From the golf course to Marvel Stadium, to Papua New Guinea and now the most prestigious sports field in Queensland, Matthew Oliver, the current Suncorp Stadium Grounds Manager has had an incredible turf journey.
We recently caught up with Matthew, to discuss his turf career so far and talk all things turf.
Q: Where did it all start for you when it comes to working in the turf industry?
I started off as an 18 year old cricketer playing in the UK. In my spare time, I was helping the local groundsman there, preparing the wickets, and by the end of the season I was actually looking after the first-team pitches. Which was, I guess, my first foray into sports turf. When I came back to Melbourne after the summer of playing cricket in England, I was looking at an apprenticeship in wicket curating, but unfortunately there wasn’t anything out there. So I ended up going down the golf course route and spent four years doing an apprenticeship on a golf course in Southeast Melbourne at the Sandhurst Club. I then made my first move to a stadium with Marvel Stadium offering me a role as a qualified turf manager straight out of my apprenticeship. So that was pretty much my first move into sports fields.
Q: How did your career in sports turf management develop from there?
My development and experience grew as I was working my way up through different roles. Marvel Stadium was obviously huge in terms of exposure. Exposure to a huge number of events of varying types, and different sports codes, all with specific requirements for each. I was still learning my craft and going from a golf course which there are some similarities, but everything’s just magnified in terms of the exposure, the expectation, and the pressure.
Q: Where did you go from Marvel? Where was your career path to where you end up today?
I spent five years in my first stint at Marvel and then decided to look sideways to get some more managerial experience. I went to Melbourne Grammar School where I worked under a man by the name of John Shannon, an industry legend in Victoria. I spent two years underneath him as the Assistant Grounds Manager at Melbourne Grammar. Essentially there I was the Head Curator of the wickets, looking after the first team sports fields and just really broadened my skill set not only for cricket wickets, but also people management skills and that side of things. After I had spent two years at Melbourne Grammar, an opportunity from left field came up, which was in Papua New Guinea for a fly-in, fly-out role project managing the new national football stadium of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby. I spent the best part of twelve months in that role before the contract with the company I was working for expired and unfortunately wasn’t extended. I then returned to Melbourne where I helped project manage the reconstruction of Icon Park, Carlton Football Club’s training ground. I spent two years there at Carlton before my wife pressured me, I guess, into looking at moving somewhere warmer. A role came up at the Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre in Brisbane where I worked for four years before I accepted the incredible opportunity to over as Grounds Manager at Suncorp Stadium.
Q: How is Suncorp Stadium managed and what is a normal week like for you and your team?
Obviously, 2023 has been a huge year for us here. It’s been an unprecedented year of events. By the end of 2023, we’ll have hosted 65 events on the field, which is huge for here, or huge in any stadium, really, and that’s across the three sporting codes, rugby league, soccer and rugby union, plus concerts and everything else in between. All the training sessions that we host, captains run and the like. I guess a normal week here is generally a changeover from one event to another. Last Sunday, we had four games of soccer and then we washed out those lines, removed the goals that night and then prepared for an NRL preliminary final. A recovery spray on the Monday clean-up, mow Monday, then a recovery spray, then a training session on Tuesday for the Broncos, and then another spray in midweek to start preparing for the weekend and really dialling in our mowing patterns. We aerated the worn areas for the touchline sidelines areas of the field. I guess as we get closer to the end of the week, we’re starting to dry the field out, so no water for 48 hours prior to the fixture.
That Friday we had a captain’s run for the Warriors, Saturday we mowed and line-marked and did all those presentation jobs for the preliminary final between the Broncos and the Warriors.
Q: What teams train out of Suncorp Stadium?
There are four main tenants. You’ve got the Brisbane Broncos and the Dolphins, who play in the NRL. The Broncos play all their home games here and the Dolphins play the vast majority. They’ll play eight home games here out of their allotted home fixtures. We’ve got the Queensland Reds, who play seven home games here in the Super Rugby Competition. We’ll also host a handful of their women’s fixtures as well. And the Brisbane Roar have recently moved back to the stadium full-time. We’ll host twelve out of their thirteen home matches from October 27th. It’s a very busy place here!
Q: What other events are featured at the Stadium?
Up until last year, we were only approved to host six concerts in a calendar year. Now we can host up to twelve. Our concert season generally runs from October through to March. What’s different about that this year is we’ve got the Roar here for soccer, so we’re going to have to be on our toes to replace the turf at the drop of a hat and have a real tight turnaround prior to the Roar having a fixture for the A-League. We’re going to do between 6000-8000 square metres of turf, four different replacements over the summer. Then, obviously, we hit the ground running in February for the Super Rugby competition with the soccer competition still running, and the NRL starting in the first weekend of March. All three codes operate concurrently. March and April are going to be more difficult again.
Q: The Women’s World Cup hosted games at the Stadium this year, what was involved in the preparation for this and fulfilling FIFA requirements?
It was a huge tournament and I’d go as far as saying that the Australia v France Quarter Final was my career highlight to date. An unbelievable event to be a part of a full stadium, essentially all supporting one team. Obviously the dramatic penalty shootout at the end was incredible. We hosted eight matches, which was the most of any Australian stadium during the tournament, which was pretty cool, but I guess we take a step back. One of the requirements for FIFA was we needed to have a hybrid playing surface for the tournament, so it meant that we had to adopt one of their methods. Either a carpet-based system or a stitched surface. We opted for the SISGrass stitched surface and that was installed in late May prior to the State of Origin game. This certainly held us in good stead for those matches. The Women’s World Cup, we had a stable playing surface that stood the test of time and performed really well. But some of the things we needed to do were daily testing. We were testing for hardness, traction, shear strength and moisture on almost a daily basis throughout the tournament, making sure we’re meeting those parameters. Hand mowing the field with pedestrian walk behind mowers was a specific requirement, and obviously line marking to the specific standards that they want. Making sure that there’s no mistakes and the dimensions are 100% correct. The goal line technology can tell you if the lines are out, so we have to make sure we were millimetre perfect.
Q: From your personal point of view, you’ve got to deliver or produce a first-class stadium which is a lot of pressure. How do you handle it personally? Your achievements, stress levels, how do you handle it all?
I guess you try not to dwell on things when things aren’t going your way. Certainly at the start of the season, on a brand new playing surface in March and April, we were under the pump. We had a fair bit of media criticism come our way. That was just because we were hosting those three codes on a field that was very immature. It hadn’t really had a chance to knit in and bed down. The ryegrass was quite reluctant to establish given the heavy traffic load. I guess from my perspective, it’s trying not to dwell on it too much. Things are never as bad as what they may seem. You try and think of all the positives, that you’re in this position for a reason and you draw on your strengths to get you out of those situations. I think I look back now and I go, well, those hard yards are pretty tough at the time, but we’re not going to sit there on the weekend and look at the NRL preliminary Final that we had and the surface that we were able to produce, which I’d say, is as good as anywhere.
Q: What part of managing turf do you really enjoy the most?
I get a real kick out of seeing professional athletes at the top of their game, playing on my surface, and we often don’t get a lot of feedback from players and clubs when things are going well. It’s generally only when things aren’t going so well. But to be fair, we’ve had a lot of really positive feedback, particularly from the NRL clubs at the back end of this year and through the Women’s World Cup. That’s not just for myself, but my team that has been incredibly dedicated and put their best foot forward for the stadium for this year. I’m really proud of everyone’s efforts there.
Q: What do you still want to achieve in your career? Where would you like to be?
If I was being completely honest, I think when I was younger before children, I would often see myself looking after a world-class Premier League stadium in England or in Europe somewhere. I guess now I am a family man, I am really grateful for where I am right now. As a younger person, it’s hard not to keep looking at that next opportunity, but I’m just really happy being here where I am, and I’ve got a lot of things I want to achieve at Suncorp. I don’t really have any ambition to up and leave anytime soon. It’s a great place to work. It’s the pinnacle of stadiums in this part of the world and I am very lucky to work here and hopefully, I’ll be here for a lot longer yet.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you have for anyone looking into the sports turf industry or looking to grow their careers in turf?
Always ask questions of people. A lot of young people come through our trade, if that is the right word, but can be quite timid and don’t want to impose on someone. Try to ask questions of your sales reps, introduce yourself, and get friendly, there are no dumb questions. Your sales reps are really well connected, ask your peers, your colleagues at other venues or golf courses or whatever your facility is, what are they doing in certain situations and what products to use in these situations. You can broaden your skill set that way and don’t be scared to keep an updated CV. Our industry can be quite tight to get into certain roles, sometimes you must bide your time or move sideways. But don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.
