We’ve pitched in for Champions League
Last updated 10:37, Saturday, 10 May 2008
THE first all-English UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea will be played on a Moscow pitch installed by a west Cumbrian company.
The historic match on May 21 at the Luzhniki Stadium will take place on a natural grass pitch constructed by Support In Sport (SIS), based in Maryport.
George Mullan, chief executive of SIS, said: “We were delighted to be called in and won the contract after a tender process involving companies from Holland, Germany and Austria. It’s obviously good for the reputation of Maryport.”
Originally there was a synthetic pitch in the stadium for the England v Russia game in December 2007 but this was overlaid with a grass pitch grown on a palletised system.
However the surface was not considered suitable for the Champions League Final and was removed, leaving the pallets in place.
“After we were called in we laser-levelled the sand surface over the pallets before bringing in 8,000 square metres of turf grown in Slovakia to lay over the pallet system,” said Mr Mullan.
A fleet of 28 refrigerated trucks took seven days to transport the turf a distance of more than 1,100 miles from Slovakia to Moscow.
Once in the Russian capital, a team of 10 SIS crew installed the turf over two days last weekend – the same crew who have laid three previous Champions League Final pitches at Barcelona (1999), Hampden Park (2002) and Schalke04 (2003) – overseen by Mr Mullan and his sales manager Brian Mclaughlin.
Mr Mullan said: “The operation went very smoothly. We’ve never done it so far away and transporting 28 trucks is really tough logistically, but we got there in the end and the pitch looks good.”
He said the Russian football authorities are delighted with the surface and UEFA officials reported that the pitch meets all their requirements.
SIS has designed and constructed sports surfaces across the continent and for some of Europe’s leading clubs, including Real Madrid, Manchester United, Glasgow Celtic, Ajax and Benfica.
Sports surfaces by SIS include natural grass and synthetic turf – which the company manufactures in Maryport. It was even responsible for the first synthetic full-sized rugby pitch in the country, at the Newcastle Falcons ground.
The company is also the official distributor of Team Sports products in Europe, including FIFA-approved products.
Natural turf is grown by SIS specifically to order.
