Preparing the groundwork

FOUR years after he took up his post in Dublin 3, Robert Ellis still has Yorkshire in his voice.

The rangy groundsman has a busy week ahead of him — the little matter of history being made and all that — but he still has time to outline the nuts and bolts of changing the face of Croke Park.

“Preparing for an ordinary GAA game is quite easy, because obviously you’re already set up for that. For rugby the posts are different, so the GAA posts have to come down, and the rugby field’s a lot shorter as well. That and the posts are the obvious differences, but the turf itself, is left much the same as it would be for a Gaelic football game. The hurling’s slightly different because they like the grass a little shorter for that, but rugby isn’t a whole lot different to the football.”