Winter Sports
AFTER touching down at New York’s John F Kennedy airport on the Monday prior to the game in St Louis, Manchester City’s players spent precious little time holed up in their hotel rooms just admiring the Manhattan skyline.
Over the course of three days, the Blues revealed their new Nike kit, dropped in on the New York Giants, visited Lexington Academy and ferried over to Staten Island to donate equipment to a junior team hit by last year’s Hurricane Sandy. All that and the small matter of helping launch the 20th MLS franchise, New York City FC on Tuesday morning.
City jetted into St Louis on Thursday morning to take on Chelsea in a match which sold out in just twenty minutes.
It had been announced in the build-up to kick-off at the iconic home of the St Louis Cardinals that City and Chelsea had donated $45k from ticket sales to victims of the devastating tornado in Oklahoma. Players from both sides wore black armbands to pay tribute to the twenty-four victims of the catastrophic three-day storm and also took a moment of remembrance before kick-off dedicated to Drummer Lee Rigby who was so tragically killed in London.
With many of the big names playing, including Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez, Vincent Kompany, Dzeko and David Silva for City, and Demba Ba, Juan Mata, Fernando Torres, Oscar and David Luiz for Chelsea, the match was a fitting showcase for the Premier League’s talents, with Manchester City running out 4-3 winners.
Installing turf and tightening the seams. Image © Steve Bush
Chicago Bears. Tight seams are critical, especially in football, as a bad seam can have a dramatic impact on the ball roll. The turf was rolled with a two-tonne vibratory roller, and we were pleased with the smooth, even surface we had achieved. Once the infield was completed, the
entire field was mown and turf paint applied to help blend the old turf with the new. They were nearly identical in color, but some of the new turf was stressed and had yellowed very slightly. Normally, it would grow out, but we only had one day to work with. All of the newly installed turf was
hand-watered, so as not to get too much water on top of the plastic. Once the paint dried, the infield was covered with the tarpauline for the night. First thing Wednesday morning, we turfed the corners on the warning track. We left this until very last to avoid cutting off access to the field. Once the corners were installed, the field literally extended from wall-to-wall.
The warning track material was
removed and tapered away from the field. Plastic was put down, mostly to keep the sand from contaminating the warning track material. It was starting to get really hectic as they were setting up for the practice game; the band was moving in with their equipment for the post-practice concert, and there were people everywhere!
The field was mown to establish the pattern and the signature arch. Shortly after noon, the field still needed to be
Bill Findley, left, and Steve Bush, right, painting turf
striped. It was a group effort to get this done. Bill and his crew, our crew and Jason from Chelsea set up the string lines around the perimeter of the field. Using several tape measures and triangulation, we established the goal boxes, penalty boxes and the other markings. After some minor paint machine problems, the field was finally painted and the goals were installed. Once a little more field paint was applied to the turf on the warning track, the pitch was ready. More than 10,000 fans attended the practice game that night.
Despite all of the cutting and turning during the practice, the turf stayed in place and played remarkably well. The practice was as much (if not more of) a test of the field’s endurance as the main game would be, as the drills concentrated the activity in the areas we had turfed. But the field withstood it all, and the night ended with the turf unscathed.
And the next day, soccer left its mark on Busch Stadium ...
A record crowd at Busch Stadium witnessed Manchester City dramatically reverse a three-goal deficit to win a thrilling encounter. Goals from Javi Garcia, an Edin Dzeko brace and a last minute Micah Richards winner cancelled out earlier strikes from Ba, Azpilicueta and Oscar in a feast of attacking football.
It was a deserved win on the balance of
play, on a night when the 48,263 fans present were treated to a first-class
The two teams met again at the
Yankee Stadium back in the Big Apple on Saturday night, before returning home for the summer break.
Removing the thick cut
turf.Image © Steve Bush 62 PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
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