This is a bloody tough time of year for football ground staff. The cold and generally rubbish weather causes them no end of bother, with a high risk of frozen or waterlogged pitches, and therefore postponed matches.
Everyone agrees there is only so much a groundsman, a mere mortal without the power to breathe fire or thaw football pitches with his breath, can do to battle the elements, such as the use of covers or heaters. But sometimes, that’s not enough.
League One Southend United proved this by sacking their groundsman of 27 years following the postponement of their clash against Bolton Wanderers at the weekend.
After an overnight freeze rendered the Roots Hall pitch unsafe, the Shrimpers dismissed Ken Hare for…erm…not being able to control the weather, or something?
Hare’s sacking may be seen as heartless and uncalled for by most but will bringing in a new groundsman improve the pitch, and even results, at Roots Hall? If you think so, have a bet and get great offers at fairpromocode.co.uk
Literally, that’s the only reason we can think of for his sacking. There is only so much the ground staff can do to combat adverse weather conditions, because at the end of the day: it’s the damn weather.
The weather is regularly an arsehole, and does what it wants at any time (e.g. British summers: “torrential rain in July, why not?”). Portable heaters and covers aren’t really too effective when the weather decides to get all icy up in here.
This is what the club had to say for themselves:
[quote]”People generally lose their position as a result of not doing their job. The necessary decision surrounding Mr Hare was a disappointment and of course not taken lightly.
