by Matt Slater
THE COVID-19 pandemic has put a halt to the lives of many – but not for Steve Savage and Robert Myles.
The pair are key assets to the USW Sport Park, with their roles being the Head of Sport and the groundsman, respectively.
The facility has only seen the ‘elite’ players return in September and the societies and clubs return last month.
But, despite the lack of action that the Treforest based park has seen, the working lives of the pair faced no alteration.
Robert Myles, who is a groundsman at the Treforest Sport Park, has seen stability during a time where many have seen their careers face a standstill. And, along with stability, Myles believes the lockdown has brought good fortune along with it.
“For me, I was a bit fortunate that the lockdown struck at the end of the season. We had just started the renovations of the playing fields; the timing was perfect in terms of the condition of the pitches.” Myles said.
“It hasn’t affected me at all at work – I have worked throughout the pandemic.
“If I had gone on furlough, by the time I had come back, it would have been a nightmare to have gotten everything ready for the students.
“The lack of sport made my job so much easier – I could plan the work a lot better.
“Even though it has made it easier, I do miss the purpose of my job. The reason I do it is because I love repairing the surfaces for sport – it’s not pointless, but it is nice to see the objective.”
Steve Savage, who is also the Director of Football for Cymru South side Pontypridd Town AFC, has not seen his day-to-day roles differ during the two lockdowns that Wales have faced.
“It’s brilliant to have the students back.” Savage said.
“As the Head of Sport, I am always planning and so I didn’t have any time off.
“My job is to find a way to reintroduce sport as safely as possible and find what we can do, and what we cannot do.
“But my job has been affected by the situation of having closures and the lack of people at the Sport Park.
“It has been a challenge, but I enjoy trying to find the safest way for our students to enjoy their sport.”
With the return of sport to Treforest, the safety of everyone involved is paramount to Savage and to the university.
“The students are happy to be back out and about and doing things safely.” Savage continued.
“We are always following the Welsh government guidelines.
“But all we can do is to continue to make sure that our students are as safe as they can be, and to make sure we are doing the right things for the right reasons.
“Ultimately, we want to keep providing the best product and best services to our students – even during these uncertain times.”