Sport

French say pitch will be ready

The Stade de France managing consortium insisted yesterday that the frozen pitch at the expensive new stadium would be ready …

Tue Feb 03 1998 - 00:00

The Stade de France managing consortium insisted yesterday that the frozen pitch at the expensive new stadium would be ready for Saturday's Five Nations clash between England and France.

In a statement, the consortium dismissed fears that the turf would remain frozen solid because the $445 million facility is not equipped with undersoil heating.

"From six o'clock on Monday the turf will be completely covered with protective sheet," the consortium said. "From Wednesday an antifreeze cover and hot air blowers will be used on a timetable recommended by the company dealing with the turf.

"The hot air will be circulated between the cover and the pitch by eight blowers and several 100 metres of perforated piping. This process will create a layer of hot air to heat the ground, which will be in perfect order for the match on February 7th and the training sessions taking place there on the two preceding days."

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The consortium's assurances came after the French Rugby Federation had admitted earlier yesterday that there was "a serious threat" to the match because the pitch was frozen to a depth of 10 centimetres.

French Federation secretary general Jacky Laurans said the consortium had requested "technical help" to sort out the pitch and had asked the federation "to take control of this matter".

Last week, consortium officials were forced to defend the decision not to install undersoil heating at the 80,000-seater venue built especially for the World Cup football finals in the summer.

Concerns had been raised after the inaugural match at the stadium, the soccer international between France and Spain, was marred by a rockhard surface.

The president of the stadium's construction consortium, Pierre Parisot, said the use of undersoil heating now would cause the pitch to deteriorate over the spring, meaning it would not be in prime condition for the start of the World Cup finals.

Parisot said a protective covering would normally have been laid over the pitch before the France-Spain match, but that had not been possible because of the pre-match entertainment.