Colin has spent the last 12 years at Hibernian FC and has overseen some vast improvements to the Easter Road playing surface during his tenure with the Club.
There is rarely an off day for Colin during the calendar year. When the players head off for their holidays and the fans earn a break from football in the summer months, Colin spends his sunny afternoons days ripping up and resurfacing the grass at Easter Road in preparation for the season ahead.
As the 2022/23 campaign begins, we followed Colin around to find out exactly how he gets the pitch in prime condition for Saturday at 3pm. He explained his method of getting the pitch up to standard is to follow a routine checklist – that checklist is always tailored to the manager’s and players’ requests.
This feature was first seen in HQ! CLICK HERE to get yours!
“Every manager that comes in has a certain way about how he wants it to play. The new thing in football is that the manager now has a massive say in the height of cut and water – they want a lot of water on the pitch.
The modern-day manager wants two main things; the grass to be as short as possible and as much water on the pitch as possible.
“Our new manager has shown that he is very keen on a particular height of cut, which we will achieve for him.
“Lee likes the grass at a certain length, so we have to plan accordingly what times we cut the grass to allow it to grow and reach that desired height.”
To meet the needs of the manager, the ground staff work around the clock during the week – and are often the first people in the stadium on matchdays.
“For a Saturday 3pm kick-off we will come in at 6am”, Colin explains. “We will start with a quick walk over the pitch to make sure everything is okay. Then, we will get the machines out and give the pitch a cut. We normally cut across the pitch to get the stripes pattern finished off so it looks good for the TV cameras.
“There are no specific guidelines in terms of pitch patterns in Scotland but I like to keep the pattern as simple and as classic as possible. That means, nice long bands up and down, which gives you that chequered board pattern. The key thing for me is keeping the pitch pattern consistent throughout the whole season.
“After the pitch is cut we move on to lining the pitch. That is done with string lines to make sure everything is nice and straight.
“Once that is all done, we get the equipment all out – so put up the goals, spare goals and safety nets.
“Then we check all the moisture levels – making sure the moisture level in the pitch is correct. Our pitch is a sand construction, so you need to make sure there is enough moisture in the pitch to hold it together.”
Colin is supported by Liam Campbell and Blair Davidson (below) on matchdays, who support the heavy lifting, devoting and making the final pitch preparations before the referee blows his whistle at 3 o’clock.
So when the sun is shining, the pitch is fresh, watered and painted and the players are walking out it is job done and time to enjoy the game, right? Well, there is more to it than meets the eye Colin explains.
“In general I am quite critical of myself, so it takes a lot for me to be fully content.
“When I watch the game, I watch how the ball moves and how the players are moving on the pitch. I don’t want them falling about, I want the ball to be moving freely.
“After a match, I will walk round the pitch to see how it is, and if the pitch has held up well then I get a sense of pride out of that. I take more pride in that than the visual aspect of the pitch.
“In the growing season, the pitches always look great, but what is more important is what happens in the winter months and how the pitch plays during that time. For me, it is all about the playability of the pitch – if it does that – I can take pride in that.”
Colin (above) is heading into his 13th season with the Club and during that time he has overseen a steady improvement in the turf at Easter Road. At the end of last season, he and his team were nominated for Ground Management Team of the Year – in recognition of their hard work.
Colin insists, that there are plenty more improvements to come at Easter Road...
Read the rest of the feature in HQ Magazine by CLICKING HERE!