Will the new artificial turf at BC Place be in ideal condition for the Women’s World Cup?
Posted June 1, 2015 12:20 pm.
Last Updated June 1, 2015 3:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The new artificial turf at BC Place had its first test this weekend, just days before the venue hosts Women’s World Cup matches. Players didn’t seem to have the best reviews.
“Slippery for sure, you saw all the guys slipping out there,” Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando said after this weekend’s match against the Whitecaps.
“First game though, so you can’t be too critical of it. As more players play on it, it’s going to get broken in and be better, hopefully,” he added.
An online manual for the company which makes the surface states it takes six to 10 weeks to properly settle, but BC Place is hosting a Women’s World Cup match in a week.
Anyone who has played on artificial turf knows rubber pellets are part of the equation, but given this surface has just been put down, it was also kicking up dust and coating players with green residue.
“I wasn’t a fan,” Rimando said. “Every time the ball comes, the sand gets in your eye and rubber gets everywhere. You saw, [sand is] all over everybody’s feet and legs.”
The venue itself tweeted it will be watering and grooming the surface to address the issue, but only time will tell whether the surface is ready for its first World Cup action in a week.
But the question is, why wasn’t the turf installed sooner?
“That was the only window BC Place had in their schedule,” says Jim Grozdanich, general manager of Centaur Products, the Burnaby-based company which installed the surface. “We basically worked around the clock between that period of May 17-29 to get it completed. We had a removal process — I don’t believe there was any gaps in their schedule sooner, with all the different either non-sport events or [Whitecaps] games that allowed them to have the 12 or 13 days that we had.”
As for players slipping, Grozdanich says that was likely due to extra watering of the field that took place before this weekend’s game, something that was done at the request of the Whitecaps.
“Very little,” Grozdanich answered when asked if he anticipated much dust would kick up during the Women’s World Cup. “It is the best. It will settle. I don’t think honestly it will have a big impact on any performance that happens throughout the World Cup.”
