Marshalling his troops - Pitchcare

law of sod?
section. The salary offered - £18,000 at
the time - was roundly and rightly slated
by members as being derogatory and
insulting. Enter Andy Dixon.
Andy left school to take a three year
apprenticeship in aircraft engineering at
British Airways, Heathrow but, after
qualifying, spent just three months in the
job, citing “acute dermatitis and a
loathing for working indoors” as his
reasons for getting out.
He joined Guildford Borough Council
Sports Department as a trainee
groundsman, working on bowling greens,
whilst studying at Merrist Wood College
under David Rhodes. Here he gained his
NVQ Level 2, passing out as top student,
followed by an HNC, which he passed
with distinction. “It was fitted in around
the day job,” he recalls. “I spent eight
hours a week at college and a further
twenty hours a week on homework.”
I interviewed Andy in the splendidly
named W. G. Grace Meeting Room in
Dean Park’s historic pavilion, which dates
back to 1869, during a Minor Counties
Trophy game between Dorset and
Wiltshire. When I arrived, the scoreboard
looked frightening for Dorset, with two
Wiltshire batsmen on centuries, 290 on
the board and still seven overs to go!
So, how did he get into being a cricket
groundsman? “Whilst working for
Guildford Council, I was given the
responsibility of looking after the astro
pitch at King’s College Secondary School
in the city. The adjacent cricket square
was looked after by head groundsman,
John Yates, and I just started to help out
in my spare time.”
So, was he your mentor? “No, that was
David Cooper at Burpham Park. We were
looking after four bowling greens and
three cricket squares, and that’s where I
truly got the bug. In addition, when
Surrey CCC played a first class game at
Guildford, myself, and around seven
other council groundsmen, were
seconded to help out head groundsman,
Bill Clutterbuck. He’s a bit of a legend in
Surrey groundsmen’s circles. I still speak
to him occasionally when I need a bit of
advice - that’s if I’m not on the Pitchcare
message board - and we met up last
Christmas for a pint.”
After thirteen years with the council,
Andy applied for the post at Dean Park -
he was due to start on 1st October but,
due to the small print in his employment
contract, was not able to take up his
position until the first week of November.
“John Fazackerley had, in effect, already
retired, so no renovations were carried
out on the square and, with the dreadful
winter we had, there was simply nothing
I could do.”
The result was, by Andy’s own
admission, some pretty poor wickets in
the summer of 2009 and, as is often the
91