Gunning for success

GUNNING FOR SUCCESS AFTER HIGHBURY VISIT

When Arsenal FC fan Mike Hood realised his schoolboy dream of visiting the club’s iconic north London stadium, little did he know that it would lead to a successful career in grounds care – and also that, 15 years later, The Gunners’ then head groundsman Colin Hoskins Paul Burgess would remember his visit Editor

NOTHING COMES CLOSER to utopia for an Arsenal FC fan than a tour of the club’s ground. And, for then 14-year-old Mike Hood, a devoted Gooner, his visit to the club’s Highbury stadium 14 or so years ago was certainly perfection personified.

“I not only got to tour the stadium and walk on the pitch,” says Mike, “but I also met the then head groundsman Paul Burgess, who somehow arranged for my photoshoot with the Premier League Cup, which Arsenal had won in the 2003-4 season when the team was undefeated. What a day; one I will always remember!”

Inspiring a career

Arranged with Paul by Mike’s dad, Colin – at the time an established figure in equipment supply to the grounds industry – Mike was yet to realise that those few hours spent in north London would lead to his successful career in groundscare.

“I always knew Arsenal had a good pitch but being able to walk on it and touch it, I immediately realised that it was so much better that what I had seen on the TV. Looking back, it was clear that Paul knew what he was doing.” Since then, Arsenal FC has moved to the Emirates Stadium and Paul Burgess to Real Madrid, now as director of grounds and environment there. Now, aged 28, Mike is head groundsman at Leicester Grammar School.

“As a schoolboy, I used to help out at the local tennis courts, where dad volunteered and ‘my input would get me out of the house for a few hours’, he would say. Then, when I left school

Right: Mike Hood visited Highbury as a 14-year-old boy Below: Mike today

aged 16, I joined the greenkeeping team at a local golf club and spent seven years there before moving to Oakham School for two years, working alongside Mark Pettit who, coincidentally, had previously worked with Paul Burgess at Arsenal. Three years ago, I joined Leicester Grammar School – where there is a particular focus on cricket and rugby – and I’ve been head groundsman here for the past year.” Over the years, Mike has successfully gained his Level 2 and Level 3 sports turf accreditations – as well as certificates for spraying and chainsawing.

Mike’s visit to Highbury was the subject of a recent social media post by Colin Hood and, remembering the visit (among the many hundreds of grounds professionals he’s hosted over the years in Spain), Paul Burgess responded along the lines of ‘perhaps one day I’ll see you both again, but this time in Madrid’. ■