When Northampton Saints clinched Gallagher PREM glory in June, there was a familiar face missing from the sidelines at Allianz Stadium – but with good reason.
Sat nervously in a Los Angeles apartment 5,500 miles away, in the early hours of the morning and without a live feed to watch, Saints’ Head Groundsman Andy Miller was relying on score updates to his phone as the men in Black, Green and Gold left it late to see off Exeter Chiefs.
After 11 years with the Club, only an opportunity of a lifetime would keep the 41‑year‑old from being present for the business end of a Saints season – and that’s exactly what was tabled to Miller when he was invited to take on a secondment at the FIFA World Cup.
His predecessor in the Saints role, Wayne Billing, called upon his former deputy to leave Northamptonshire at the start of May and join a team Stateside tasked with bringing a grass surface to SoFi Stadium – the most expensive sports arena in the world, at a reported cost of $5.5bn.
The synthetic surface used by NFL franchises the Rams and Chargers was not suitable for football’s biggest event, so a hybrid pitch with a five‑per‑cent plastic element was grown at a farm in Washington State, rolled up, placed in a refrigerated truck and transported 2,700 miles down the West Coast to the 70,000‑plus‑seater stadium.
That’s where Miller and the team clicked into action. Before Saints had even secured a place in the PREM Play‑Offs, he was already in LA delivering another first‑rate pitch.
“With a heavy heart I missed us becoming Champions again,” he said. “I missed the semi‑final as well. I did all the hard work through the horrible months, then missed the cherry on the top at the end!
“I had only been to America as a kid. It was one heck of an experience to go there, see it, spend a lot of time there, meet the people and be involved in working at a World Cup. It’s something you wouldn’t be able to pay for.
“With such a venue comes a lot of pressure. We had to deliver a first‑rate pitch, and you are criticised if anything goes wrong in football – they will blame the pitch first.”
Focusing on his role, he added: “I was tasked completely with the nutrition of the pitch. I was doing all the sprays, the feeding, taking all the stress and keeping it healthy.
“Straight away their measures were completely different to ours. The environment of the stadium – you had to work it out very quickly. Things like moisture; there is no rain in California at that time of year, and even if it did, there was a roof over it. We were controlling everything and having to manage it all the way through.”
SoFi Stadium staged five World Cup group‑stage games and three knock‑out matches, including eventual winners Spain’s Round-of-32 win against Austria and Quarter‑Final success against Belgium. Five of the eight games were 12pm local kick‑offs, meaning Miller’s alarm sounded at 3.30am, before clocking off at 6.30pm.
But the pressure, time away from home and long hours were all worth it.
“I was very proud of what we did,” Miller reflected. “As a team, we absolutely smashed it in LA. We had some amazing comments from people. One USA player said it was the best pitch he’s ever played on in the USA, which was class to hear. We had great comments from people within FIFA too.
“It is probably the biggest competition you could possibly work at. To get the chance to work on it was such an honour, and I’m grateful to Wayne for inviting me, and to Saints for allowing me to go on secondment.”
There was more than one benefit for Saints too, despite not having their Head Groundsman on site for the Franklin’s Gardens wins over Bristol Bears, Gloucester and the Play‑Off against Leicester Tigers.
“Every day is a learning day, and there were so many different methods that I can pick up and use here at Saints now and in the future,” Miller said.
“I also want to give a shout‑out to Josh Gould, Howard Willmott, Mitch Jimes and Harvey Cunningham. As a team they really stepped up and delivered when it mattered most, which will only benefit their career development and strengthen the brilliant team we already have here at Saints.”