Accrington Stanley win Grounds Team of the Season

Accrington Stanley have won the Sky Bet League Two Grounds Team of the Season award for the 2024/25 campaign.

Grounds teams throughout the EFL work tirelessly to make sure pitch surfaces are of a high quality through all weather and conditions.

The award for the Grounds Team of the Season celebrates the staff who have produced the best quality pitches in each division across the course of the campaign.

Pitches are assessed by the referee and a visiting team official for all EFL League matches, and awarded scores based on three criteria (Grass Coverage, Traction and Debris).

The top clubs from each division with the highest divisional average are then visited by members of the team from STRI (Sports Turf Research Institute) who carry out further assessments.

Accrington Stanley Head Groundsman, Ben Kay, said: "Firstly; myself, David Worthington, Jon Hosty, Simon Woodford, and Kian Jones would like to thank Andy Holt, David Burgess and Warren Eastham for allowing us the opportunity to produce an award-winning pitch.

"We get scored on the pitch every game and after the halfway point, you get a mark and we knew we were quite high up in the table.

"I think it was about two weeks ago, when we kind of finally got the information and we were in the top four, which I mean ultimately, we're Accrington Stanley against some very big clubs in there, with Chesterfield, Milton Keynes Dons and Notts County, so just to be nominated was really, really pleasing for us.

"We put a lot of hard work and effort into the pitch, so we were really, really overjoyed to receive it, but then to win it just goes one step further - we've done really well with the pitch this season.

"There are a lot of sacrifices, working Saturdays, working Sundays, working Bank Holidays, a lot of hard hours and a lot of hours in bad weather, but it's commitment, when you get recognition and awards, it just makes it all worthwhile."