments. “For instance, I immediately noted that the construction of the Leigh East ARL and Leigh Harriers pitches clearly never matched the specification: it had poor drainage and the surface suffered from a lot of ‘debris’. I became excited at the prospect of bringing these – indeed all the natural turf pitches – up to a high standard.”
Designed as a focal point for a range of sporting and cultural activities, the Sports Village is targeted at renewing and extending facilities for sport, physical activity, education, health and leisure to serve the whole community in Leigh and District, including all of the town’s main sports clubs and their members along with young people in primary, secondary and further education establishments. The project has involved significant levels of regeneration and economic development, and in addition to the facilities listed, also embraces:
- A new pavilion for the local amateur rugby league club, Leigh East
- A new Leigh sixth form college
- Gym and sports centre including swimming pool
- 150 bedroom hotel, and Office space.
- Leisure and specialist retail facilities, restaurants and bars are planned for the future.
With such a wide remit of responsibilities, 46-year-old Keith says the continual workload is a team effort by his three other groundstaff (and soon-to-be-appointed assistant). But it also obviously relies heavily on his experience gained at Wigan Athletic FC and Manchester United’s Carrington Road training facility before embarking on a career in contracting that involved projects throughout the country, and especially at Edgbaston and at Liverpool FC’s training ground.
“Despite the long hours involved in contracting, it took a lot to convince me to move to the Sports Village, but I wanted to show how the art of groundsmanship could be applied to show how the facilities really could ‘grow’ and meet – even exceed - the high expectations being set.”
The first task was to upgrade the stadia pitch, and with help from organisations like PSD, STRI and Sutter Sports, the sequence of events included ‘Koroing’ and power harrowing to clear out the stones, then soil analysis before applying an additional layer (25 mm) of sand. “This has certainly done the job and, in particular, solved our drainage problems,” says Keith, “because it has been OK during all the rain we’ve had during July.”
While his time at venues like Carrington Road armed him with the skills necessary to know exactly what’s needed to keep synthetic pitches in top condition, Keith also comments that being able to utilise all the appropriate equipment for maintenance – as is the case at the Sports Village - does make things easier. “That said, I’ve got a good team here, and it goes without saying that high-class playing surfaces are the result of being to complement the correct machinery with grounds care expertise.”
Campey Turfcare show off latest product range to local groundsmen
Around 100 local groundsmen and greenkeepers gathered at Leigh Sports Village to see the latest kit and equipment in action from a host of manufacturers.
Delegates got to see live renovation work using new equipment and some old favourites from the likes of Dennis, New Holland, Trimax, Dakota and Imants as well as the Charthouse range of equipment for synthetic surfaces.
Despite the very wet weather, delegates were impressed by the facilities and found the day to be both interesting and informative.
