GroundsWeek 2025- An industry that is worth being in.

This week, James Kimmings sat down with Jasmine Nicholls from Yorkshire County Cricket Club (CCC) to discuss why grounds is an industry that people should be excited about. We talk recruitment, pressures and relationship building…

Getting the industry out there

Yorkshire Cricket Board recently hosted a Women in Cricket Workshop, Jasmine lead the grounds section of the day, she told us the importance of these events: “I put the workshop out there because there are not enough people coming into the industry and people are unaware of what we do in grounds. We may not get any of those women going down to help with their local cricket grounds but at least they have left knowing more about what we do.”

The plan is to get more women involved in grounds; Jasmine highlighted how she wanted to do this: “It was the question of how we are going to get women to come to a grounds specific event if they don’t know what it is. That is why we linked it in with other elements, things like the scoring in cricket and the health and fitness of cricket. I want to develop the workshop to do more of them in the future, but the aim is to get people thinking about the industry.

Yorkshire CCC have been extremely supporting of the ideas that Jasmine has had, she explained: “Everything that I’ve done so far, they have supported me through, the Yorkshire Cricket Board have also been really helpful with there reach and access to things; they organised the event and got people involved, Richard Robinson (Robbo) who is Head of Grounds has been supportive of the ideas, I didn’t want to sit in a classroom and show them a slideshow, he allowed us to go out and showcase the machinery and work that we do in grounds.”

How should we recruit people?

When asked about the recruitment situation within the industry, Jasmine said: “A lot of people who get into the industry fall into it by mistake. We need to be talking to people who are not wanting to work in an office; the people who are in school and don’t really have an idea of what they want to do or those who enjoy sport but aren’t going to make it as a professional. Recruitment is slowly growing; we have causals who come in every year. This year has been the highest number of casuals that have applied.”

“We need to get people who are working in turfcare into schools and colleges to promote what the industry is, it might not work having only the associations going in because the kids could question- well if you love turfcare so much, why aren’t you working in it? We need to showcase the positive stories about the industry to people, tell them about all of the opportunities that we have to offer. For example, there are plenty of other jobs within sport if you don’t make it as a player, so why not stay in the sport you love and do something like grounds. Also look into putting entry level jobs on job centre websites and newspapers, a lot of the jobs are advertised within turfcare, and this might not reach the outside bubble.”

When discussing what can be done to get more people into the industry, Jasmine touched on the new initiative Schools into Stadia: “I know they have started some events in London, which is great. However, it is about getting those events all over the UK. The county grounds should be developing relationships with local schools and then bringing children in to witness what we do.”

Creating a good working environment

Teamwork is the key at Headingly: “I love being outside and I love the team that I have here, the togetherness helps for us to work hard and develop. The teamwork is great but at the same time it is nice to have the support. Robbo has taught me a lot and I enjoy that part of the job. I started two years ago, and I never wanted to touch a roller because I was worried about that but last year I stayed behind with Robbo and he helped me on it and now I enjoy it. It is vital to support the staff and help them to develop, the support I have had has been amazing.”

She also touched on the importance of having role models like Robbo within the industry: “It is essential to have those types of people within the industry, he cares about every single person in the team. It is nice to have someone to learn from but also someone to support you on the hard days.”  

With the challenging nature of the job at times, Jasmine looks at the importance of enjoying what you do: “It is crucial that you have an interest in the job you are doing; you need an interest in the turf, sport, or stadium. If you haven’t got that interest, I find it hard to believe you would want to sit and watch cricket for four days at a time. I have learnt to love cricket; you are there all day; it isn’t a case of being there for two hours. Targeting fans of sport is one hundred percent something we should be doing.”