EFL Award Winners Announced

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EFL Award Winners Announced: The EFL has announced the winners of the Grounds Team of the Season award for 2018/19 in each of the three divisions.

The awards recognise the importance of the quality of pitches for professional football and acknowledge the clubs and their ground staff who consistently produce the best playing surfaces in the EFL.

In the Sky Bet Championship, Swansea City win the award for producing a perfect pitch at the Liberty Stadium this season. Aston Villa and Middlesbrough are both highly commended.

In Sky Bet League One, Bristol Rovers’ ground staff take top honours for the excellent surface at the Memorial Stadium. Doncaster Rovers, Sunderland and Wycombe Wanderers are highly commended.

The award for Grounds Team of the Season in Sky Bet League Two this year goes to Swindon Town, while the ground staff of Carlisle United and MK Dons are highly commended.

Championship

Winner – Swansea City

Highly Commended – Aston Villa

Highly Commended – Middlesbrough

League One

Winner – Bristol Rovers

Highly Commended – Doncaster Rovers

Highly Commended – Sunderland

Highly Commended – Wycombe Wanderers

League Two

Winner – Swindon Town

Highly Commended – Carlisle United

Highly Commended – MK Dons

The EFL’s Grounds Team of the Season Awards are determined initially using marks from referees and away managers for each Sky Bet EFL game and are then followed by detailed pitch inspections and a review of management operations.

These visits were carried out by Dr Stephen Baker, Head of Sports Surface Technology at the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI).

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New Pitch Investment Pays Off

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New Pitch Investment Pays Off: For years the quality of the Memorial Stadium pitch was criticised by managers both home and away as it cut up badly.

Former Gas manager Darrell Clarke used to lambaste it at regular intervals.

Which makes today’s announcement that Bristol Rovers have been named Grounds Team of the Season in League One all the more significant.

At this point last season the club had already ripped up the turf at the Memorial Stadium to correct a problem with the incorrect sand laid under the grass and lay a new fibre pitch.

What the fibre does is reinforce the turf meaning it does not come up in clumps.

Clarke, who departed as manager at the Gas in December, revealed over the summer that groundsman Daryle Sullivan had even slept at the stadium during the summer to ensure the pitch developed perfectly.

Anyone who has visited to Mem this season will no doubt have noticed the vast improvement to the playing surface.

The awards recognise the importance of the quality of pitches for professional football and acknowledge the clubs and their ground staff who consistently produce the best playing surfaces in the EFL.

Bristol Rovers’ ground staff take top honours for the excellent surface at the Memorial Stadium in League One with Doncaster Rovers, Sunderland and Wycombe Wanderers highly commended.

In the Championship, Swansea City won the award for producing a perfect pitch at the Liberty Stadium this season. Aston Villa and Middlesbrough are both highly commended.

The award for Grounds Team of the Season in League Two this year goes to Swindon Town, while the ground staff of Carlisle United and MK Dons are highly commended.

The EFL’s Grounds Team of the Season Awards are determined initially using marks from referees and away managers for each Sky Bet EFL game and are then followed by detailed pitch inspections and a review of management operations.

These visits were carried out by Dr Stephen Baker, Head of Sports Surface Technology at the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI).

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Tributes Paid To Bob Black

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Tributes Paid To Bob Black: Tributes have been paid to a community stalwart who supported football clubs in his area for more than 40 years.

Bob Black, of Evenwood, was a passionate fan of Evenwood Town Football Club and became well known for helping out with everything from fixing stands to painting on the white lines.

Mr Black, a factory worker, was established as the voluntary groundsman and never missed a game or training session if he could help it.

When the club disbanded in the early noughties, he offered his skills to Spennymoor Town Football Club before settling at Bishop Auckland Football Club at their Heritage Park site where his grandson Harry plays for the St Mary’s team.

Mr Black met his wife Anne in 1972 and the couple were married in 1974.

They had two children, Michael and Andrea as well as five grandchildren and a happy marriage which often involved trips to the football.

Mr Black retired in August 2016 before being told he had lung cancer in February 2017.

He underwent an operation to remove the cancer and was back to his positive self before being told it had returned about six weeks ago.

“The worst part of him being ill was not being able to go to the football – he was in hospital with a chest infection but was always planning on coming back out,” Mrs Black said.

“He was always so positive and did not give in to it.”

Mrs Black added: “He was easy going and nothing was a trouble. He would help anybody and would not see anybody troubling anyone.”

The couple celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in hospital this year before Mr Black’s death.

However, the family say they have been overwhelmed by the support and good wishes from not just family and friends but football supporters from all over the country who encountered Mr Black at games.

Mr Black was previously named Supporter of the Year at the club.

Mrs Black said: “We are just amazed at the amount of support we have had from everyone.

“We have had messages from those in North Shields, Spennymoor and Darlington and lots of away teams have messaged us on Facebook saying what a lovely man he was.

“We also had cards and flowers from the St Mary’s team.”

A statement on the Bishop Auckland Football Club’s Facebook page also paid tribute to their “programme seller, groundsman, steward, odd job man and very good friend to all of us”.

A spokesman said: “I have personally known Bob for over 40 years from my Evenwood Town FC playing days where he did everything up there and I enjoyed many an hour with him at football games, at St Marys Juniors – for which his grandson plays – and he liked nothing more than chatting about the ex players, showing me photos, sitting with the players after a match and me sneaking a chocolate roll out to him after half time refreshments.”

The club added: “Rest in peace Bob you were, are and always will be a top top man and gentleman to all.”

Mr Black, who was also a keen gardener and stamp collector, died on Saturday, April 20, aged 67.

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Tractor Stolen From Football Club

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Tractor Stolen From Football Club: Staff at Eastleigh FC say they are “gutted” after a tractor worth £19,000 was stolen from their ground.

It happened at the Silverlake Stadium on Sunday night.

The Head Groundsman Dan Barnes arrived for match day preparations on Monday to discover the tractor had been stolen and the extent of the damage left behind.

Dan says there was “no remorse” by the people who stole it.

“It’s extremely upsetting. Not just for myself but for the football club as a whole. It’s a massive inconvenience financially and we now have to go through insurance claims. In terms of using the tractor itself, we’re now approaching renovation periods and that’s one of my main pieces of equipment that I’ll be needing to overseed and prepare the ground, so it’s a massive inconvenience.”

The tractor is used primarily at the end of a season, where it is used to overseed and prepare the ground for pre-season friendlies in July.

Hundreds of people on social media have been retweeting the picture of the tractor in the hope of helping the club to recover the vehicle.

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Vandals Damage Football Pitch

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Vandals Damage Football Pitch: Junior footballers from Spalding were left “devastated and disheartened” after vandals wrecked their pitch and equipment on Friday night.

Players and officials from Spalding United Youth Football Club arrived for their games in West Pinchbeck, only to find that a pitch had been vandalised and a container storing equipment used by the club had been broken into.

A pitch marker and rope used by the club were stolen and dumped in a ditch full of water, but not before the marker had been used to leave graffiti on the pitch itself and on Leaves Lake Drove where the playing field is located.

The vandals struck sometime between Thursday night, when Spalding United’s junior players had their last training session, and about 9am on Saturday morning.

Club secretary Chiara Lyon said: “My colleague on our committee received a call early on Saturday morning with a message that the pitch we play on in West Pinchbeck had been vandalised and the equipment in which we store all our equipment had been stolen.

“I drove down to Leaves Lake Drove at 9am on Saturday, only to find that some nice pictures had been drawn on the pitch and the container had been broken into.

“A pitch marker used to paint the lines on the pitches had been taken out of the container and used on the pitch before it was thrown into a dyke.

“There was paint all over the road and some “Respect” barriers to keep spectators off the pitch had been thrown into the dyke as well.

“I was devastated as some of the children had travelled from quite a distance away and we had to explain to them that their game go ahead as the police wanted to have a look at what had happened.”

Among the youngsters affected were a team from Newmarket, who had made a 127-mile round trip to play against one of the Spalding United junior teams.

Chiara said: “We had a team training session at Leaves Lake Drove on Thursday evening, but we don’t use the pitch on Fridays.

“There were two games scheduled on Saturday which had to be called off but once the police had finished, myself and some of the other committee members spent several hours cleaning the pitch.

“It wasn’t the nicest of feelings and it wasn’t the call I expected on Saturday morning when I was supposed to have been taking my youngster to a match.

“We’ve managed to get the pitch playable again, after it took us six hours to tidy things up.

“But it was very disheartening to see what happened because it affects the children.”

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