Pitch surface tension fades

By definition, football pitches have a life of their own, but try convincing the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of that 74 days before the World Cup starts

With stadium construction long struck off the roll of potential tournament hiccups, the LOC's focus has turned to the playing surfaces that will provide the stage for the global spectacle.

Their interventions have most spectacularly taken root at the Mbombela Stadium, which has been transformed from a lunar-like surface to something out of How Green Was My Valley.

Ellis Park, too, looks in better nick, hardly deserving to be located in a Johannesburg suburb called Doornfontein.

With the exception of Mbombela, the playing surfaces have not provided the LOC with many headaches, partly because Super 14 rugby is not leaving its mark at the new facilities.

While improvements at most grounds have generally been the order of the day, the jury is still out on Loftus.

The committee's chief executive, Danny Jordaan, last week conceded that the Loftus pitch was "the biggest concern", but that would be dealt with .

"The Loftus pitch has just been re-seeded and we expect it to be in better condition soon," said LOC communications chief Rich Mkhondo. "It will be fit for play and up to our expectation in a few weeks."

He said that the Super Stadium in Atteridgeville will serve as a training venue to further alleviate the demands on the Loftus pitch.

With the Bulls away for the better part of the next month, the surface will have time to recover. The same applies at the Free State Stadium while the Cheetahs are on tour.

Although players have inadvertently dug up chunks of turf in recent matches, Cheetahs' chairman Harold Verster insists the pitch is in "the best state it's ever been".

"Fortunately we don't have the problems of Loftus," Verster said. "We are trying to limit potential damage by not having teams train on it. Only the captain's run ahead of a game is performed here," said Verster.

Plans to have the Cheetahs' games against the Blues and Western Force moved to Kimberley for the first two weekends of May were abandoned.

However, Verster said moving their match against the Lions on May 15 to Welkom should not be ruled out.

"The LOC were keen for us to move and they indicated that they would compensate us.

"If we were to play that game in Welkom we would have to be compensated a minimum of R650000. There would be additional costs like erecting marquees and coating the grass with a layer of green that will have to be factored in."

The Ellis Park pitch is a picture of good health after it appeared discoloured during a media inspection a month ago.

"We are quite satisfied with where we are at the moment. I think the pitch will hold up nicely for the remainder of the Super 14," said Paul Appalsamy, chief executive of the Ellis Park Precinct.

"There will be limited activity on the pitch but apart from the Lions' matches, the captain's run will also take place at the stadium.

"That doesn't really impact on the condition of the pitch, but curtain-raisers will not be played at the stadium," he said.

Fifa and the LOC this week concluded a 10-day stadium inspection tour and naturally the progress made on the pitch at Mbombela came into sharp focus.

"Here (Mbombela) we started from a good foundation three weeks ago," the off-limits-to-the-media pitch expert, Richard Hayden, told fifa.com.

"You need to get the surface correct in terms of the specifications, in terms of the sand you are growing it in, in terms of the drainage of the pitch and then you seed it.

"If you have good weather like we have here, it will grow very quickly."

After suggestions that Norwegian grass initially covered the playing surface and had to be dug up, Hayden has since championed the use of rye grass.

"When people start seeing it in use here, they will realise its benefits over the native kikuyu grass, which is very wiry and goes dormant at the time of the World Cup."

The Irishman also explained some of the protocols that will be followed in the lead up to and during the World Cup.

"There is a huge process and huge science in preparing the pitch before, during and after the game.

"A week out from the game we will be striping it in the Fifa cut pattern and double mowing it every day so that it looks good and encourages growth.

"In the run-up to the World Cup we are going to watch very closely how much water we put on the pitch.

"For games during the day in particular, modern footballers like a spray of water on the leaf of the plant to encourage the ball to slick on the surface."

He is hoping all the negative talk of World Cup pitches will soon disappear.

"A successful World Cup means a pitch is not mentioned, said Hayden. "That's the definition of success.

"The focus should be on the players and the game, and the pitch should not be an issue. Great pitches demonstrate that South Africa will stage this World Cup as well or better than anyone else in the world."