The old Wembley Stadium was unveiled in 1923 and had a reputation for possessing one of the finest pitches in Britain. Its wide open spaces would sap the power from the legs of even the fittest players. When the Empire Stadium at long last shut its doors in 2000, the superb playing surface was torn up along with the entire arena.
England had to wait 7 long years until finally 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 largest in Europe after the Camp Nou in Barcelona. The initial full international was played against Brazil on 1st June 2007.
The development of the stadium was overdue and way over budget but the concerns didn’t stop there. Operational problems like defective escalators on match days were experienced but there is a continuing difficulty that so far has not be sufficiently answered – the pitch.
Pitches at brand new stadia in general take time to settle down but at Wembley the pitch is a headache and is probably 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 defender slipping at a vital point as the playing surface gave way. By the end of the 2009/2010 season, the grass had been relaid 10 times at an expense of one million pounds and the arena had not even been in operation for 3 years.
However, relaying the playing surface every 3 months isn’t the resolution. The plan of the stadium is the reason why the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the playing surface to stimulate the playing surface to grow. Some stadiums much like the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so in between games, the full pitch is moved out of the arena. Most other stadia have enough air flow in the stands allowing the wind to move around and it is possible to use artificial lights to encourage the pitch to grow.
However, there are still issues and an answer has to be worked out. In September 2010, England begin their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are certainly the best team in their group. The last thing England don’t need, is their opponents aided by a low quality Wembley playing surface. The fixtures at Wembley are meant to give England home advantage.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012