Amateur RU: Worst conditions YMCA remember

Jan 20 2010 by Mel Booth, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Amateur RU: Worst conditions YMCA remember

YMCA’s head groundsman Steve Metcalfe and his assistant David Roebuck are not quite as fortunate as their Galpharm counterpart, either with the quality of equipment or the geography of their patch.

The Laund Hill ground at Salendine Nook is a lot higher than the Galpharm and consequently the snow has been infinitely deeper with many more tons of it falling on the complex – and even today much of the first team pitch has still a generous amount left to thaw away.

“I’ve been at Salendine Nook since 1963, and this is the worst I can ever remember,” said Roebuck, who is Metcalfe’s right-hand man and presenter at the popular annual ‘Concert on the Hill’ every July.

“We have just had that much, and there again we do have upwards of 40 acres to clear at Laund Hill.

“We couldn’t go onto the field with a heavy tractor in conditions like we have had, in fact you can’t really use much equipment at all when it’s been like it has. The more you walk on it and compact, the longer it takes to get rid of.

“The drains, which are about 18ins down, are now running, so it’s obviously thawed to that depth, and hopefully if we don’t get any more this week, we should be fit to stage the game against West Leeds on Saturday.