Westfields FC, a non-league football club in the UK, has not been short of praise to acknowledge the dedication of their volunteer groundsman.

Groundsman Joe Mecke-Davis took it upon himself to spend a night at the club to refill its pumps every half an hour after flooding submerged the field with one metre of water following heavy rains in Herefordshire last week.

Westfields FC is facing Mangotsfield United tomorrow.

“I set myself that goal,” he said. “If that involved staying here long, long, late [on Monday night], then that’s what I had to do,” he told the BBC.

Late night

Mecke-Davis told the British broadcaster that he was tempted to take out the duvet and pillow that he has had in his groundsman shed for the past two years, but decided to work until early in the morning before going home for quick nap.

It was not the first time the club has been faced with a flooded field. “This is the fifth or sixth time it has happened. You kind of got to grin and bear it,” he said.

The volunteer groundsman has his own way of handling the situation.

“With funky patterns and a nice surface for the boys to play on.”