The old Wembley Arena was first used in 1923 and had a good reputation for offering one of the very best playing surfaces in England. Its wide open spaces would drain the strength from the legs of even the fittest players. As soon as the Empire Stadium at long last sealed its doors in 2000, the impressive pitch was torn up along with the entire stadium.
England had to wait patiently 7 long years until eventually the new Wembley Stadium opened its doors. The new 90,000 seater stadium was classed by UEFA as a 5* Elite Arena and is the second largest in Europe after the Camp Nou in Barcelona. The first full international was against Brazil on 1st June 2007.
The building of the arena was overdue and well over budget but the difficulties did not end there. Operational issues such as faulty escalators on match days were experienced but there is an on-going situation that to date has not be adequately dealt with – the playing surface.
Pitches at brand new stadia regularly require some time to bed down but at Wembley the pitch is a predicament and is most certainly one of the worst around. It cuts up far too easily and players lose their footing too often. In a recent FA Cup semi final, at least one of the goals was because of a player slipping at a critical point as the playing surface gave way. By the close of the 2009/2010 season, the pitch had been relaid 10 times at an expense of £1m and the arena had not even been up and running for 3 years.
The truth is, relaying the pitch every 3 months isn’t the answer. The design of the stadium is the reason why the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the pitch to encourage the turf to grow. A few stadiums just like the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so between games, the complete pitch is transferred outside the arena. Most other stadia have sufficient air flow in the stands to permit the wind to move around and it is possible to use artificial lights to help the grass to grow.
However, there are still problems and a fix must be worked out. In September 2010, England start off their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are definitely the best team in their group. The last thing England really don’t need, is the opposition aided by a low quality Wembley playing surface. The fixtures at Wembley are supposed to give England home advantage.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012