Odsal groundsman a legend on and off the pitch

There's players who have made more than his 200-plus appearances in Bradford colours who may argue otherwise.

But they would be foolish.

As well as treading the famous surface during 12 years as a Northern player, Simpson, 38, has also treated it for more than two decades as its groundsman.

He really could mount a case for knowing every blade of grass.

He's also known plenty of rain, mud, frost and snow during the winter and summer eras as this upside down season has harshly illustrated but reckons keeping on top of the Odsal field' is as good as it gets.

"I don't think I'd swap this job for anything," says Simpson.

"It has its ups and downs but the best part for me is when people turn up on game day and, this time of year, the first thing they see is the field.

"Most people still know it's me who's looking after it and it's great when they make those nice comments."

Simpson was a typically cocky 17-year-old when he signed for Bradford in 1984.

He explains how he ended up working as groundsmen as well as forging a career as a pacey three-quarter.

"I used to work in the WH Smith Do It All but, let's say, I got in a little bit of bother!" recalls Huddersfield-born Simpson.

"Our coach back then, Barry Seabourne, took a watchful eye over me and decided it was probably best that I worked at the stadium.

"I don't know whether or not he knew the council would take over Bradford Northern still owned the ground at that point but when they did I got a permanent job.

"I was 17 and have been doing it ever since.

"David Marshall got me on the first rung of the ladder. He's groundsman at Keighley now. "And then David Talbot was my main mentor. He got me where I am today field-wise!"

Even when Simpson left for Batley Bulldogs ten years ago, in the period when Northern became Bulls, he remained in charge of the Odsal pitch.

He has seen it at its glorious best just like yesterday when the sun shone down on the lush surface to its mudbath worst which, ironically, was only a few weeks ago.

Having played himself for years on cold, rain-lashed November evenings, Simpson's biggest job came when Hull FC arrived for a Powergen Challenge Cup tie in April.

Fans will recall the state of the pitch, which cut up to create a real mess. Modern-day players more used to strutting their stuff on sun-baked surfaces found themselves visiting yesteryear.

"That was the worst I've ever seen it," remembers Simpson. "It was a nightmare. At one point I told my boss I don't actually know what I'm going to do with it!' "I'd never had a field in that state before. In the end we got a lot of people to help out SLTs, trainees, staff who just work on match-days and sorted it.

"The water table was pretty high anyway but everyone who came in beforehand and saw that field thought it was just green.

"But most people didn't know we'd actually been hand forking it for hours to get it rid of water and then the weather just lit up to make it look like there was none. There was probably one-and-a-half inches of water and we were in the lap of the gods. After that one game it took nearly a week to get it back right. Normally it takes two days."

Simpson admits he is not as heavily worked as earlier in his ground-tending days.

"When there was speedway and stock car racing, that was pretty hectic," he said.

"While most of the players would be asleep in bed on Saturday nights, I was still there working at two or three in the morning.

"And then I'd have to get up and play on the Sunday. It never used to bother me though. In fact, I used to play better!"

Simpson won the Yorkshire Cup twice and reached a Premiership final with Northern, while being part of the side that painfully lost the Championship title on points difference to Wigan in 1993-94.

He remembers his time as a player fondly and says: "I thought it was brilliant. The lads were sensational and I still see some of them at least once a year.

"Steve McGowan was one of my big mates when I was 19, 20 but then later there was Roy Powell as well.

"He made me a little bit wiser, especially to the conditioning side of rugby league. I never used to do weights in those days but Roy did. He was at Leeds and they, along with Wigan, were ahead of the times.

"Roy got me on the fitness trail, looking after my body, and he was a great friend."

Simpson, who came out of retirement for his amateur club Moldgreen earlier this season, also toured with Great Britain in 1990.

"I wasn't going to go," he recalls. "I'm not a good flier and told our coach David Hobbs I didn't want to go.

"He talked me around and said if I didn't I'd regret it for the rest of my life. I went and I'm glad I did. Going to New Zealand and Papua was a once-in-a-lifetime shot."

Some of the current Bulls stars like to have a word about Simpson's field.

"Iestyn (Harris) is one who comments, good and bad, and Deacs (Paul Deacon) does every so often.

"They like it when there's lots of grass but it's usually the Kiwis. Joe (Vagana) thinks it's brilliant. He scored a try the other week and told me There's nothing wrong with that field!'"

After 23 years' expert care, that's no real surprise.