UNSUNG HEROES
The game against Luton Town FC went ahead, despite the freezing conditions
UNSUNG HEROES
BEATING THE BEAST FROM THE EAST Cambridge United groundsman and IOG award winner Ian Darler along with assistant Mick Brown became the first non-players to be awarded the club’s Man of the Match award after refusing to be beaten by the weather
O By Tom Stewart Media and communications manager, Cambridge United
32 THE GROUNDSMAN July 2018
nly two fixtures in League Two and a handful of games in the entire Football League were played on Saturday 3 March, when the Beast from the East brought snow and freezing conditions to the UK. Cambridge United’s grounds team, led by groundsman Ian Darler and his assistant Mick Brown, refused to be defeated by the weather and wrote themselves into the history books, becoming the first non-players to be
awarded the club’s Man of the Match award at the end of the game at the Abbey Stadium against Luton Town FC.
INCOMING STORM
Ian called on his 40-year experience and led the titanic effort from a score of volunteers and club employees to ensure that the fixture went ahead. “We always work with a 10 to 14-day weather forecast in advance of any game,” he explained. “On 21 February, I could see that the Beast from the East was on its