From Monkton to Twickenham

In February, Ollie Mahon, Head of Grounds, headed for Twickenham to work with their grounds team. He has been invited back up this weekend for when England play Ireland. Ollie tells us how this all came about:

I met the Head Groundsman of the RFU, Jim Buttar, at a Grounds Show and after his presentation I thought, 'why don’t I message him to ask if I could come to work with him and his team over a match weekend?' I explained what I did at Monkton and that I’m part of the match day grounds team at Ashton Gate in Bristol.  Jim messaged me back saying yes of course, why don’t you join us for the England vs France February 2023 weekend.  

This was the first time that I worked there and since then I have continued to work with them over some match weekends, including this year's Six Nations tournament.  I was there for the England vs Wales game a month ago, and will be going up this weekend for the England vs Ireland game. Keep an eye on your TV screens for me!

One of my highlights from working in Twickenham has been the double header matches last summer for the World Cup warm up games between New Zealand and South Africa, and the England vs Fiji matches.

When I’m working there I travel up on the Friday in time to watch the teams go through their Captain's Run. Once they have finished on the pitch, we all go out to start the preparation work ready for the match. We start with putting back any divots or marks in pitch. Then it is out with the mowers. Three people use big rotary mowers to hover up any debris, then that is followed by four others with cylinder mowers to give the grass it’s final cut and to help with the presentation of the pitch.  We cut in both directions, so on Friday afternoon the pitch is cut four times, two times in each direction.  This makes the grass squares and patterns you see on TV.

Saturday morning and we are all in around seven to start the day's work.  It starts with putting down string lines on the pitch so that we can follow them when we are cutting, again this is normally done in both directions.  Jim, the Head Groundsman then marks the white lines on the pitch. While this is going on we finish putting any divots back in place. Then it is time for the corner flags, post pads and the pitch testing.  We  test the moisture levels, pitch hardness, grass coverage, traction, soil temperature, to name but a few. This information all goes into their computer to help them understand the pitch and how they can continue to make it better. Finally it's match time.  At half time we all go out on the pitch replacing divots, mostly where the scrums have been.

After the game and once all the players have left the pitch, it’s back out with the mowers. This is to pick up any debris that has come out of the playing surface, effectively hovering up the pitch after the players have made a mess.  This is also the first stage of the preparation for the next game.  At this point the pitch can get one of its weekly fertilizer applications and we put the lighting rigs back out.  These lights are a form of LED lights that help the grass to grow in a stadium environment.

It truly is a fantastic feeling working at Twickenham and being able to work on one of the world’s best rugby pitches.  Working within all these different stadiums and with different sports has been a great experience.  

I have met some great friends doing this who I can call for advice, but more importantly I have learnt a lot about how they look after the pitches and the amount of science that now goes into growing grass all year round in the stadiums.

Here are some quotes about the work Ollie and his team do at Monkton:

"The work Ollie has done over the past few years is exceptional. Whether it be parents, players or staff, there is not a fixture that goes by without someone commenting on the incredible pitches Ollie and his team deliver. Furthermore, Ollie is always willing to go above and beyond, often seen on the side of the Rugby or Cricket pitch supporting our teams and ensuring all is well with the playing surfaces."

"He is always looking for ways to improve what are already immaculate grounds, which shows his professionalism and drive to showcase our incredible facilities in their best light."

"The Monkton Grounds team have been a loyal support to our Wild Monkton initiative, where we aim to get students outside as much as possible and increase biodiversity on the site. The partnership between these two departments has enabled the increased presence of orchids in our verges, facilitated by the change in the mowing calendar, the opening up and maintenance of the path and board walk through the Mill Field, made by Year 12 four years ago, the planting of 2000 trees by students and installing a wetland area in a house garden. Ollie and his team have supported student initiatives and projects of service including the making of outdoor benches and raised beds at Winsley Primary School where he has volunteered to take up the sleepers and compost to assist in the construction, in true generous spirit Ollie parked his tractor in the playground and allowed the pupils to have a good climb over it and sit in the driver seat."