Partnership To Support Diversity In Grounds Management
The inaugural Diverse Communities Grounds Management Workshop has taken place at Edgbaston
The event, which took place on 28th August, was attended by 26 grounds managers from across England and Wales.
Dr Iain James, the ECB’s head of facilities services, said: “There are two issues with grounds management that we’d love to tackle. First, we need more people with these specialist skills, rather than each community club relying on just one or two people. If that person leaves, the club can find itself on a very steep learning curve just to have facilities to play on.
“Second, and more importantly, the existing grounds management workforce doesn’t reflect the diversity of cricket in either gender or ethnicity. This event was Step 1 in trying to tackle that.”
Attendees heard introductions from both Iain and the GMA. Nasa Hussain, head groundsman at Bradford Park Avenue, also spoke about his experience of becoming a professional grounds manager.
Nasa said, “I was delighted to see so many grounds people coming together on what was a very significant day for the diverse communities around England and Wales. To see this project get off to such a positive start was extremely pleasing as I recalled my own journey becoming a full time grounds manager at the iconic Bradford Park Avenue working for Yorkshire CCC. I am confident that as a collective body we will know inspire existing and new grounds people who are key people within the cricketing family.”
A Q&A session was then followed by a tour of Edgbaston and its machinery shed from head grounds manager Gary Barwell.
Gulfraz Riaz, chairman of the NACC, described the event as “a momentous day bringing together grounds people from diverse communities.”
Another attendee, Mohammed Tanvir Ahamed, said it was “a truly inspiring day” and that “in partnership, we gained valuable insights, learned from one another, and laid the foundation for ever great support and development.”
Research from the GMA has found that 96% of professional grounds managers and 97% of volunteer grounds managers are male. Only 3% in both categories are non‑white.
In July, the ECB launched a new £5m Grass Pitch Improvement Fund (GPIF) that is expected to support around 250 projects over a three‑year period. It aims to tackle inequalities around access to safe, good quality grass cricket pitches. Applications to the GPIF are already open.
As a result of the findings from the Diverse Communities Grounds Management Workshop, the ECB will re‑evaluate and renew how it describes and communicates the grounds management pathway within cricket. It will also work extensively with other organisations to advertise what it is doing at both county and national level to support grounds managers.
“We know this is the start of the journey, not the answer to everything,” says Iain. “We want to do more to support, we want to connect people better, and we want to bring more people into grounds management to better represent the diversity of cricket.”
Image Credit: ECB.
