Update: For the England v Russia result, check out my match report.
Russia play England next week in a crucial qualifying match for the 2008 European Championships – and already the arguments have begun over Russia’s artificial football pitch.
Usually artficial turf is banned in international matches, but occasionally UEFA make an exception and allows countries with extreme weather conditions - and Russia certainly qualifies on that count – to use an astroturf pitch.
But the England camp are crying foul – or, perhaps, calling out chicken (ahem) – claiming that the only reason Russia won’t play on real grass is because they are afraid they’ll lose to an England team who trounced Russia 3-0 in London just a matter of weeks ago:
Michael Davis, spokesman for the Fieldturf company, said:
“After the defeat, they said that they will play on the existing surface,” Davis said. “The Russians had agreed there would be a new surface, but the result at Wembley changed that.
“Some of the Russia players will have played on that surface before, knowing that the England players haven’t.”
Still, according to Goal.com, England have a contingency plan:
they are scheduled to train at the only pitch in the country that boasts an exact replica of the Moscow pitch, that of The Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College in Altrincham.
I must confess, Altrincham wasn’t top of the list of places I thought I’d find an exact replica of the Luzhniki Olympic Stadium but, you learn something new every day, as they say.
Anyway – moving on – Russia’s fans are desparate to watch the England game, fake pitch or not. UEFA report that, despite pouring rain, 70,000 people formed a queue almost a mile long for the chance to buy one of 6,500 tickets still available for the game.
Update: Shamefully, I neglected to link to Ger O’Brien’s excellent article – Last Chance Saloon for Russia at Luzhniki - over at Sean’s Russia Blog. What can I say? I’m still slowly catching up on my blog reading…
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Every year, in December or in January, in Togliatti, near Samara, football teams play for the “Winter Ball of Avtograd” cup. Yep, they play on snow. Since FIFA has finally agreed that the games in Bolivia may take place at 3,600 meters above the sea level, perhaps, they might allow Russians play on snow? The snow won’t be fake, I promise.
How about playing this version of football (soccer) in snow?
http://www.maicomadness.com/motoball.htm
Motoball has been played in Russia for a good number of years. I first remember seeing it at a late 1970s Sparatakiade in Moscow. The Sparatakiade was a Soviet athletic festival. That particular Spartakiade featured invited athletes from the West as a way of showcasing Moscow for the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Sounds scary. But, this being Russia, there must have been at least a game or two of football played on snowmobiles somewhere….
Andy:
Motoball has been around for awhile. I’ve yet to develop a great interest in the so called extreme sports. Overall, they seem to be gaining in popularity.
I identify better with sports that I could see myself participating in.
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