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‘The Silicon Valley of turf’: how the UK’s pursuit of the perfect pitch changed football
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<blockquote data-quote="The Guardian RSS" data-source="post: 7612002" data-attributes="member: 78390"><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.thefarmingforum.co.uk/images/G+logo+long.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>‘The Silicon Valley of turf’: how the UK’s pursuit of the perfect pitch changed football</strong></p><p></p><p>Written by William Ralston</p><p></p><p>They used to look like quagmires, ice rinks or dustbowls, depending on the time of year. But as big money entered football, pristine pitches became crucial to the sport’s image – and groundskeepers became stars</p><p></p><p>It was a big moment for English football talent when Real Madrid poached Paul Burgess from Arsenal in 2009. After starting his career at Blackpool FC, Burgess had arrived at the north London club in 1999, rising to prominence at the age of just 21. He excelled on the European stage during Arsenal’s Champions League campaigns in the early 2000s, and shone at Euro 2004 in Portugal. Four years later, he put in another commanding performance at the European Championships. Not long after that, Real Madrid, the most prestigious club in world football, made their sensational transfer swoop.</p><p></p><p>If you don’t remember any of this, it’s not because Burgess was a flop at Madrid. It’s because he was Arsenal’s head groundsman. Burgess’s transfer was the beginning of a Europe-wide spending spree on British turf talent. Real’s rivals Atlético snapped up Dan Gonzalez, who had impressed with his work for Bournemouth FC. Tony Stones, who got his start looking after bowling greens in Barnsley before eventually becoming head groundsman at Wembley, was signed to oversee the French national stadium, the Stade de France. Fifa, meanwhile, signed Alan Ferguson, a Scot who had won seven Groundsman of the Year awards during 12 seasons at Ipswich Town, as their first in-house senior pitch manager.</p><p></p><p>Related: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/15/manchester-city-football-group-ferran-soriano" target="_blank">Manchester City’s plan for global domination</a></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jun/15/silicon-valley-of-turf-uk-perfect-football-pitch" target="_blank">Continue reading...</a></p><p></p><p><strong>Since you’re here …</strong></p><p></p><p>… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.</p><p></p><p>If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. Support the Guardian – it only takes a minute. Thank you.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://support.theguardian.com/uk" target="_blank"><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.thefarmingforum.co.uk/images/SupportGuardian.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Guardian RSS, post: 7612002, member: 78390"] [img]https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.thefarmingforum.co.uk/images/G+logo+long.png[/img] [b]‘The Silicon Valley of turf’: how the UK’s pursuit of the perfect pitch changed football[/b] Written by William Ralston They used to look like quagmires, ice rinks or dustbowls, depending on the time of year. But as big money entered football, pristine pitches became crucial to the sport’s image – and groundskeepers became stars It was a big moment for English football talent when Real Madrid poached Paul Burgess from Arsenal in 2009. After starting his career at Blackpool FC, Burgess had arrived at the north London club in 1999, rising to prominence at the age of just 21. He excelled on the European stage during Arsenal’s Champions League campaigns in the early 2000s, and shone at Euro 2004 in Portugal. Four years later, he put in another commanding performance at the European Championships. Not long after that, Real Madrid, the most prestigious club in world football, made their sensational transfer swoop. If you don’t remember any of this, it’s not because Burgess was a flop at Madrid. It’s because he was Arsenal’s head groundsman. Burgess’s transfer was the beginning of a Europe-wide spending spree on British turf talent. Real’s rivals Atlético snapped up Dan Gonzalez, who had impressed with his work for Bournemouth FC. Tony Stones, who got his start looking after bowling greens in Barnsley before eventually becoming head groundsman at Wembley, was signed to oversee the French national stadium, the Stade de France. Fifa, meanwhile, signed Alan Ferguson, a Scot who had won seven Groundsman of the Year awards during 12 seasons at Ipswich Town, as their first in-house senior pitch manager. Related: [URL='https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/15/manchester-city-football-group-ferran-soriano']Manchester City’s plan for global domination[/URL] [URL='https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jun/15/silicon-valley-of-turf-uk-perfect-football-pitch']Continue reading...[/URL] [b]Since you’re here …[/b] … we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. Support the Guardian – it only takes a minute. Thank you. [url="https://support.theguardian.com/uk"][img]https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.thefarmingforum.co.uk/images/SupportGuardian.png[/img][/url] [/QUOTE]
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‘The Silicon Valley of turf’: how the UK’s pursuit of the perfect pitch changed football
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