Warriors Head Groundsman Martin Knight has been nominated for the Professional Rugby Union Groundsman of the Year award.
Martin will go head-to-head with Jersey Rugby Club’s Myles Landick at the Institute of Groundsmanship’s award ceremony next month.
The ceremony will take place at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on December 5 and will recognise groundsman from all levels of sport.
Martin, who heads up a team of two full-time groundsman at Warriors, looks after 55 acres of land at Sixways.
As well as concentrating on the main stadium pitch, he is responsible for the upkeep of 20 pitches, including those at Cummins Farm and Westons – which Worcester’s amateur side use.
Martin said: “I’m really chuffed to be nominated for the award as it’s the biggest accolade in the industry.
“It’s nice to be recognised for the work you do and I would like to think that all players in the Premiership look forward to playing at Sixways.”
Martin’s day-to-day role includes mowing and spraying the pitch, marking the lines and verti-draining the pitch to speed up the absorption of water.
The club installed a new drainage system underneath the stadium pitch in the summer, which has ensured water is removed from the surface at a rapid rate.
Martin continued: “We sorted the drainage out in the summer and it’s made a huge difference. It rained throughout the entire match against Bath last weekend but at the end of the match there was no standing water.”
The Sixways pitch received praise of the highest order earlier this season after former England forward Nick Easter visited with Harlequins.
After his side’s Aviva Premiership clash at Sixways in September, he took to Twitter and commented: “Hats off to the Wuss groundsman who produced the best surface I have played rugby on in Prem.”
Former England scrum-half and current A Question of Sport captain Matt Dawson was also quick to praise the surface when he covered September’s match with BT Sport.
During the live coverage he said: “You are not going to play on a better track on a Friday night. This is in absolutely pristine condition.”
Martin added: “It’s nice to get those comments from people who have played a lot of matches at a lot of stadiums.
“I’m looking forward to the award ceremony and hopefully the judging panel will agree with their comments.”
Warriors Head of Operations Brian Ryan said: “I am delighted that Martin has been nominated for this prestigious award and pleased to see that all his hard work has been recognised amongst his peers.
“The pitch is currently in excellent condition due to Martin’s knowledge, experience and dedication.”