was a drone shot of Westfields FC’s Allpay Park after Mecke-Davis’s latest pitch redesign and cut into style. His previous record was 300,000 views on an overhead shot but, by this week, the latest design had been viewed 1.1 million times and been covered on BBC News and Sky Sports. It is fair to say a 26-year-old non-league groundsman didn’t envisage becoming a viral sensation.
In the thousands of replies Mecke-Davis received, many reached out because they didn’t know such pitch redesign was possible. From National League level upwards, clubs can only have continuous straight lines so that’s all you ever see on TV (“fun” designs were banned four years ago). But in the Hellenic League Premier, you can do what you like.
It is a hot, sunny Wednesday morning in mid-July and Westfields’ pitch looks immaculate, the exact shade of lush green that makes you yearn to take a penalty that you can imagine actually matters. At one end of the ground is a Bulmers cider factory. The vast shiny steel drums occasionally waft a new brew smell over the pitch. Let’s be real: this is the good stuff.
Here she is! My plan and the final result. Combined 2 of my favourite previous patterns to come up with this one. 2 weeks until first pre season game pic.twitter.com/zfCy8cg2yM
— Joe (@joeeemdavis) June 26, 2025He hopes for only one flood per season. In 2024-25, this ground was under a metre of water on five separate occasions. This is a labour of love and both words deserve their own emphasis.
The process is fascinating. Mecke-Davis is on the road a lot with his job (the company he works for, High Ground Maintenance, looks after many sporting grounds, of which Allpay Park is one), but he keeps a notepad on the passenger seat for the brainwaves. When he arrives somewhere, he will scribble a few lines and patterns.
“Then I’ll come down here with the design on my phone and try and visualise how I can see it coming together. With a pattern like we have now, you’re all over the shop on the mower: straight into the middle and around the centre circle; out to the far left for those dashes, far right for those dashes, back to far left to do solid stripes and then right side to do those. The first time you do it it is a bit mind-boggling.
One of his pitch designs resembles something like a crop circle (Photo: Supplied)A view from the touchline showing the different shades of grass (Photo: Supplied)
Some people might be unaware of how pitch designs work. After his viral post, Mecke-Davis got many messages asking if he had grass of different lengths or used a certain dye when mowing.
If you went to the other end of the pitch, the stripes would appear opposite. The grass then “learns” that position and grows in a certain way, so each new design takes several cuts to undo – imagine using a rubber on a pencil line.
He uses a line early on in our chat – “And then I do my extra bits on evenings and weekends” – that quickly becomes clear is a ludicrous understatement.
“I come down again at around five in the afternoon and move it to the third position. Then I come down around 10 or 11 at night to turn it off. And that’s just the watering. It’s pretty much a seven days a week job, but I want to make it look its best.
Mecke-Davis’ lawnmower which he uses to create the elaborate designs (Photo: Supplied)Westfields FC’s stadium often floods depending on the time of year (Photo: Supplied)
There’s something very lovely about this story: a young guy doing extra time at a non-league football club because he loves his job completely.
They must know how lucky they are to have him. There may be bigger offers at some point – some professional clubs have already been in touch. Mecke-Davis dismisses any of that talk with his hand – “plenty of time for all of that”.
“I know it’s a bit sad,” Mecke-Davis says, laughing. “It’s grass at the end of the day.
“You’ve got thousands of people reaching out and sharing a picture of grass in Hereford so that millions see it.”
Your next read
square FOOTBALLLionesses into Euro 2025 semi-finals after dramatic shootout win over Sweden
square FOOTBALLAlexander Isak ‘staying focused’ at Newcastle despite Liverpool interest
square FOOTBALLThe court case that spells bad news for Crystal Palace
square FOOTBALL#NoToMadueke: Why Arsenal fans are in open revolt
A bloke with a notepad, and iPad and a perhaps unrivalled obsession with grass seed.
People like Mecke-Davis are the grassroots heroes that you don’t hear about enough. Literally, in his case.
Hence then, the article about the art of mowing a football pitch was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The art of mowing a football pitch )
Also on site :