The FA’s Groundsmen of the Year is now in its 10th year. The Award was set up to recognise the contribution of these unsung heroes of the grass roots game and encourage the development of groundmanship.
The majority of football in this country is played outside the Football League. Quality pitches are therefore essential for the development of football at every level. Grassroots groundsman, the vast majority of whom are volunteers, play a huge role in ensuring pitches are in their best possible condition, week in, week out. The Awards were set up to recognise the contribution of these ‘unsung heroes’, who work in all weather, all year round, to make sure that thousands of matches can take place on a high standard of playing surface.
The current award structure is as follows, there are separate awards for:-
- The Football Conference (Steps 1 and 2)
- Northern Premier League
- Southern League
- Isthmian League
- Steps 3 and 4 National Award
- Steps 5 and 6 National Award
- Step 7 and Below National Award
Steps 1 – 6 Clubs were nominated by their respective Leagues, while Step 7 and below Clubs were nominated by their County FA. The top recommendations from each League and County were visited by our judges. The 6 judges are all Groundsmen at Premier League and Championship football clubs across the country. The Judges not only looking at the quality of the pitch, but also take into consideration the Groundsman’s skills and knowledge, their ambitions for the pitch, the resources available, how often the pitch is used, and the amount of time they are able to work on the pitch. The winning Groundsmen (i.e. the first placed in each category) have been presented with a trophy at their respective grounds on the day of a pre-season friendly or league game.All the award winners, runners-up and highly commended groundsman will be invited to Wembley for a day in October to include lunch, a tour of the stadium and a trophy/certificate presentation.
2002 AWARDS
For some background on how the concept started and who won in the first year
click here
2003 AWARDS
For information on this year's award winners and ceremony
click here
2004 AWARDS
For information on this year's award winners and ceremony
click here
2005 AWARDS
For information on this year's award winners and ceremony
click here
2006 AWARDS
For information on this year's award winners and ceremony
click here
2007 AWARDS
For information on this year's award winners and ceremony
click here2008 AWARDS
For information on this year's award winners and ceremony
click here2009 AWARDS
For information on this year's award winners and ceremony
click here2010 AWARDS
For information on this year's award winners and ceremony
click here2011 AWARDS
For information on this year's award winners,
click here.
GROUNDSMAN COURSES
For more information on Ground Maintenance and the courses available see
http://www.iog.org/ The Institute of Groundsmanship is a membership organisation representing the whole of the groundscare industry and all those involved in it.
