Soccer teams take advantage of the summer months to do works in their stadiums . Many spend part of the budget to restore the seats in the stands, the bathrooms, touch up the façade or clean up the changing rooms for the new season. And there is always something that raises the attention of the club members: the grass .

For years, League teams have spent more money on the care and repair of the grass they play in every other weekend. This is a growing industry, especially in Spain, where investment in this sector has come later than in leagues such as the Premier . The company that controls the vast majority of lawns in the professional league is the Spanish Royalverd , which was in charge of putting the mat in the stadiums of the World Cup in Brazil and is now also doing it for the next World Cup in Qatar .

The sector has grown so much and the lawn has gained so much importance in the technical and tactical discourse of coaches and players that the clubs have their own outfielders within the staff. In Vigo, for example, the one in charge is Daniel González Williams , responsible for the maintenance of the Balaídos lawn and the sports city of A Madroa . This Celtic employee was born in England 30 years ago, but grew up in Galicia . “It is a job that is increasingly valued better and the clubs of the League are more involved. It is important for football, and in the last 10 years a lot has changed . I come from England and the grass has always been highly valued there, ”he explains to EL MUNDO.

Balaídos, immersed in an eternal reform of the interior and the facade , has also suffered problems on the lawn. A fungal infestation in 2015 forced the club to hire Royalverd to change the entire pitch, and after that, in 2017, new complaints came from the players about the speed of a green that had been a reference in the League. Now Daniel and his teammates at the Balaídos club are working so that the ball rolls in the best conditions for the return of football to Vigo, the weekend of June 13. There he will face Villarreal and from that moment an express League final will begin in which Celta will have to receive, among others, Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid , to finish the course in mid-June. Five weeks, with soccer every day . «The worst will be in the south of Spain, with the highest temperatures. The more heat, the more the plant suffers, and the more it is damaged by stepping on it. With so many games the fields will suffer », he explains. In the Rías Baixas area, green will not suffer as much pressure as in the fields of Andalusia , but it must be borne in mind that in July 2019, on average, 35 degrees were reached.

The coronavirus epidemic has forced almost all the clubs in the League to postpone or modify the regeneration of their turf, keeping the current one for the final stretch of the competition. Others, such as Real Madrid , have decided to play in their sports city to change the grass and reform the stadium during the summer months.

"Shorter terms"

“At the end of the season it is time to regenerate, both in the Celta stadium and in A Madroa, and all of this conditions our recovery time. Normally we eliminate the plant, we do the seeding, we add sand and fertilizers, and all of this takes time to be in good condition. Now we have to adapt , we are planning to do it in less time, with shorter deadlines, "says Daniel González.

As part of the Galician club structure, Daniel has had to pass the first test of the coronavirus provided by the League, and has divided with his maintenance colleagues to avoid any risk of contagion: «In recent days, we have We are one person per field and we have had no contact. At the club they have given us gloves, masks, gels ... Everything. They have treated us very well, the truth ».

For him, who spent four years on the Bournemouth Premier League team, the return of the players to the fields after so many months of absence deserves a celebration: “ In the end we do a job for them. If you work and there is no one to play ... You do it for nothing ».

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