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The old Wembley Arena was opened in 1923 and had a track record of for having one of the finest playing surfaces in England. Its wide open spaces would sap the power from the legs of even the fittest players. As soon as the Empire Stadium at long last shut its doors in 2000, the outstanding pitch was torn up along with the entire stadium.

England had to wait 7 long years until the new Wembley Stadium opened its doors. The new 90,000 seater arena was categorised by UEFA as a 5* Elite Arena and is the second largest in Europe after the Nou Camp in Barcelona. The initial full international was versus Brazil on 1st June 2007.

The construction of the arena was overdue and way over budget and the difficulties did not conclude there. Operational problems like defective escalators on match days were encountered but there is an on-going situation that to date has not be adequately dealt with – the playing surface.

Playing surfaces at brand new stadiums typically take time to bed down but at Wembley the playing surface is a problem and is probably one of the worst around. It cuts up far too easily and players slip over too often. In a recent FA Cup semi final, at least one of the goals was due to a player losing their footing at a vital point as the playing surface gave way. By the close of the 2009/2010 season, the pitch had been relaid 10 times at a price of £1m and the stadium had not even been up and running for 3 years.

Yet, relaying the playing surface every 3 months is not really the way around the problem. The plan of the arena means that the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the pitch to stimulate the playing surface to grow. A handful of stadiums including the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so between matches, the entire playing surface is shifted out of the stadium. Other stadia have plenty of air flow in the stands allowing the wind to move around and it is possible to use artificial lights to help the playing surface to develop.

However, there are still issues and a solution has to be worked out. In September 2010, England kick off their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are definitely the best team in their group. The last thing England do not need, is the other team assisted by a sub-standard Wembley playing surface. The games at Wembley are supposed to give England home advantage.

Building of the amazing new Cape Town Stadium, located on the Green Point Common between the twin South African icons of Table Mountain and Robben Island, began in March 2007.

In just under 3 years , joint contractors Murray & Roberts and WBHO completed the enourmous task at a cost of R4,4-billion – or or so US$600-million. GMP Architects of Germany and two local firms, Louis Karol and Associates and Point Architects, linked forces to design the stadium.

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