these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

Keynote
good working relationship with most of
the media, and they have been very
supportive. I don’t really have any
problems with them, which I know some
people tend to have. There’s the odd
occasion when you get misreported, but
sometimes that can be misunderstanding
rather than anything else. It’s a case of
making sure that you are understood,
and many of the journalists let me see
the article before it goes to print, because
they want to get it right as much as I do.
There is a difference as well between
what I call the trade media and the
general media. For the general media,
it’s sometimes more difficult to get the
message across, because one day they are
writing about a war or the financial
situation, then they’re writing about turf
culture, and it’s totally different.
Pitchcare - You have always been
considered as an ambassador for our
industry. Is it in a good place right now?
Eddie - I think it is in good shape at the
moment. It still needs to move forward
and, dare I say, within the industry and
with the individuals within the industry.
One thing I would like to see at some
point is more emphasis on research, and
more particularly coordinating and
monitoring the research. It needs
managing, rather than all of us going
our own way and spending a fortune on
reinventing the wheel. There are many of
us doing research work, but we don’t
necessarily know what everybody else is
doing; a lot of money can be wasted,
which could be better spent on other
things. I think the industry needs that
coordination, and then it needs to
publish the papers somewhere where
they are readily available to everybody.
We are doing some research work here at
Wimbledon, for example, but it doesn’t
mean to say that someone else isn’t
doing similar research and spending a
lot of money unnecessarily.
Pitchcare - Is there anything you would
have done differently, professionally and
personally?
Eddie - I think we all have things we
would have done differently. Many years
ago I got very close to walking out of the
industry because I was very disillusioned
with it. Instead of getting involved, I
became marginalised and disillusioned,
not thinking that I could change it. I
needed to get involved, as I now have
done, but I’d liked to have got involved
earlier.
Pitchcare - Any regrets?
Eddie - None at all. I’ve had a
wonderful life.
Pitchcare - What relationship did/do you
have with the players?
Eddie - We tend not to have a lot of
involvement with the players; I do meet
them in the week before the
Championship when they are here
practising; and it’s at that stage you talk
to them about the courts. It’s generally
their coaches who talk more about the
12 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012
“When the cover
came off, the
grass was lush
and light and I
knew we were in
trouble. Players
were slipping all
over the place
until we could get
it dried out again”
courts, there are one or two who will give
you a very straight and honest opinion.
They’re not particularly knowledgeable
about the surface, but they know what
they want. However, I won’t have any of
them influencing me; I did have that
many years ago, a player who wanted me
to fix a court for him; my answer was “Of
course I’ll do it for you, but let’s go and
get it cleared with the referee first.” As
soon as I said that, he dropped his
request straight away. He knew what the
referee’s reaction was going to be!
Pitchcare - Is there one player that has
made an impact on you?
Eddie - There are many players who
impressed me, the ones that worked
hard. And most of the top ones have an
incredible work ethic. That’s the thing
that impresses me most; players who
have played and won at the French
Open, then the next day they are out
practising on grass for the
Championships. They don’t rest on their
laurels, to be at the top of their sport
they know they’ve got to work at it. One
or two of the top male players have
impressed me with their modesty, big
players who are at the top of their game,
but it would be unfair to name them.
These people are professionals and they
work hard at the game. And you never
have any problems with the top players,
in any sport, because they haven’t got
anything to prove; they’ve done it all. It’s
the up and coming ones that give you
the problems.
Pitchcare – what is the most difficult
problem you have had at Wimbledon?
Eddie - The worst situation I’ve
probably had to deal with was in 1996.
Day one of the Championships was
lovely, it was overcast, but we played. Day
two, it came on to rain and continued for
seventy-two hours. In those days, we had
different covers to what we have now; we
had a very dark cover on Centre Court
and, of course, the grass went looking for
light. When the cover came off, the grass
was lush and light and I knew we were in
trouble. Players were slipping all over the
place until we could get it dried out
again. That was the most difficult time.
Also, a couple of years ago, we had an
interesting situation; we normally spray
the courts with a preventative fungicide
just before the tournament, and before
the covers go on, because we are creating
the environment for these diseases to
come in. For whatever reason, and I
never got to the bottom of it, I found out
that one of the courts had been sprayed
with a systemic fungicide rather than a
contact fungicide. It was a very warm day
and the stomatas hadn’t opened up to let
the systemic into the leaf, so it didn’t
have any effect. On the Saturday, a week
before the Championships, the court
looked good but, the following day, it was
covered in leaf spot and the grass was
dying. We had just a week to get it back
again, but we did, so nobody knew any
different.
Pitchcare – What do you plan to do in
retirement?
Eddie - Nothing in the short term; my
wife has a couple of more years before
she retires, so we will stay here until
then. I might even try relaxing, read a
book or something like that. I intend
carrying on my work with the IOG and
the Land Drainage Contractors
Association. Then we’ll see what happens
from there. I’ve been asked numerous
times about consultancy work, but I’m
not really interested. I’ve worked for fiftythree
years of my life, and it will be nice
to go on holiday and do some travelling
at a time when I want to. I’d like some
time off, I’d like to have a rest.