Tom Paul

Groundsman of the Year 2019

Beds FA are delighted to announce the Groundsman of the Year 2019 winners: Tom Belton & Paul O’Brien.

Tom & Paul look after the excellently prepared grass pitches at Biggleswade Town FC, Langford Road. The venue provides a playing surface for Biggleswade Town Youth and Biggleswade FC reserves across 5v5, 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11 formats. The 11a-side pitch (over-marked with U13/14 dimensions) with moveable goalposts has in excess of 70 + games per season with 2-3 weekly fixtures each weekend.



The quality of the front pitches bearing in mind the high carrying capacity is testament to the work of Tom and Paul. Both will now receive a Dimple line marker and 3 drums of line marking paint along with an invite to an event to celebrate the Groundsman of the Year at the end of the season.



Robert Hill
(Woburn & Wavendon) and Carl and Stephen Inns (Slip End United) were highly commended for the excellent work carried out at their pitches. 



Robert Hill has engaged with the Pitch Improvement Programme to improve and maintain the 7 venues that Woburn and Wavendon operate across to provide football for 37 teams. Equally as impressive as the number of sites that are maintained, Robert and his team have been able to turn a previously disused area next to a quarry into a site that hosts regular games with no postponed matches to date this season. Robert will receive 2 drums of line marking paint and will join the other nominated individuals at a celebratory event at the end of the season.

Carl and Stephen Inns have both been involved at the club in various capacities with over 10 years’ of service each. Since taking on responsibility of the pitch maintenance and surrounding field for Slip End 3 years ago, both have been extremely engaging with the Pitch Improvement Programme that has seen vastly improved results to their playing surface. They continue to spend a lot of time investing in new methods to improve and maintain the surface whilst showing great enthusiasm and willingness to further enhance their knowledge. A place will be provided on an upcoming Institute Of Groundsmanship (IOG) qualification to further support the great work carried out on the pitch.

The FA will now put forward each County FA winner into the Regional competition. The winner of the East Region coupled with the other Regional award winners will then be put forward to the National competition. The Bedfordshire FA flag is now in the process of being passed over to Tom & Paul as they attempt to follow in the footsteps of Wes Matthews.

For more information on natural turf improvement or the Pitch Improvement Programme, please contact James Petty on James.Petty@BedfordshireFA.com