Mbombela Stadium finally boasts a green, world-class pitch

It’s been a rocky, dusty road, but the Mbombela Stadium finally boasts a lush, green world-class pitch that’s sure to do the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ justice.Having twice needed to dig up inadequate pitches at the stadium in the last year, it was a case of third time lucky as the new pitch laid a week ago – using only rye grass - germinated well, to the relief and delight of the city’s World Cup organisers.When local and international journalists visited the Mbombela Stadium two weeks ago as part of the ‘100 Days to the 2010 FIFA World Cup’ countdown,

they were stunned to see a patch of dry sand - instead of a pitch - at the stadium that will host four first round FIFA World Cup™ matches in three months time.But this week it was a different story, with the stadium sporting lush green turf that would be the envy of any stadium around the world.

“We laid the new pitch last Friday, using rye grass completely, and by Wednesday it was germinating well. We’ve had our challenges, but we’re delighted that we now have a great pitch, which come the tournament will be amongst the best in the world,” said the Mbombela Municipality’s 2010 co-ordinator Differ Mogale today.

He said the municipality and stadium authorities were very appreciative of the efforts of FIFA pitch consultant Richard Hayden, who personally oversaw the most recent efforts to iron out the stadium’s pitch problems.

“In the past we relied on pitch consultants, but rather than simply making recommendations Richard Hayden and his team have been personally on-site with us every day over the last few weeks, getting onto tractors and showing our team just what needed to be done,” said Mogale.

“We’re very happy with the results, with the province’s Premier (David Mabuza) even popping into the stadium this week to see the progress for himself. We’ll now give the pitch a few weeks to strengthen and while it should be fine to play on in the next six weeks, we will wait until after the first week of May to stage our first high-level test event at the stadium,” Mogale added.

Hayden had said "great pitches", not merely good pitches, were needed for the World Cup and the decision was therefore taken to lay the new Mbombela pitch last week – a decision which has now borne fruit.

Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa, Dr Danny Jordaan, said he was very happy that the Mbombela Municipality had been able to solve its pitch problems.