Groundsman

Aimee Brown

A self-confessed cricket fan is on a good wicket working as a groundsman at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Terry O’Keeffe says his job combines all his loves — the outdoors, sports and ground-keeping. “To put them all together at the end of the day and have your office on the world stage, you can’t beat it,” he says.

O’Keeffe has been working at the SCG for almost three years, but has worked as a groundsman for 16 years. Previously, he worked at Rockdale Council for 12 years. “I was on a local council ground doing the same sort of thing but on a different scale,” O’Keeffe says. “Here, it’s a different ball game, pardon the pun.” At the SCG, he is the “outfield man”. “That entails anything from cutting to fertilising, spraying pesticides and getting [the outfield] ready for event days,” he says.

O’Keeffe is part of a 13-strong team of groundsmen who ensure the surface is at its peak for different sports, including the two main ones — cricket and AFL. “The cricketers like it short and firm whereas the [Sydney] Swans like it long and soft. Obviously we can make it firm by topdressing it and cutting it shorter.” But making it softer is a more difficult process that requires O’Keeffe to make small puncture holes in the profile of the soil.

“It relieves the compaction a bit,” he says. O’Keeffe admits that he gets a kick out of knowing that his work plays an integral part in all the games played on the  grounds.
“We have to be on standby when the games are on,” he says. “During the cricket we’ll do work on the grounds at the players’ requests. We have to confer with the umpire, but it’s usually to do with foot holes from the bowlers at the end of the day or in the morning.”

Working closely with the players and the officials means he has had the opportunity to meet some of his cricketing idols. “That’s another one of the perks of the job, especially for me, being a cricket fan myself,” he says. “We always like to ask them what they think of the grounds.” His most memorable experience was working during the Cricket Super Test last October when the Australian side battled against a team of the world’s best cricketers.

“That was a great occasion for us. I don’t think we’ll see that again, that group and quality of cricketers,” he says. O’Keeffe says that while hours can be long during the peak sporting seasons, it is a small price to pay to work in such an environment. He says: “Everyone wants to be at the top of their game and as far as I’m concerned that’s where I am. I’m not complaining when I get out of bed in the morning.”

LOVE YOUR WORK


How did you get into your job? I started out in horticulture and then I became a groundsman at a local council. It was always a bit of an aspiration for me to work at the SCG. When I heard that a position was coming up, I applied for it.

Upside: I’m a mad cricket fan so that’s what I’m here for.

Downside: The weather is our biggest obstacle. When it rains there’s not much you can do about it.

By Aimee Brown, The Daily Telegraph, July 3, 2006.