[Archived] Wembley Stadium

[thenodrog]

LINK

Damn I thought that was a link to the Ukranian girls Alan.

[Paul]

Surely it's just down to the fact that the pitch doesn't get any sunlight.

True, more of that in a moment.

I tried to find some info that makes this "draining 50,000 gallons" in an hour relevant. Is this 1" or 6" of rain? We know 50,000 gallons is a lot of water but can't relate it to anything so it's meaningless......could be a wet day in Lancashire for all I know.

Watching the game I thought the pitch was holding water on the wings and around the centre circle. It seemed the problem was mainly concentrated in the middle of these areas, as opposed to the corners. I don't know how American football is played, is there a lot of stomping around in the middle of the pitch?

This is my theory based on my limited education in soil sciences! The ability of a soil or football pitch to drain is related to two things; it's construction and the actual drainage. Natural soils vary in their drainage capapcity through the porosity of the soil, i.e how large or small are the spaces between the soil particles, particle size and what percentage of the soil is particles or spaces. A clay soil is very compact, has very small if any gaps for water to percolate through. A sandy soil is the opposite, lots of small soil particles surrounded by lots of spaces. Modern football pitches are constructed mainly of sand to help pull the water down from the surface. If there is an adequate drainage system that water will disappear. Without the drainage system the water would have nowhere to go and the soil would simply fill up. A good pitch will therefore combine excellent soil drainage with a pipework system to take the water away.

Problems occur when water cannot percolate down from the upper surface. Significant damage can occur to any soil through compaction, constant or excessive wear and use in one area causes the soil to compact closing the gaps in the soil though which the water drains. Just compare the touchlines at Ewood to the actual pitch. These areas get more concentrated use than the rest of the pitch, linesmen, players warming up etc. so the ground is more compacted in these areas. Over a season you can see the restricted growth on these areas.

The other imporant factor is airflow, the action of wind and sun will influence drying the pitch and subsequent grass growth. Ewood is very good partly because of the open corners which allow air to move over the pitch. A closed stadium design prevents this action meaning a stadium like Wembley suffers. I guess the upper surface of the pitch is now heavily compacted on the wings and in the middle resulting in restricted drainage. There is no airflow to dry out the upper surface so when there is heavy rainfall the drainage is inadequate resulting in the puddling we saw on Wednesday. The more a wet damaged pitch is used the greater the problem becomes because a wet soil will compact much quicker than a dry one.

[thenodrog]

Phew..

Well never mind all that why not just employ Arsenals groundsman?

[Paul]

Wouldn't make any difference if the pitch and stadium construction are the main contributing factors. The groundsman's role is to maintain the pitch and if it's badly constructed lots of blokes with forks won't make a jot of difference.

[thenodrog]

I cannot believe that 150,000 grass stems per m2 stat is accurate.

btw My understanding of turf is that grass roots should always be moving down when viewed in a core sample, the supply of water and nutrients should dictate that. I doubt Wembleys grass roots are.

[Guest Dik Bleek]

I thought the stadium was going to be used for concerts and other public events, like the Amsterdam Arena? So how can they have a concert on wet winters evening without a roof!

[Paul]

I cannot believe that 150,000 grass stems per m2 stat is accurate.

No idea on that

btw My understanding of turf is that grass roots should always be moving down when viewed in a core sample, the supply of water and nutrients should dictate that.

Correct

[bob fleming]

Turf to be replaced with 1800 tonnes of tarmac

"Indeed, no sooner was the whistle blown on England’s debacle than the planning started for the Race of Champions, a motor racing contest on December 16 featuring star names such as Michael Schumacher and Jen-son Button. That means pulling up the turf and replacing it with 1,800 tonnes of tarmac to create a racing circuit."

That really is unbelievable.

The FA should launch another thorough investigation into themselves at once.

[Paul]

Money, money, money

Nothing's funny,

In a rich man's world.

[Exiled_Rover]

I don't know how American football is played, is there a lot of stomping around in the middle of the pitch?

Very much so, it's where all the linemen(i.e. the biggest guys ) are found.

[waggy]

there are plenty off bare walls,which with a bit off imagination could be made more attractive,why not posters off forthcoming events and pictures off the previous events

[Seggie]

I thought the stadium was going to be used for concerts and other public events, like the Amsterdam Arena? So how can they have a concert on wet winters evening without a roof!

Outdoor stadium gigs tend to be in the summer off season months, like Live Earth and Metallica. I think the next one is Foo Fighters who are doing 2 shows in June. Hopefully Rovers can get there for a major final so I can go twice. Watching Chris Samba score the winner in the FA cup final followed by watching Dave Grohl rock out 3 weeks later would make a pretty special month.

Having already been once to watch the Metallica gig me and my friends were discussing how good it would be to watch Football there. After last Weds pitch farce and the Cup final Pitch which was apparently too long Im not so sure.

Its easy to blame it on the American Football game ruining the pitch but surely someone in the FA should have made that point and prepared for the game accordingly from the day after that particular match was played. You would have hoped it would have been McClaren because after all his team had to play on it.

anyway I think anyone who is paid in excess of £100,000 p/w to kick a ball should be able to put in a performence on any surface they ask to play on even if its upside down.

[savage8]

I was in a box for the NFL at Wembley, just next to the Umbro one near the halfway line. I must say, incredible. Great food, great service, lots of free stuff, great view, atmosphere, great access to and from the ground pre/post match.....AND I saw Darren "Sicknote" Anderton. Jokes.

[andrew92]

WATTA A WASTE OF MONEYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

[CAPT KAYOS]

Don't quote me on this as I'm going back to my younger days and the old Wembley (80.s) - but I had a tour of the old Wembley and something that was said has always stuck in mind and I'm positive I have read before and that is that Wembley had two pitches ... the one inside the stadium and another that was kept on standby for said situations similar to last week - ie if there was damage to the playing surface and there was enough time it would be taken up (whole if required) and the other was laid giving the other pitch ample time to regenerate growth again.