Shakers' anger at pitch downgrade

The pitch is given a rating every game by the match referee and the manager of the visiting team, and at the end of each season the league then issue an average mark for every club.

This summer Bury's playing surface has received its lowest ever rating.

"Last season the pitch's average rating was 3.2, this season it is down to 2.9, why I don't know because it has been considerably better than last season," said Ian.

"It has been greatly improved from last season and both Mike Curtis and Andy Bateman have worked really hard on improving it and it is now like walking on a carpet the grass is that thick.

"Yes there are a couple of barer patches but it is far better than last season and is getting back to being what it used to be like, so how they can mark it lower I don't know."

After receiving the Football League's grading the club's Jill Neville wrote to them: "She knows how the League works far better than I and she was no doubt far more diplomatic than I would have been," said Ian.

To date the club has not received a reply and when contacted by the Bury Times the League was unable to comment.

"In the space of one week we played Grimsby on the Good Friday, the following Monday we had the England versus Sweden Under 19s game, followed two days later by Denmark versus Sweden and on the Saturday we played Rochdale. At no point during that time did anyone say anything detrimental about the pitch whatsoever.

"There was never a time when the pitch actually affected play, it may not have looked as good on occasions but that would have been after we had had days of rain, and no pitch would have looked its best under those circumstances.

"In fact Some people have rather sarcastically said that the pitch has been the one success story of the season!

"There were probably four occasions last season that had it been the previous season we would have lost those games to the weather, and those four games actually paid for the work we had done on the pitch.

"Like I said, Mike and Andy have done a great job on the pitch and I can't wait for the next Football League meeting because I will certainly be making my feelings heard on the subject."

The man responsible for the state of the pitch, groundsman Steve Curtis, believes there are other reasons why it has received criticism.

"I think people are having a dig at the club for the state of the referee's room and the away changing room by slagging off the pitch, which is wrong and unfair," he said.

"It was a over a hundred years old and nothing had been done to it, then we had Swinton Lions playing rugby league on it and Manchester United playing their reserve games on it, in addition to Bury, so it took some hammer.

"So for three years running we ripped up the top inch and a half every summer and replaced it. Then last summer we had it drilled and filled to improve the drainage, and a few weeks ago we drained it, top-dressed it and re-seeded it and it is coming on well.

"To be honest I am not bothered about the Football League's marks because I know how good it is, as do the players, directors and manager, who all said it is the best it has been in years."

l Steve gave an insight into what a groundsman's job entails on a typical match day, along with a few other insights into the art of greenkeeping.

"Depending on the weather, on the morning of a game we mow the pitch twice, mark it out, put the posts and nets up and then if it needs it we water and fork it.

"We then go on and replace the divots after the warm-up, at half-time and an hour after the end of the game along with re-watering it if needed. People tend to forget it is not for looking at it is for playing on."

The tools of Steve's trade include a new 1.6 metre vertidrain, a feeder, and a light tractor. And for the turf officianadoes, he uses perennial rye grass along with some shade resistant grass.

From now until July 20 he will keep it aerated, fed and watered, give it a top dressing and keep it mowed, usually to a length of 50mm.