The old Wembley Stadium was opened up in 1923 and had a good reputation for having one of the highest quality playing surfaces in England. Its wide open spaces would sap the strength from the legs of even the fittest players. When the Empire Stadium eventually closed its doors in 2000, the outstanding playing surface was torn up along with the entire stadium.
England supporters had to wait 7 more years until the new Wembley Stadium opened its doors. The new 90,000 seater stadium was categorised by UEFA as a 5* Elite Stadium and is the second biggest in Europe after the Nou Camp in Barcelona. The first full international took place versus Brazil on 1st June 2007.
The building of the arena was late and way over budget but the difficulties failed to stop there. Operational difficulties such as faulty escalators on match days were encountered but there is a continuing situation that until now has not be sufficiently dealt with – the pitch.
Pitches at brand new stadiums regularly require adequate time to settle down but at Wembley the playing surface is a challenge and is without doubt one of the worst around. It cuts up far too easily and players slip over too often. In a recent FA Cup semi final, at least one of the goals was put down to a defender slipping at a critical moment as the pitch gave way. By the close of the 2009/2010 season, the turf had been relaid 10 times at a price of a million pounds and the stadium hadn’t even been in operation for 3 years.
All the same, relaying the pitch every 3 months just isn’t the answer. The structure of the arena prevents the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the playing surface to encourage the playing surface to grow. A few stadia similar to the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so between games, the full playing surface is shifted outside the stadium. Other stadiums have enough ventilation in the stands to allow the wind to move around and it is possible to use artificial lights to aid the turf to develop.
Regrettably, there are still challenges and a fix needs to be found. In September 2010, England launch their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are definitely the top team in their group. The one thing England do not need, is their opponents aided by a poor quality Wembley playing surface. The matches at Wembley are supposed to give England home advantage.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012