Geoff Webb, chief executive of Grounds Management Association, says the overwhelming industry-wide positive response to the organisation’s rebranding is set to underpin a modern and progressive industry-focused membership organisation.

“The main thrust of Grounds Management Association (GMA) in these unprecedented times is to continue to provide appropriate guidance to help keep our members, their families and the wider industry safe during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly while all playing surfaces are ‘on hold’ until Government begins to relax social distancing restrictions and until sport can resume again.  

“We have created a dedicated section on our website (www.thegma.org.uk/covid-19-0) that not only acts as a reminder of the Government’s safe working practices and provides useful sources of advice for members’ wellbeing, but it also highlights how grounds managers – professional and volunteer – can keep their playing surfaces ‘ticking over’ with minimal maintenance during these difficult times. 

“At the same time, GMA is working hard to ensure that our usual services remain ‘business as usual’ – including our annual trade show, SALTEX. We also continue building our ambitions for the Pitch Grading Framework and have just announced the launch of new online learning. The training, suitable for both professionals and volunteers, covers the maintenance of sport surfaces and facilities at grassroots level to enhance practical skills. We are determined to plough on with our ambitions in professionalising the grounds sector, and also inspiring the next generation of talent to help raise the status and future of the profession.  

 “The facts are: our industry is not attracting enough new recruits; it has an ageing demographic; and there is a lack of diversity. Our new identity addresses this and GMA will be working hard to reach new audiences in 2020 and beyond. This includes developing a platform with modern services – and messages – all designed to attract more people into the industry.  

“This embraces our ‘Grounds for Sport’ campaign, which seeks to highlight how vital grounds management is to sport nationwide. Through extensive research during the rebrand process, we believe that GMA is now ideally placed to promote the profession to wider audiences, while continuing to raise awareness of the vital work of grounds managers and staff, to attract a new generation.  

“The restrictions placed on everyone by Covid-19 is a challenge across the industry, but I’m confident that we will emerge from this as an even stronger not-for-profit association that has the industry and its workforce – the people who make sport possible – at its heart.” 

www.thegma.org.uk