Profiles

Andrew has been a groundsman for seven and a half years, having studied Horticulture at college which led to him working with the team at Southampton where he helped look after the pitches at both the Dell and St Mary's stadiums.

Although he still works at St Mary's two days a week, Andrew took the post at Bournemouth in July 2005, and is fully in charge of maintaining the pitch all year round.

Down to work

The Dean Court pitch is used by both the first and reserve sides, as well as the occasional training session.

Andrew puts the divots in the pitch

Although there is work to do at any time, one of the most important days of the week for Andrew is matchday, particularly before a game:

"I usually get in at around eight or nine o'clock in the morning for a Saturday game, give it one last cut up and down, paint the white lines in, then put the goals up, corner flags, goalkeeper's warm-up net.

"I usually try to get it all done by twelve o'clock, obviously the players are going to start coming at two for the warm-up anyway, and you've got enough time in between twelve and two, so you're not rushing to get it done for two o'clock.

"It gives you two hours leeway so that if something does wrong there's always the chance that you've got time to sort it out. It's exactly the same for an evening game. I always try to get it all done two hours before kick off."

Post-match

After the game there's plenty of work to be done to keep the playing surface intact:

"I have to put the divots back that got kicked out, basically lumps of turf that gets kicked out, scars where players have gone sliding over the turf and hillmarks where someone's kicked the ball and their standing foot makes a ridge.

Andrew uses a tractor to roll the pitch

"On a first team game I have a few people helping me there's usually about seven of us, and it usually takes 45 minutes to an hour - yesterday (for the reserve game) I had one lad with me, we did half the pitch which we did in two hours, so on my own it would take four."

Andrew has some equipment at his disposal which he uses to help him in his work - most notably a tractor:

"After that I have to sweep the pitch off, there's a sweeper on the back of the tractor with a roller and a brush.

"It sweeps up all the bits of grass that have been kicked out into the bucket that's connected to it, and it'll roll it back flat as well so it does two jobs in one."

Without temptation

Despite his love of football (he's a Liverpool and Juventus fan), Andrew's never been tempted to take a ball out onto his beloved turf:

"No way, I'd never kick a ball on it. The only people who do are the players for matches and training sessions. The matches are what it's here for, but even the training sessions you kind of begrudge the players doing it!"

However Andrew doesn't have a close relationship with the players, and he's adopted an 'ignorance is bliss' theory to their happiness.

Andy seeds the goalmouth

"The players don't say too much to be honest, I have quite a lot to do with the manager and the assistant, but the players themselves tend to concentrate on their own job that they have to do."

"I'm sure I'd hear something if they weren't happy. Because I've been doing it for seven and a half years I've got used to think 'if I don't hear anything then I know that they're happy'. It's best to no hear anything really!"

Starstruck?

Working within the football industry has allowed Andrew to meet some of his heroes, although the novelty has started to wear off now:

"When Southampton were in the Premier League, Liverpool played there every season. I obviously don't get to meet them any more because Bournemouth are in a different division, and the last few times I've not bothered but when I was younger, I used to quite enjoy it.

"I'm sort of used to it now though, all the big players coming down to play. You don't get so many though in this division!"

Finally - what are Andrew's best and worst points about being a groundsman?

"The best bit is being outside. I spent eleven years at school sat behind a desk and I just wanted to be outside.

"When it's horrible like this it's not the best, but during the summer everyone wants to be out here - it's almost like being paid to get a suntan!

"The worst bit is the rain. I don't mind when it's cold because you can wrap up, but when it's wet there's no getting away from it!"

Top Tips From Andrew

• Get down to your local golf course or football club and volunteer to help tend to the green/pitch. The experience will be invaluable.
• Although they tend to be quite specialist, try contacting your local college for more information on related courses.
• Get used to the weather - You'll have to work in all conditions if you're going to be a groundsman!