* Click here to sign up to free news and Garforth Town email alerts from Garforth Today.

* Click here to make Garforth Today your friend on Facebook.

Richard Cale, 43, is groundsman at Garforth Town Football Club and beat off competition from 200 other contenders to win the national award.

Yet he might not even have taken the job had it not been for an accident at home which left him with two broken feet.

Mr Cale, who is married and has two sons, was having an extension built at his home in East Ridge View when plaster boards weighing half a ton fell on him, trapping his legs.

His sons Daniel, 15, and Sean, 13, struggled for 40 minutes to free him.
"I was off work for a year," he said.

He works with an emergency response team for Yorkshire Electricity – the men who turn out to deal with power cuts.

During his year's convalescence he would hobble to the football ground which adjoins his house, and chat to the groundsman there.
"The groundsman said he was leaving, and that I could do the job," said Mr Cale.


"He left in 2003 and I took it on when I was fit enough."
When he was fully recovered Mr Cale returned to his job with Yorkshire Electricity.

He does the groundsman's job as a paid hobby.

Mr Cale undertook training at the City of Manchester stadium, gaining a qualification and knowledge of pitch construction, aeration, and how to feed the pitch.

He became so proficient that he was nominated for the award through the
Football Association.

First he was named Groundsman of the Year for the Northern region, then went to London in the national finals, winning that too.
Now he has two trophies for his work.

"Old John Motson presented the trophies, and Steve Rider was the compere," he said.

"It was a fantastic day."