Winter Sports
SPORTING Clube de Portugal, commonly referred to as Sporting CP or Sporting, and colloquially known as Sporting Lisbon outside of Portugal, is a Portuguese multi- sports club based in the country’s capital city of Lisbon. Although they successfully compete in a number of different sports, Sporting is mostly known for its football team.
Founded in Lisbon on 1st July 1906, it is one of the “Três Grandes” (The Big Three) football clubs in Portugal, with Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Futebol Clube do Porto being the other two clubs, and Sporting’s two biggest rivals. With more than 100,000 registered club members, its teams, athletes and supporters are often nicknamed Leões (The Lions) by its fans.
During the first century of the club’s existence, the teams and the athletes of Sporting won three Olympic gold medals, as well as many silver and bronze medals and thousands of national and district titles.
José Alfredo Holtreman Roquette, better known as José Alvalade, made known his wish to transform Sporting into “...a big club, as big as the biggest in Europe.” Daring to boldly go where no Portugese had gone before, and at a time when, in Portugal, sports were still activities in their developmental stages and having mainly elitist characteristics, the first “Sportinguistas”, which included José’s three brothers, managed to found what became the present day club.
Sporting has more than three million fans on all continents, with up to 300 supporters’ clubs, offices and delegations, as well as more than 150,000 affiliates.
It was one of the founding members of the Primeira Liga in 1933 and, along with Porto and Benfica, has never been relegated from the Primeira Divisão (First Division) of Portuguese football.
Sporting is the third-most successful football club in Portuguese competitions, with forty-four titles, behind Benfica, which has sixty-seven, and Porto with sixty-four. The club is also the third-most successful Portuguese football club in international competitions.
80 PC APRIL/MAY 2013
also repeatedly added. The biggest problems in the stadium are low sunlight in winter and very high summer temperatures, combined with inadequate ventilation. “The temperature difference in the summer between the north and south sides of the stadium is often more than 10O
C,” explains José. “Despite
having a good irrigation system, this can often cause dry patches, so we end up hand watering and applying wetting agents to these areas.” In season 2011-12, and because of the ongoing problems encountered, the installation of an artificial pitch was considered. However, José and Filipa were able to impress on the decision makers that, with the correct equipment and maintenance regimes, the pitch could be ‘saved’, and at considerably less cost. SGL lighting rigs are now used, which has helped overcome the low sunlight issues, whilst large fans have improved air movement. Even so, there is some algae growth due to the shadows. “It has been quite a major problem in some areas of the pitch,” bemoans José, who uses ferrous sulphate to tackle the problem. Filipa explains that understanding
the precise parameters he and José are working within has had a significant impact on the implementation of appropriate measures to prevent further grass diseases and promote stronger growth.
The pitch is regularly cut with a cylinder mower to a height of 22- 26mm, how many times a week is dependent on the time of year. De- thatching is only done if there is a gap between games of at least three weeks. Perhaps surprisingly, a turf iron is used over the pitch before each game to get the surface as smooth as possible. Compensating for any soil compaction is the reason behind José’s post match aeration. Twice a year the stadium pitch is deep aerated using hollow tines to a depth of 18-20 cm. “This helps to resolve the increasing compaction in the turf-bearing layer during the season,” says José. The annual renovation programme is completed by topdressing with twenty-five tonnes of dry silica sand.
Overseeding during summer
renovation means that the young seedlings are very susceptible to drying out in the hot temperatures, so the cutting height is raised to counteract this. It also helps to promote deep roots and, as a consequence, improve the sward’s tolerance to drought stress and diseases. During the summer months, growth regulators are also used. Filipa believes that it is important to continuously measure the root depth and the strength of the turf. “This helps us to properly assess how well the grass is performing,” he concludes.
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