NewsLFC grounds team honoured for elite upkeep of all club pitches

Held at Anfield, the Grounds Management Association Industry Awards honours excellence across the professional, amateur and voluntary sectors.

The LFC grounds team has been named Professional Football Grounds Team (elite) of the Year, for incredible turf management.

This award is testament to the team's expertise, dedication and ability to deliver brilliance through grounds management, across five key club sites, including Anfield and St Helens Stadium, covering a total of 339,500 square meters.

Recent milestones include the installation of a hybrid carpet pitch at St Helens, just four weeks before the first Barclays Women's Super League fixture, and replacing Anfield's old pitch with a new hybrid surface in only three weeks, ready for the 2023-24 campaign.

After hosting more than 250,000 fans at Anfield across five unforgettable concert nights in 2024, the team once again demonstrated its precision and speed by reinstalling a pristine hybrid pitch in record time, ensuring the turf was completely match-proof.

Through The Red Way, the LFC grounds team is committed to sustainable practices and therefore has played an essential role in the club's growing list of sustainability accolades.

In collaboration with Husqvarna, LFC has introduced electric robotic lawn mowers, currently maintaining 80 per cent of the club's landscaped areas. This initiative has cut mowing emissions by 97 per cent - the equivalent of planting 1,309 trees each year.

The team has led key eco-friendly initiatives to enhance biodiversity through wildflower meadows, orchards and pollinator-friendly planting, ensuring the club remains at the forefront of environmental sustainability

Paul Cuttill, vice president, stadium operations at LFC, said: "This award is a real testament to our amazing grounds team, who work tirelessly across multiple LFC sites to set the standard in turf management.

"We're always looking to learn and remain innovative, so we can build on this success, keep reducing our environmental impact, and ensure our pitches and grounds remain in world-class condition."