The old Wembley Arena was opened up in 1923 and had a good reputation for developing one of the very best pitches in Britain. Its wide open spaces would sap the stamina from the legs of even the fittest players. Once the Empire Stadium finally closed its doors in 2000, the wonderful playing surface was torn up along with the entire arena.
England had to wait 7 long years before the new Wembley Stadium opened its doors. The new 90,000 seater stadium was categorised by UEFA as a 5* Elite Arena and is the second biggest in Europe after the Nou Camp in Barcelona. The first full international took place against Brazil on 1st June 2007.
The construction of the arena was overdue and well over budget and the issues didn’t finish there. Operational difficulties including faulty escalators on match days were experienced but there is a continuing issue that thus far has not be adequately dealt with – the playing surface.
Playing surfaces at brand new stadia usually take a while to settle down but at Wembley the playing surface is an issue and is undoubtedly one of the worst around. It cuts up far too easily and players lose their footing too often. In a recent FA Cup semi final, at least one of the goals was put down to a player slipping at a vital moment as the playing surface gave way. By the end of the 2009/2010 season, the pitch had been relaid 10 times at a cost of a million pounds and the stadium had not even been in operation for 3 years.
Yet, relaying the pitch every 3 months isn’t really the way around the problem. The design of the arena prevents the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the playing surface to promote the grass to develop. Some stadiums such as the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so in between matches, the full playing surface is shifted outside the arena. Other stadiums have enough ventilation in the stands permitting the wind to flow and it is possible to use artificial lights to aid the grass to grow.
Alas, there are still challenges and a fix really should be found. In September 2010, England begin the process of their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are definitely the top team in their group. The last thing England don’t need, is their opponents helped by a sub-standard Wembley pitch. The games at Wembley are meant to give England home advantage.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012