Wembley - will they, won’t they?
Formal questions sent from Pitchcare to Wembley Press Office
TEN days before going to press the Wembley Stadium authorities were in possession of a number of formal questions posed by Pitchcare on the state of the pitch for the vital England v Croatia Euro qualifier game, and the ongoing problems at the National Stadium.
The pitch, which more resembled Derby County’s Baseball Ground of the early seventies than a ‘showcase’ surface, was heavily criticised by many from both inside and outside the industry. The game, which was screened worldwide, showed a pitch lacking in grass and still bearing the markings from the NFL football game four weeks previous.
After the match, Pitchcare fielded questions from hundreds of groundcare professionals as to what had gone wrong. The topic has been the subject of much conjecture, both in the national media and on the Pitchcare message board.
In an effort to understand the issues that Head Groundsman, Steve Welch, and his team have had to cope with, Pitchcare wrote formally to the
Wembley Press Office to try and arrange a Q&A session. No response has yet been forthcoming. Should any response be received it will be published in full on the Pitchcare website.
Whilst some may consider the ongoing debate tiresome, Pitchcare believe that the constant media attention the Wembley pitch receives is seriously damaging the image of our profession.
The Times headline read ‘Digging a hole for themselves, Wembley authorities unable to explain quagmire’.
The Telegraph lead with ‘Reinforcement needed in Wembley’s turf war’.
The Daily Mail perhaps caught the mood of the nation best with ‘The Wembley pitch that was as awful as the players’.
We firmly believe that our National stadium should have one of the best surfaces in England. Clearly, this is not the case, and we would like to see the situation rectified as soon as possible.
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In January, all of Pitchcare’s members will be sent an email asking them to update their details. Just complete the online form and you will be entered into the draw.
A subscription to the Pitchcare magazine costs just £30. You can subscribe online at
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WOW! can you believe this?
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