“ALL BLACKS SWEPT THE DRESSING ROOM”

Keith Kent has scaled the heights of his profession. He has presided over the preparation of pitches for the English Premier League, England football internationals, England Rugby internationals and the Rugby World Cup Final.

In a recent episode of the Inside Agri-Turf podcast, he charts the course of his career, of preparing pitches for Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford and for Clive Woodward at Twickenham where he had to bring the grass down from 75mm to 25mm as the season progressed.

The highlight of his career was preparing the pitches for the 2015 Rugby World Cup – and he tells of his shock and delight at the sportsmanship of the All Blacks when he went round to their dressing room after the final whistle.

A superb ambassador for his profession and terrific communicator, Keith is never more at home than when passing on his experience to those responsible for the grass surfaces at both professional and recreational clubs. Now retired from Twickenham, Keith is helping out maintaining the playing fields at Loughborough School

This is a terrific episode with Keith opening up about the joy of turf management, weather watching, hosting an NFL game – and his part in attracting the Rolling Stones to play Twickenham.

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