Workers struggled on Saturday to make the damaged Ellis Park pitch playable in time for Sunday’s Confederations Cup opener between
host South Africa and Iraq.
Rugby, normally played at the Johannesburg stadium, has left the field scarred and uneven around midfield and players expecting international-standard pitches at the eight-nation tournament could be disappointed. Rugby has been played recently at the three other stadiums being used for the Confederations Cup in Rustenburg, Bloemfontein and Pretoria.
With South Africa’s two biggest sports competing for the same stadiums, it often leaves bumpy pitches for football once the rough and tumble of rugby’s big men stops. The touring British and Irish
Lions played on the Johannesburg pitch just 10 days ago.
At Ellis Park on Saturday, five workers stared at a hole 10cm deep in the centre of the goalmouth.
One worker was using a spade to roughly cut up a divot to see if it would fit. With rain and increased shade because of a roof expansion at Ellis Park, the original turf used to replace the rugby goalposts had caved in, resulting in more emergency work.
”Hopefully, it will be good for tomorrow,” said South African captain Aaron Mokoena.
When the world’s greatest footballers meet in South Africa for the World Cup next year, they will expect the pitches to be as smooth as a billiard table to let balls run true. Unpredictable bounce can play havoc with skills, penalising teams who play attractive passing games.
Several such teams are competing for the Confederations Cup, with world champion Brazil, European champion Spain and Italy all appearing.
At Rustenburg’s Royal Bafokeng stadium on Saturday, workers were painting the touchlines green, concealing white lines of the rugby pitch used earlier this month.
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said the team had no major issues with the field. ”It’s a little dry,” Del Bosque said. ”Of course I hope this field will be as good as the one we had in training [this week].”
”Everybody understands the seriousness of the pitch quality for a Fifa competition,” said Fifa’s director of competition Jim Brown.
Ellis Park, where both the opening Confederation Cup game and final will be played, needed a liberal dose of green dye to cover up rugby lines and returfing on patches where rugby players scrummaged to improve the pitch.
”Rugby players are big guys and in a scrum they tend to do a little bit of damage to the turf,” local tournament organiser Derek Blanckensee said.
”A tremendous amount of work is being done to repair that damage,” he said.
Some flattened grass had turned yellow. Around midfield the grass was pockmarked with dead patches. Players will be able to tell immediately that the surface is rough and uneven.
The last rugby match at Ellis Park was played on June 3 and the pitch had also suffered from hosting a political rally of the African National Congress.
”There is simply not enough time,” said Brown.
For next year, more time will be allotted, said Brown, to make sure all pitches are perfect. In new stadiums built for the World Cup the pitches will all be new. – Sapa-AP