“Groundskeeping Is A Passion” – Crawley Green Recreation Ground Get Their Pitches Match Fit

Thanks to funding from the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation, the exceptional grounds team at Crawley Green Recreation Ground in Luton have transformed their grass pitches, enabling more people to play more matches.

This transformation began with PitchPower – the Football Foundation’s free web app – through which the Crawley Green’s grounds team were able to submit pitch inspections.

These inspections allowed the team to unlock bespoke advice from experts at the Grounds Management Association (GMA). Thanks to the GMA’s feedback on how to improve their pitches, Crawley Green were able to identify the work required to improve them and unlock a £58k grant through the Foundation’s Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund to support this work

Earlier this year, Head Groundskeeper Owen Younger and his team were awarded The FA’s Grounds Team of the Year at the Grassroots Football Awards in recognition of the fantastic work that’s gone into getting these pitches looking and playing their best.

Here’s what Owen had to say: “Without funding from the Football Foundation, we just wouldn’t be able to achieve what we’ve achieved so far. We’ve gone from a situation where our pitches were in a very poor condition to having one ‘advanced’ and many ‘good’ pitches.”

“As any groundskeeper will tell you, groundskeeping is a passion. The thing that keeps me going is knowing that generations of kids will have the ability to play on these pitches well into the future.”

“As any groundskeeper will tell you, groundskeeping is a passion. The thing that keeps me going is knowing that generations of kids will have the ability to play on these pitches well into the future.”

Robert Sullivan, CEO of the Football Foundation, said: “Quality grass pitches are vital for the grassroots game and yet, every season, thousands of games are called off due to poor playing surfaces.”

“Thanks to the support of our partners at the Premier League, The FA and Government, the Football Foundation will be investing £21 million a year to get grass pitches across the country looking and playing their best.”