Why the Wembley fiasco has reached fever pitch

What a mess. The Wembley pitch has been branded as "an embarrassment", "laughable" and "a disaster". At a time when our country is playing host to undoubtedly the greatest footballing league in the world, and our national side are finally returning some sporting pride...Why has the FA allowed this pride to, once again, turn to shame?

The biggest issue, as touted in the press, is the number of non-footballing events taking place in the stadium. They (whoever they may be?) have opted to use a fibre turf pitch- rather than the seeded DESSO pitch used at the likes of Anfield, Villa Park, the Emirates and the Bernabeu in Madrid. Their choice of pitch is able to be pulled up and laid down again, at a cost of £100,000 a time, before and after concerts, etc; this causes it to be untrue. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1172193/Wembley-turf-war-hots-No-wants-play-worst-pitch-country-says-Wenger.html
I do not have a degree or PhD in...er, laying pitches (excuse my ignorance) but even I am aware that if a turf is laid, pulled up, relaid, pulled up and relaid; it will not be true. However, this all too easy to blame. The old Wembley held regular concerts and events outside of football and the pitch was regarded as the best in the world. The pinnacle of playing surfaces.

The new Wembley stadium cost hundreds of millions of pounds. £757 million to be exact. And believe it or not, its unique features (the arch and retractable roof) were designed with superior pitch quality in mind. Sir Norman Foster, the multi-award winning architect recently selected to remodel the Camp Nou, designed the famous arch and roof structure in order to achieve UEFA Elite Stadium Status, in which it has succeeded, regardless of the blatant pitch deficiencies. The roof was to be manoeuvred to allow direct sunlight to reach all parts of the pitch and to be left fully open between matches (pop concerts, NFL, tarmacked motor races!) again for maximum sunlight and ventilation. This must surely be regarded as a failure. The FA recently released a statement, to which it refers to the stadium's "unique environment" and how it continues to "prove challenging" in regards to surface quality. And this is not good enough.
http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/index.aspx?c=sport&jp=eyauqleyidql

The Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, by comparison, cost just £121 million to build. It, like the new Wembley, has achieved UEFA Elite Stadium Status and accommodates a healthy 74,500 capacity. Not only this but the stadium offers so-called 'Joy Machines' that are able to pull 12 pints in less than 20 seconds! It has facilitated concerts, speedway, boxing and even the Monster Jam Trucks european tour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Stadium, yet still it proved a very worthy temporary home for our competition finals during the Wembley build. Whilst the new Wembley has reigned as host to two extremely poor FA Cup semi-finals over the last weekend, the Millenium Stadium hosted enthralling, flowing FA Cup Finals. Those that spring to mind, not solely down to my bias of being a Liverpool fan (as I'm sure others will agree) are the very first to be held there in 2001; Liverpool overturning a 1-0 deficit thanks to a virtuoso late show from Michael Owen scoring twice in the last 8 minutes, and the last FA Cup Final to be held in Cardiff, won again by Liverpool after defeating West Ham on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 draw dubbed "the best Cup Final of the modern era", or as I refer to it "the Steven Gerrard Final".

The pitch at Wembley is now to be ripped up after the FA admitted that it was being forced to start again. This time abandoning the fibre based turf in favour of conventional soil and turf build up. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article6136469.ece

It remains to be seen if the FA get it right this time, but considering the mixed-messages broadcast between them and the designer of the stadium regarding its "unique environment", it's unlikely. I just hope I am proved wrong.


Mark Carter