This year it is a spring apple tree evergreen. Departing opponents complain about the state of the playing field. The difficult terrain is often mentioned by coaches and players. “We knew what we were getting into and that it wasn’t going to be a nice game,” declared Jan Kopic at the beginning of April, who played with his teammates in the spring at the highest stadium in the Czech league twice in a short period of time. A month later, the situation has not changed.
“It was a very, very poor league game, highly influenced by the state of the pitch. Basically, you can’t do anything with the ball,” complained Mladá Boleslav coach Holoubek after Sunday’s 1:1 draw.
“The terrain was very difficult, it is very difficult to come up with something on this. This is not league turf for me. The view from above distorts it a bit, it’s even worse on that field,” commented Mladá Boleslav stopper Ondřej Karafiát, who had obvious problems with his teammates with movement on the Shooting Range.
Photo: Hynek Preisler, Sport.cz
Jablonec pitch after the match with Mladá Boleslaví.
“The pitch was specific, spotty. There were places where it was very hard, and then there were places where there was a lot of dirt, mud and it was slippery. We laughed a lot, we were wearing bad shoes. After slipping, we also got a goal,” recalled Polidar’s goal from the 19th minute.
At the same time, the playground in Jablonec underwent an extensive renovation a year ago for tens of millions of crowns. Not only was the lawn replaced with a new carpet from Holland, but the subsoil was also in-depth modified, the drainage, heating pipes and irrigation system were replaced.
Due to modernization, Radoslav Látal’s team played the first three rounds of the regular season outside. Why is the playing surface in an unsatisfactory state now?
“The end of autumn and the beginning of spring was not ideal weather for the growth and regeneration of the lawn. Just last week there were frosts that stop growth and are not good for grass seed. Now the weather will hopefully stabilize and the lawn will start to regenerate faster. However, we strongly object to claims about the ‘unfitness’ of the playing surface, which is always decided exclusively by the referee,” said Jablonec spokesman Martin Bergman.
In the Jablonec superstructure, the group is waiting for rescue, they will play three games in it at Střelnica. The following Saturday will welcome Karvina.
