How a Harborough groundsman played his part in England's World Cup success against Croatia!
England's success against Croatia in the World Cup was certainly down to their dynamic attacking style - but maybe they can also thank a groundsman from Market Harborough for his part in their win!
Reece Watson has been called out to the United States for six weeks to help manage and maintain three of football pitches at the indoor stadiums in Houston, Los Angeles and the Dallas Stadium in Arlington in Texas, which was the venue of England's 4-2 opening game win.
And his expertise and knowledge has led him and memorial experience at the biggest sporting event in the world.
Reece was the former head groundsman of Arsenal Football Club for 14 years, winning seven best pitch awards along the way.
He left Arsenal in 2018 to start a company called Raw Stadia in which created hardware and a software platform, for sports teams to performance test pitches to show how they impact player performance and enable smarter boot selection for players.
Reece said: "I’ll be out here for six weeks and working with fantastic grounds teams at all three venues to ensure the pitches remain at optimum standards throughout the competition and the venues are all selected for either quarter and semi-final games which is really exciting.
"It was a proud moment to help manage a pitch for my country at a World Cup. We also hosted the opening game in the USA in LA which was another special experience."
Speaking about his company, he added: "We particularly monitor the firmness, how much energy is being returned to the players and level of grip of the pitches. We now work in 35 countries, at clubs like Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool and Real Madrid, we also work in baseball and equestrian."
Reece moved to Market Harborough in 2018, with his wife Sophie (who previously owned Sophie & Co on Abbey Street), and is a coach at Borough Alliance FC U11s Tigresses Girls.