Where there’s a Will: Think of Ilkley and the first thing that comes to mind is probably the famous old song ,“On Ilkley Moor Bah’t ’At” and the fact that Ilkley, of the many lovely towns and villages in Yorkshire, is perhaps the most archetypal of them all.
Incidentally, did you know that the “translation” of “On Ilkley Moor Bah’t ’At” is “On Ilkley Moor Without a Hat”? I didn’t know that either.
Where there’s a Will
Anyhow I digress. Ilkley has been in the news a couple of times lately. It was named as the best place to live in the north of England and secondly, Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club is where you can now find not only the GMA Professional Tennis Courts Grounds Team of the Year, but also the GMA Grounds Manager of the Year.
Now it may be that you are in the market for a new pad in the north of England, but I’m reckoning that given that you are reading Turf Matters, you will be more interested in the achievements at the tennis club.
For first time GMA Award entrants, the team, which was entered by General Manager Chris Harrison, achieving the two accolades, especially as they were pitted against the most famous tennis club the world, is quite remarkable. Particularly so for the unassuming 31-year-old Head Groundsman, Will Rigg, who joins a very exclusive club of top Grounds Managers who have collected the award.
It would be fair to say that the Ilkley delegation arrived at Anfield Stadium for the Awards Dinner more in hope than in expectation. I know this because when I arrived at the stadium and exited my Uber they were the first people I bumped into and we chatted all the way to the fifth-floor function room.
Having established who they were, and that they were up against Wimbledon for their award, Will told me that he hoped that it might come down to how they managed their budget rather than simply judging Ilkley against the iconic All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.
We finished off by my saying, “Well, if you do win, I’ll come down and visit.” Three hours later I was checking how long it would take me to drive to Ilkley.
“As we got closer to our award being announced I started to get a little more confident, but then I noticed the Wimbledon guys and they’d brought a full table, and come a long way, so maybe they knew something!” recalled Will.
Where there’s a Will
“When our name was read out we all went crazy. It had been a good team night already, but to have won was just fantastic.”
Having accepted their award, they all returned to their table to relax and enjoy the moment.
“Not having been at the Awards before I didn’t know about the Grounds Manager of the Year, as there are no names released in advance. When it came to the announcement someone at our table joked and said that they’d be saying my name. Ten seconds later my name was read out.
“I’d say my heart dropped a little bit. It was a huge shock and a complete surprise. Then when I looked at the trophy – which had already been engraved – and saw those who had won it before, I just couldn’t believe that my name was right there beside them.”
Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club may have been an outsider going into the competition but having visited the club, you can easily see why the work of Will and the other two full-time members of the team, Peter Crowther and Jamie Teale, found favour.
Surrounded by a host of wonderful houses that make Ilkley such a sought-after place to live, the club has facilities the envy of most clubs in the country. There’s a gym open from 6am to 10pm coupled with fitness studios and there is a regular flow of its 1,800 gym members throughout the day.
There are 13 grass tennis courts, three outdoor acrylic and five indoor acrylic courts, two astro courts, squash courts and a padel court to accommodate the 1,000 racquet sport members.
There is also a café on the first floor looking over the site. Overall, there are around 3,000 members. When I was there it was during the Easter Holidays and there were dozens of young children, some trying a sport for the first time, all excited and enthusiastically taking in the experience.
Will studied Sports Business Management at Leeds Metropolitan University – now Leeds Beckett – but like many before, and after him, discovered that a degree doesn’t necessarily open the particular door that you’d like it to. The door that did open was that of Waitrose and post uni he was working at the Otley store stacking shelves.
Will was, and probably still is, a decent semi-professional loose head prop and a previous General Manager of the tennis club, who he knew from his time at Otley Rugby Club, asked if he fancied the job as Assistant Groundsman. So, nine years ago, he arrived at the club and started learning the ropes from his old boss, Richard “Lordy” Lord who sadly died suddenly just over three years ago.
“He was my boss and became a friend for six years, I learned a lot off him about grass, managing courts and life!”
Where there’s a Will
When “Lordy” died, Will moved from Assistant to Head Groundsman.
“I’ve continued to build up my knowledge base while on the job really. I’ve got my spraying certificates, but I’ve just learned the agronomy side of things through working on site and getting advice from people in the industry, including Mark Ferguson when was at the STRI,” said Will, name checking Mark, who, ironically, is now on the Wimbledon staff.
He has also attended grass court seminars at Wimbledon while, amazingly, he is currently taking his Level 2 in Sports Turf Management.
Level 2 in Sports Turf Management. However, Chris Hunter, of the GMA, who came in to judge the club for the Awards, said that he is actually operating at Level 3 or 4 levels, which is less surprising.
So what was it about Will that marked him out as a potential Grounds Manager of the Year leading a Tennis Grounds Team of the Year? Let’s ask the man himself.
“I’m organised, I like to be on top of everything. If our tournament is in eight- or nine-weeks’ time, we don’t want to wait until three weeks out to get a job done. The guys know what they need to do and what is expected of them. They are like me, they want to get things done and we don’t like to be sitting around doing nothing. We want to do the best job we can and if that means staying an hour or two later, they have a pride in their work and are happy to do it, even though they don’t get paid any more.”
Being such a northerly lawn tennis club has its obvious issues, but there is one challenge that presents itself at Ilkley which doesn’t necessarily come because it is so far up from the Watford Gap. It’s the River Wharfe.
“The river is just 10 metres behind us and can flood. We actually flooded on New Year’s Day and we got two feet of water on the grass courts and the grounds resulting in major clean ups. It was the first time in three or four years,” said Will, adding that the upside of being close to the river is that they can take irrigation water from it during dry spells.
The highlight of the year for the club, its members and Will and his team is the annual Challenger Tour event, the Lexus Ilkley Tournament which, as a pre-Wimbledon warm up event for men and women, always attracts a strong field. Last year’s winner, for example, was Belgian, David Goffin, who was an established figure in the world’s top 10 for a number of years. The 2017 women’s champion, Magdaléna Rybáriková, followed up with by reaching the semi finals at Wimbledon a short time later.
Where there’s a Will
“We erect 1,800 temporary seats around our Centre Court and have six match courts and five practice courts in play.
“It is a fantastic week and we have marquees up and our café is for the sole use of the players,” said Will, who augments the team with four temporary staff over the period.
The set up is retained for a period after the tournament for a series of outdoor concerts. This year, for example, Scouting For Girls and DJ Chris Moyles will be appearing at the club.
For general agronomic advice and, in particular, in the lead up to the tournament Will works with Tom Wood, of Agrovista, on putting a programme in place and it is the MM50 seed which is now used on the courts.
While maintained to the highest of standards, Will does try and bring them to a peak for the tournament.
“I’d say they are at their best for that week. You want them to be the right hardness, looking the right colour and playing as they should and we do keep the members of Centre Court for a period in the run up to the tournament.”
With the trophies sitting proudly in the club trophy cabinet and congratulations from members coming on a regular basis, Will and his team are in the fortunate position of being appreciated in roles which often come unsung and unrewarded.
But what dreams and aspirations did Will have when, just recently graduated, he was turning up every day at Waitrose to work?
“I’d have hoped to have been doing something with my degree but, looking back on it, I probably didn’t know what I wanted to do even then,” he said.
But nine years on, the new GMA Grounds Manager of the Year is well established in an industry that he enjoys, in a job that he loves and with a CV which will always stand out in a crowd.
