Ashton Gate Named Best Pitch In League One

The awards are handed out to recognise the importance of the quality of pitches for professional football and acknowledge the groundsmen and their staff who consistently produce the best playing surfaces in the Football League.

Bristol City beat off competition from Fleetwood Town and Oldham Athletic to take the top award.

A DESSO pitch was installed in the summer at Ashton Gate to cope with football and rugby throughout the 2015/16 campaign.

Now the efforts of grounds manager Richardson and his team have added another trophy to the Bristol City cabinet.

The Football League's Groundsman of the Year Awards are determined initially using marks from referees and away managers for each Sky Bet Football League game and are then followed by detailed pitch inspections and a review of management operations.

These visits were carried out in April by Dr Stephen Baker, Head of Sports Surface Technology at the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI).