Thursday 17 September 2015 06:51, UK
Leicester City’s head groundsman John Ledwidge says the Rugby World Cup matches due to be staged at the King Power Stadium next month will not interfere with the team’s flying start to the season.
The Foxes are unbeaten and currently sit second in the Premier League. Their flawless home pitch suits the quick passing, attacking style of play that has characterised their first five league games.
But their home ground will host three World Cup group fixtures and three further days of rugby training within a nine-day period at the start of October.
"We've been planning meticulously for this ever since we first learned that the KP would be a Rugby World Cup venue," Ledwidge told Sky Sports News HQ.
"If you'd been here in June, you'd have seen me standing in a six-foot trench where the current six-yard box is, as we put in the huge supports for the 17-metre-high rugby posts."
The area is now covered over with soil and turf, so that there is no blemish on the immaculate green playing surface.
"One of the biggest challenges has been where to store the rugby posts. They're huge." he added.
"In the end, we've put them in the concourses - strapped them inside the pillars that hold the stands up."
When it comes to the pitch itself, there have been even bigger challenges.
"Obviously, there are totally different demands for the two sports," Ledwidge said.
"For a start, the grass will be 28mm long for the World Cup, whilst we cut it to 22mm for Premier League football. That will help protect the surface a bit, but it is much more damaging to the pitch to have 18-stone brutes slamming their boots, and each other, on the surface instead of Riyad Mahrez gliding over it, who's probably eight stone wringing wet.
"We've also brought the lighting rigs in about six weeks earlier than we normally would, to help grow the grass as strong and as healthy as possible in advance, and planned the nutrition for the (grass) plants accordingly, so that it's in the best possible condition to cope with the rigours to come."
Those lighting rigs cost Leicester more than £250,000. They can be hydraulically raised and lowered to provide more intense heat and light for any areas of the pitch that have been badly damaged by the rucks and mauls.
"If you have a scrum, for example, and it's a wet day, it can do quite a bit of damage to the pitch," he said.
"So, after the game, we can quickly take the lighting rig and lower it quite close to the surface, to give the grass in that area a big blast of light.
"We treat the grass very much like an athlete - the more work it has to do, the more it needs help to recover, and we've designed all the food and light conditions accordingly to provide the pitch with that. We also take soil samples regularly, to monitor the nutrient levels present."
Ledwidge is certain that his pitch will be able to cope with almost 500 minutes of rugby in just over a week.
"It is pretty high pressure," he admits. "But me and the team thrive on that sort of pressure. The standards in the Premier League are so high, we put ourselves under pressure to produce the best pitch we can on a daily basis.
"And it's a big honour to get the chance to stage some big international games in the Rugby World Cup. But we also have to make sure that the pitch is ready for a return to football, as soon as the rugby finishes."
To that end, Leicester's groundstaff follow strict guidelines to produce a surface that suits Leicester's style of play.
"Our team is full of pace, clearly, and Claudio likes the pitch to play fast," he said. "So we will always water the pitch more heavily than most clubs, immediately before kick-off and again at half time to give the ball that extra zip.
"But we also know that the softer the pitch, the more resistance the quick players feel when they plant their foot as they try to push off.
"So if we can make the pitch a bit firmer, the better it is for the quicker players so that they can get a firmer base, better acceleration and a quicker sprint.
"But there's a balance to be struck. We do a lot of work with Dave Rennie (Leicester's head physio) to make sure that the firmer pitches don't give a greater risk of injury."
He is clearly a master of his trade. Ledwidge and his team have been nominated by the Institute of Groundsmen for the "Groundsteam of the Year" award. They're down to the final two, and are up against their counterparts at Old Trafford.
But Ledwidge admits the next month will represent the biggest challenge he's faced in the job so far.
