Calgary Boomer Posted October 29, 2005 Share Posted October 29, 2005 Peter Mallett from the Globe Sports dept was on the TEAM 1040 this morning saying how the Toronto stadium will start as a natural grass stadium for the '07 championships, and then they'll switch to field turf. Paul Stalteri said that if he's coming back from England to play in Canada, he wouldn't play in a stadium with field turf. Paul James (former Blizzard) has come out against calling the team Blizzard...saying they should let the name die and start in a new direction. And according to Mallett (who was very well spoken by the way) the Hartrells are adamant that the Lynx will still be around and that they'll be playing in the new park as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zacRWE Posted October 29, 2005 Share Posted October 29, 2005 is there anyway we can keep the natural grass!? what would that cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leafs Posted October 29, 2005 Share Posted October 29, 2005 quote:Originally posted by zacRWE is there anyway we can keep the natural grass!? what would that cost? Winter use for the Stadium with a bubble. Mkaes it impossible to put real grass in. Relax its not the crap from 20 years ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 29, 2005 Share Posted October 29, 2005 We all know it's not Astroturf. Everyone has at least seen Fieldturf in action thanks to the CFL, among others. Stalteri knows what it is and if the entire team goes in this direction, I doubt the CSA will have much success staging senior games there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted October 29, 2005 Share Posted October 29, 2005 I might also add that you can get field turf in different lengths of 'grass' . They use a short blade for NFL/CFL football but they do make a longer type made to be better for football. Not that real grass isn't better, but FYI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 Stalteri isn't one of the players I expect to see returning to play for a Toronto MLS team anyway, so I'm not exactly worried about it (unless he's saying he would refuse to suit up for the Canadian national team on field-turf, but I highly doubt he was referring to that). The Canadian national team played a World Cup qualifier on Field Turf last year - in Costa Rica. I don't recall any player revolts happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Gian-LucaThe Canadian national team played a World Cup qualifier on Field Turf last year - in Costa Rica. I don't recall any player revolts happening. Come on GL, you're smart enough to know that the Canadian players don't have a say in where Costa Rica organize their WCQ games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Sigma True, but I don't think any players showed displeasure about having to play on fieldturf. Because they had to. Just look at the Stalteri quote to see that if given the choice (and their federation should listen to its own players), they'll take grass every time. Why do you think we played in Kingston? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 If FIFA approves the FieldTurf pitch (which of course they have to and will be more than willing to if it's up to snuff) AND the Blizzard turn into a meaningful contributor to the MNT AND Daniel is right in that everybody else on planet Earth wants no part of it then all the more reason for me to be all for it. Come WCQ the CSA picks the venues and if everyone else in CONCACAF has been playing on sod (no matter how dry, chewed up and crappy!) then just let them learn to play on the plastic at Ex. on the quick. Hell, the more the enemy complains about it and the more familiar our lads are with, than more the argument for using stadiums equiped with it no? As for other internationals, maybe Kerfoot will rent out those sod trays he's planning on using for his waterfront stadium. Or once Ex. switchs over to the plastic full time MLSE will invest in their own sod trays. And no, I haven't bought shares in FieldTurf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 Couldn't agree more, Cheeta. Let those Central American whiners complain all they want... it's not like they go out of their way to make us feel welcome on their pitches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 If FIFA approves a field you can use it for official matches. Period. Thus Saprissa in Costa Rica. Credit to them for going that route. The truth is that historically the Central Americans have played the ball on the ground in a short passing game, and we were more long ball. That is not really the case now, so this argument holds less weight: but it is true that usually Field Turf and its like will favour the more technical team. Meaning that apart from being uncomfortable with the newness, a Guatemalan will much prefer a smooth artificial turf to a muddy wet field when some qualifier comes up in November. Our advantage then, if we were thinking hard about such things, would be to avoid Toronto's new stadium and look to some soggy chunk of real grass where we'd have an advantage. But since our last point of reference saw Yallop proclaim Swangard the national team home and make our players travel even more than the visiting teams in our WC qualifiers, meaning we were more tired than they were at home, I don't know if in the future we'll be thinking any less intelligently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calgary Boomer Posted October 30, 2005 Author Share Posted October 30, 2005 I don't know why TO wouldn't go the same route as Vancouver with the natural grass pallets that get stored like at the Houston Texans stadium. (Good point about the WCQ travel. Toronto is much closer for the European contingent.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted October 31, 2005 Share Posted October 31, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Daniel Because they had to. Yeah, but that's my point as well. If the CSA schedules an important qualifier for Toronto I doubt Stalteri or any other player is going to say "I refuse to help Canada qualify for the World Cup because we are playing on Field Turf). They played in Kingston not just because of the grass, but because of the proximity to Toronto, which I'd estimate made up about 50% of the attendance on both dates for the Belize series (with locals & folks from Ottawa accounting for the rest). That's assuming it will be FieldTurf of course. I wouldn't be surprised if they stick with grass in the end after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
François Posted October 31, 2005 Share Posted October 31, 2005 After watching the Revolution-Metrostars game Saturday where the had snow on the ground, for the MLS season, fieldturf is a better choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 31, 2005 Share Posted October 31, 2005 I agree that they'll play anywhere for WCQ but this stadium is being pitched as the focal point for friendlies, etc. ) And I doubt the CSA would get away with giving any more than 2 WCQs to Toronto (4 including the Hex). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.