"The lawn chokes and burns": how concerts at stadiums harm football fields

According to the new calendar of the RPL and RFU, the new football season 2019/2020 will officially open on July 6 at the central Dynamo stadium named after Lev Yashin. In the fight for the Super Bowl, the winner of the Cup of Russia “Lokomotiv” and the champion of the country “Zenith” will meet. The venue of the game was known in advance, and as part of the test events at the reconstructed arena, a match of the 30th round between Dynamo and Arsenal took place. However, in the end, the title match 2.5 weeks before the scheduled date was in question.

The adjustments to the plan almost brought a concert by the American rock band Kiss, which was held at Dynamo on 13 June. After him, the agronomists of the sports arena stated disappointing consequences - the lawn was seriously injured because of the many thousands of spectators.

On Tuesday, June 18, the arena coverage was examined by a special commission, which allowed the stadium before the Super Bowl match, but instructed the site’s services to bring the coverage into proper form.

“The pitch was a bit spoiled, especially the spot where the stage was placed. There is still time to correct the situation. In Dynamo, we were guaranteed that we would carry out the necessary work by the scheduled date and eliminate the problem, ”the head of the certification committee for stadiums, Alexander Zorkov, said TASS.

The stadium of the capital Spartak, where the Leningrad group performed, was in a similar situation. Despite the best efforts of the Otkritie Arena agronomic service, the new lawn also could not bear the load. At the same time, as explained by the commercial director of the red-white Alexander Atamanenko, the club calculated the possible damage from holding a mass cultural event.

In addition, another big performance is scheduled in Tushino. On June 29, a month before the first home match of Spartak in the new season, the Time Machine group will perform at the Otkritie Arena.

I'll have to do it for you @ atamanenko @ otkritiearena take the rap ... https://t.co/t0217utgN4pic.twitter.com/74oB9FWWHP

“By the time of the Leningrad concert, our field was in the stage of renovation and was at the very beginning of the lawn formation process. After the concert, the indicators remained in the previously predicted range. At the moment, the field takes the necessary restoration measures, after which the current care of the growing lawn and its preparation will continue, first for the next concert and then for the football season, ”the official website of the red-and-whites quotes the functionary.

It should be noted that the damage to the lawn after such events is not an error of the services that monitor its condition, but a process that can not be avoided.

"About the lawn, few people think"

As a source in one of the leading clubs of the RPL told RT, the grass in the stadium deteriorates mainly because of the protective material from which the flooring is made, which turns football fields into scenes and dance floors.

“Unfortunately, few people think about the lawn, the material for protective flooring is cheap. He bad passes light and air. All this catastrophically affects the lawn, especially in that period when it only springs. Extremely dangerous plates, which set the stage. Not only are they very heavy, they are also being built a week before the concert. For five or six days under such a frame, the grass simply burns and suffocates. It's unavoidable. If the lawn does not die at all, it will at least get sick. In practice, after any concert, 30 to 80% of the coverage is damaged, ”said the source.

At the same time, as RT representatives of the RPL explained, it is possible to reanimate lawns, especially in case of focal damage. Such work on the cultivation of new grass does not take more than 10-14 days. So, taking into account the favorable weather, the Dynamo and Spartak lawns should return to normal by the start of the season.

Nevertheless, some experts and representatives of the football world are against using football arenas as concert venues.

Thus, the ex-mentor of CSKA and State Duma deputy Valery Gazzayev, in a conversation with RT, said that football clubs should forget about financial gain and not give their arenas to singers and actors.

“Football stadiums should be football! Due to this we must exist. At the expense of full stands, at the expense of interest, and not due to the performance of world pop stars. For this there are theater venues. To spoil the lawn for profit? The football field is the heart of the game, on which the quality of the performance of our teams depends. Of course, now all this is done not from a good life, but with the goal of earning and supporting our stadiums that remained after the World Cup. But we need to look for ways to avoid this, ”the specialist said.

Deputy Director General of the RFU, Alexander Zorkov, acknowledged that concerts at football stadiums are largely held to solve financial problems.

“Stadiums are looking for additional income, trying to earn at the expense of concerts. But we must be able to combine these things. Now clubs and representatives of arenas are working in a direction that would preserve the state of the field after the concerts, ”Zorkov quotes“ Championship. ”

“Nothing depends on us”

Note that the concert tour "Leningrad" will continue. The group from St. Petersburg will speak at several more arenas of the 2018 World Cup. Thus, according to the schedule of the tour, on June 20, Sergey Shnurov will give a concert at the stadium in Nizhny Novgorod, on the 30th - in Samara. Also in the plans of the collective show in the arenas of Volgograd, Rostov and Yekaterinburg.

Some clubs have already made a request to consider the possibility of postponing the date of the concert. So, according to the PR service of FC Rostov, the Don team hopes that the Leningrad performance will be postponed.

“We offer to move the concert to earlier dates. This is August 31 1 September 1, not September 13, as scheduled on the tour. Indeed, on the 15th, according to the new calendar, we are playing with Akhmat, ”Sport-Express quotes the representative of Rostov.

Samara shares concerns about tight schedules. The performance of “Leningrad” will take place two weeks before the Krylya Sovetov home match with CSKA, but football clubs cannot influence the situation. The general director of the Samara team, Vitaly Shashkov, spoke about this in a conversation with RT.

“Nothing depends on us. The stadium does not belong to us. Neither the club nor the city. He is in charge of the management company "Sport Engineering". The same situation is with Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Volgograd, Rostov and Yekaterinburg. We are not asked to be held, is it possible. If the lawn is spoiled, then someone will be guilty. What should we do? We declared a backup arena, our old Metallurg, there is an artificial turf, so that there are no problems and excesses for sure, ”the football official explained.

It is worth noting that the main stadium of Russia, Luzhniki, is used as a popular concert venue this summer, where in October the Russian national team is to hold a Euro 2020 qualifying match with Scotland.

On the BSA field with a full house, the performance of the popular British rock band Muse has already taken place. In addition, on July 21, the legendary American Metallica will perform in the arena, and on the 29th the German team Rammstein will perform. And even despite the fact that German musicians plan to bring and install on the field more than 50 trucks of light and sound equipment, the Luzhniki management assures that the lawn will be in perfect condition by the start of the football season.