Features / Ashton Gate
The grounds team keeping Ashton Gate world-class
Jack Langley, deputy head groundsperson at Ashton Gate, got into grounds management by what he says was “fluke”.
With no previous experience beyond occasionally helping his uncle, Jack became an assistant groundsperson at the stadium in 2017. Seven and a half years later, Jack, 28, who lives in Bedminster, continues to take enormous pride in helping to prepare world class pitches for Bristol City and Bristol Bears.
With both football and rugby played in BS3, Ashton Gate is one of the busiest stadiums in the UK, with Jack and his colleagues’ work usually taking place behind the scenes. There are also much fewer groundspeople than would work at the richest Premiership football clubs which might have dozens of staff doing the same job of a handful at Ashton Gate.
is needed now More than ever
90 points were scored at Ashton Gate on Saturday when Bristol Bears beat Exeter Chiefs – photo: Edie Earle
“It can be tough, but we don’t know any different,” says Jack. “We have no choice other than to crack on… We have to do the best we can with what we’ve got.”
This involves rolling with the ever-unpredictable British weather. Jack remembers a particular example when it rained for 24 hours before and during a Bears game. Coming into work the following Monday, Jack was met with post-Glastonbury Festival levels of mud. “I did like rugby at one point but now I don’t,” Jack quips.
Jack Langley has worked at Ashton Gate since 2017 – photo: Bristol Sport
Despite the testing nature of the job, Jack is quick to stress that the pros far outweigh the cons: “Everyone here is really tight. I could walk into the CEO’s office right now and have a cup of tea if I wanted… you wouldn’t get that at bigger clubs.”
For Jack, this community even includes family – his partner Emma is operations manager for Bristol City Women, and they’ve just welcomed their first child, Alfie.
Jack also describes the satisfaction of match day buzz as a major perk of the job, taking pride in knowing that he has “played a part in producing what (people) are going to witness”.
This is even if wet conditions and knee-sliding celebrations have made matches occasionally difficult to watch: “Earlier on in my career, we’d kind of wince at it… but now it’s just part and parcel of the game.”
Both football and rugby are played on the Ashton Gate turf – photo: Bristol Sport
Jack’s work isn’t confined to Ashton Gate. British groundspeople are some of the most sought after in the world, and his job affords numerous opportunities to travel across Europe including sharing best practice with colleagues in Bulgaria and Holland.
When he’s not at Ashton Gate or playing centre-defence for his Monday night eight-a-side team, Western Rejects FC, Jack is working to attract the next generation of grounds management. He is part of the GMA NextGen, a group of young professionals who are committed to encouraging young people into the profession, and to sharing the many rewards that the job brings with it.
He encourages young people to “take the chance and go for it… It’s such a small industry but with such big aspirations.”
Main photo: Bristol Sport
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