The award recognises the importance of the quality of the pitches for professional football and acknowledge the clubs and their ground staff who consistently produce the best playing surfaces in the EFL.

Head Groundsman Tony Bell and his staff claimed the award for the 2017/18 campaign for producing a perfect pitch at the Riverside.

As well as maintaining a perfect playing surface throughout the season, our ground staff worked around the clock to beat the Beast from the East in March to clear the snow prior to our game with Leeds United, where plenty of fixtures fell foul to the weather.

The game was one of a handful to go ahead that weekend while Rockliffe Park was also one of the few training grounds in the country to be fit for use thanks to the hard work of Tony, Rockliffe Head Groundsman Neil Rogers and their hard working staff.

Play-Off rivals Fulham and Nottingham Forest were both awarded highly commended.

The EFL's Grounds Team of the Season Awards are determined initially using marks from referees and away managers for each Sky Bet EFL game and are then followed by detailed pitch inspections and a review of management operations.

These visits were carried out by Dr Stephen Baker, Head of Sports Surface Technology at the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI).