Aiden Ryan has been announced as the winner of the Wembley Stadium Turf Scholarship for 2008.

The 19-year-old from Leyton in east London has become the second winner of the prestigious scholarship scheme, which is sponsored by Toro and Lely UK and sees a promising young turf professional from the London area win a year at the world-famous stadium under the mentorship of its grounds manager, Steve Welch.

Aiden’s passion for groundsmanship was sparked as a youngster playing in his local Leyton Football Club’s under 14s team, which was managed by the club’s then head groundsman. “I was fascinated by how they made the patterns in the pitch when I was younger,” Aiden recalls. “And working outside was always attractive to me.”

Having helped Leyton’s grounds manager on Saturdays since the age of 10, Aiden went on to join the club full-time as assistant groundsman after leaving school at 16. With the full-size floodlit pitch that Leyton’s senior squad, under 18s and under 14s all play on tended to by only a small turfcare team, Aiden found himself with a great deal of responsibility from a young age. He even spent his last year at the club as acting head groundsman when a skeleton staff left him solely responsible for the site.

Keen to progress his skills and career prospects, Aiden submitted his CV to specialist recruitment consultancy, Groundsearch, earlier this year, which then nominated him for the scholarship. After being interviewed and tested on a range of practical tasks by Steve and his deputy, Steve Green, Aiden was delighted to discover he’d won the year’s scholarship at Wembley Stadium.

“I’m very happy in my new role and am really looking forward to the year ahead,” Aiden enthuses. “I’ve joined at a busy time and have already seen so much in just a few weeks, from the flooring going in for the Madonna concert and reseeding of the pitch, to my first 90,000-crowd England game and preparations for the Race of Champions motorsport event. It’s really valuable seeing so many different events. I can learn a lot from Steve and his team and feel really positive about the future.”

Steve is equally enthusiastic about his new scholar. “Aiden’s got off to a great start,” he says. “He’s got all the attributes we were looking for in a scholar – he’s committed to a career in groundsmanship and realises he’s got a lot to learn. I’ve every confidence he’ll follow in the footsteps of our 2007 winner, James Pope, and make a great success of his year here at Wembley Stadium.”

The Wembley Stadium Turf Scholarship is a unique training opportunity open to young student groundsmen living in the London area via local colleges and recruiters. The scheme was established in 2007 by Wembley Stadium and is sponsored by turf maintenance equipment manufacturer Toro and its distributor, Lely UK.