Caley Thistle head groundsman Dale Stephen will be forever grateful to his legendary predecessor, the late Tommy Cumming, for passing on years of knowledge and being the ideal mentor and friend along the way.
As the Championship club gear up for their Scottish Cup final shot at Celtic on Saturday, there is a lot of emotions within the walls of the Caledonian Stadium – and on the pitch, with staff missing Tommy, who died last month.
The 77-year-old former kitman and award-winning groundsman had a long association with the club. His ashes are laid within the Caledonian Stadium, the perfect place, it was felt.
And Tommy clearly gauged the potential in Dale, whose cutting-edge work at Forres Mechanics was praised by Tommy, who saw him as his long-term replacement.
Dale said: “My background is in greenkeeping. After (emerging groundsman) Matty (Matthew Armitage) passed away, there was talk in a few places about an opening at the club as the head groundsman once Tommy was ready to retire.
“Peter MacKenzie, who was a policeman in Inverness, knew Tommy well and he involved at Forres Mechanics.
“I was at Forres Mechanics the last year Forres won the Highland League (in 2011-12) and that was my only season in the Highland League.
“Word was getting about (regarding Dale’s high quality of work) and Peter made a call to Tommy and Tommy then called me and told me I’d get the job (at Caley Thistle).
“At my interview, Tommy came in and said ‘you’ll be doing this and that’ and I said ‘if I get the job’ and he said ‘well, if it’s anything to do with me, you will’.
“I started here in August 2016. The season had already kicked off. It was the ill-fated season we got relegated.
“The initial contact was through Peter and the rest is history.”
Winning this cup would be special
The 36-year-old’s bond with Tommy is clear and he would love Billy Dodds’ cup finalists to go one step further, with any potential triumph seen as a fitting final chapter with the legend in mind.
He said: “I have worked in various places over the years, and I’ve always become good friends with colleagues, but Tommy was 69 or 70 when I first met him.
“Tommy was 77 when he passed away last month, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. He meant a lot to me.
“Football is a funny old world at the best of times, but Tommy taught me how it worked.
“If I didn’t have him here when I started off, I’d probably have run a mile from it.
“Even when he retired, I used to phone him every day. Anything that happened, we’d be chatting…’did you see this?’. I’d get to the front door of the house and my wife would ask who I was on the phone to, and I’d say ‘Tommy’, and she’d smile and shake her head.
“If we could win the cup this year, given Tommy’s passing, it would be something special.”
Tommy Cumming was ‘one of a kind’
And Dale, who has good working relationships with Davie Fraser at Ross County and Davie Nicholson at Aberdeen amongst others, explained carrying on Tommy’s sterling work is a driving motivation.
He said: “Tommy was one of a kind. He lived and breathed football in general and certainly all things Caley Thistle.
“Tommy was the groundsman here for 25-26 years and he won Scottish groundsman of the year (in 2010) and on a weekly basis he would tell me my pitch was the best in Scotland.
“He’d won groundsman of the year and he’s telling me that. He’d say ‘aye, but I’m a milkman’ (referring to his earlier career).
“I fully appreciate how much he meant to me. He’d always be there with bits of encouragement or titbits of information.
“The praise I had for him was second to none and really set me up for hopefully a long-time in this job, just like him. He was one of a kind.
“I will always try to my best for him and that was one of the last things I said to him.
“He was everything about the club to me when I started. I hope the boys can do it for him. It would be fitting.
“I was reduced to tears when there was a minute’s applause for Tommy at the Dundee game just after he passed.”
Basics are the strong starting points
Dale, whose wife Amanda, and dad and brother will also be attending the final along with many matchday volunteers, said the key to keeping the surface tip-top is making sure the fundamentals are carried out in the best way possible.
He added: “Sticking to the basics of greenkeeping and groundsmanship is the best way.
“The basics include having a good feeding programme. I am backed up by some good products.
“We don’t scrimp on what we’re putting on the pitch. The club has always backed me with that.
“You then have aeration programmes. That’s the key, to keep the drainage working well and keep lots of holes in it. I have a couple of different machines which I use regularly for that.
“After that, you have general mowing practices. In the height of summer, I’m cutting it three or four times per week, double cuts each time.
“I will go across the way and then up and down the way. You try to take as much of the grass away as cleanly as possible. It’s all about trying to keep the top healthy.”
Not quite the biggest pitch in country
Caley Thistle are often thought to have one of the largest pitches in Scotland, compared with Hampden in size.
Dale understands why people might think that, but explained the area where the action takes place is the same as others.
He said: “The playing surface is UEFA-standard size, which is 68 metres wide by 105 metres long.
“Therefore, the actual playing surface is the same as Ibrox and Celtic. If you want to play in Europe, that’s the standard size.
“The overall turf area is quite a bit bigger, which is why people maybe say we’ve one of the biggest pitches.”
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