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Serie A Team to go Artificial


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Mind you, its Atalanta, who will most likely be in Serie B next year.

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Atalanta to go artificial

Atalanta have announced plans to become the first Italian club to install a fully artificial pitch in their Stadium.

From August, a synthetic surface will be placed in the Stadio Azzurri d’Italia in Bergamo, shared by Atalanta and Serie B outfit Albinoleffe.

“We had originally turned down the suggestion, but we changed our mind when presented with the clear technical and economic benefits of the move,” explained a club statement.

The local council agreed terms for the refit this week and will invest around £670,000 in the move, while there will also be British-style turnstiles introduced to better police fans.

UEFA have removed the ban on artificial pitches as of next season and several Italian clubs have evaluated the possibility of following suit.

Above all, Milan and Inter have publicly confirmed their interest in changing the notoriously unstable San Siro field to a synthetic system.

With news that Atalanta expect to save £340,000 over the next four years on pitch maintenance, it will further encourage other sides to invest in the change.

“The fact is that we will save enormous amounts of money, radically fix the pitch decay problem and at the same time enable the Stadium to be used for other events,” explained council member and current Atalanta defender Fabio Rustico.

“The Stadio Azzurri d’Italia can therefore be opened out to schools, other sports and become a summer venue for music concerts.”

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/may7c.html

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quote:Originally posted by Loud Mouth Soup

At the same time, Dunfermline in Scotland have been ordered to rip theirs up and reinstall grass...

Only if they manage to stay in in the SPL and they are bottom of the table by 3 points with 3 games left to go. Pars are taking the usual appeals route. FIFA/UEFA/SFA and considering legal action as the new pitch installed in March this year is FIFA/UEFA/SFA approved.

The SFL will let them keep the turf. So by the time Dunfermline get back to the SPL who knows what the rules will be. The SPL seems to make up promotion/relagation/stadium rules as they go. Just ask Inverness Caledonia Thistle, Patrick Thistle, or Falkirk.

C'mon the SPL used to (untill this year) demand a 10,000 all seater stadium and I think maybe now a 6,000 seater,only because they looked so bad by not alowing any promotion/relagation for a couple of years because of stadium standards. When outside of Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, and maybe Aberdeen, the average of the rest maybe slightly over 5,000 attendance. The SPL also demands under ground heating of all pitches. I'm not sure I'd hold the SPL up as any example. The SPL appears to be an old boys club that doesn't welcome new members or change.

EDIT: SPL 2004/05 average attendances:

Aberdeen 13,189

Celtic 57,829

Dundee 6,632

Dundee United 8,156

Dunfermline 6,074

Hearts 12,171

Hibs 12,088

Kilmarnock 6,081

Livingston 4,901

Motherwell 6,493

Rangers 48,588

&

Inverness CT 4,102

But Caley Thistle played in Aberdeen untill January when the home pitch was upgrading to a 6,000 all seater with underground heating.

But few years before Falkirk was turned down because they didn't have a 10,000 all seater (but almost look sure for promotion this year with a 6,000+) and Patrick Thistle spent a fortune to gain admittance to the SPL with a 10,000, undeground heated stadium to only average 4,711 in '03-'04 SPL season

All figures from the wholly bibble of Brit soccer.... bbc.co.uk

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ahhhhhhh, sorry for the above rant on the SPL and I forgot my point.

Which is clubs espesially the financially challenged ones will eventually demand turf. They see this as a cost saving measure so eventually turf will be accepted as much as the ball with no black and white octagon patterns and advertising on every piece of clothing and perimiter signage. Don't y'all love the FIFA approved ads on the arse of the pants, mostly in La Liga so far.

Change is always fought against.

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Argh1, what do you know about the underground heating requirement? Is it expensive? Could it be a viable way to extend the playing season in Canada? I suppose field turf would make it irrelevant.

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I have to laugh when these clubs think they can host 700 events per year on their artificial pitch, just because it's not grass, and rake in the money.

All artificial surfaces, even the fancy new ones, are subject to wear and tear, and fall apart over time. It's true that heavy and repeated usage is better suited for a rug than for grass, but I think the FieldTurf marketing people have really pulled the wool over the eyes of a lot of clubs.

Tell me the name of one club anywhere in the world who have had a rug for five or more years and don't have any complaints about pitch deterioration.

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quote:Originally posted by Chet

Argh1, what do you know about the underground heating requirement? Is it expensive? Could it be a viable way to extend the playing season in Canada? I suppose field turf would make it irrelevant.

I really don't know much about how it works, but I don't think it's a new thing. I'm more interested on what type of grass grows in Aberdeen in January and February?

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