COMMUNITY SPORT
Martin Maytum, head groundsman at Kings Hill Sports Park
BEST PRACTICE
KING OF THE HILL The community use of the football pitches at Kings Hill Sports Park in Kent continues unabated, thanks mainly to head groundsman Martin Maytum
A By Colin Hoskins Features editor
22 THE GROUNDSMAN July 2019
measure of the popularity of the grass pitches at Kings Hill Sports Park is the fact that during season 2017/18, Kings Hill Football Club’s 40 teams played 388 games between them on the four pitches at the West Malling site in Kent. The site’s grass surfaces are also used regularly for training (four days a week) by Dover Athletic FC, as well as other local community sides. There’s even a floodlit 3G surface that is in constant use during weekends and evenings
for training by Kings Hill FC, which has more than 300 players from under-sixes to veterans, and for rugby and fitness classes and soccer schools. Head groundsman Martin Maytum brings 30 years of groundscare expertise to the parish council-owned facility. He started his career as a 16-year-old apprentice at Crystal Palace FC, followed by spells at Maidstone United, Kent Police sports ground and Queens Park Rangers’ training ground. He is also a volunteer pitch advisor for the Rugby Football Union. “If there is a secret to enabling natural grass pitches to