BEST PRACTICE | GMA HALL OF FAME
Colin Hoskins Editor
STEVE BRADDOCK – A GAME CHANGER!
Steve Braddock with his wife, Shuk, and daughters Jasmine and Lily at the Emirates Stadium
As Steve Braddock, head groundsman at Arsenal FC’s London Colney training ground, is inducted into the Grounds Management Association Hall of Fame, he looks back on his 40 years in the industry. It’s been a period when his mentoring skills have become as renowned as much as his turf care dedication, professionalism and attention to detail – qualities that have shaped his widely-revered grounds management expertise AS STEVE BRADDOCK emerges this month from the nation’s second Covid-19 lockdown – a lockdown which, as a vulnerable person, prevented him from even visiting his beloved Arsenal FC training ground – the universallyacclaimed turf guru continues his personal health war on a second battlefront: his fight against skin cancer which has now developed further to affect his bones. “The last couple of years have really brought it home to me that nobody is immune to life-threatening illness,” he says. “I know I am faced with an upwards battle, but I will give it my best shot. I was told last November that I had around three months to
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live, but I am still here!” Recounting the introduction of the first lockdown, in March, Steve says: “It was really difficult for me when I was told to take a laptop and work from home. But given my vulnerable state, it was for my own safety and, to be honest, I’m not sure I would have been able to cope with all the extra work that has been needed on site. I am very lucky that my staff have stepped up to the plate and they have made me really proud of their achievements.“ His team at London Colney includes his deputies Daniel Bickerton and Andrew Purser – “they have both stuck with me from day one at the training centre” – as well as Stuart Aiston, “who has suffered me for about 15 years”. Steve comments: “If it wasn’t for these people, along with others who have been with me longer than a five-year stretch, I would not have been able to achieve what I have at the training ground nor, indeed, would there have been such an impressive conveyor belt of good grounds professionals produced by Arsenal FC.” Steve is full of praise for Arsenal FC, the club’s stadium and facilities director John Beattie and former club manager Arsène Wenger “who has always believed that the pitch is as important as the player.” “They have always supported me in everything I’ve done and provided the appropriate resources
