The Institute of GroundsmanshipMWC 2566
Clearly, it is not in the interests of anyone to see the national stadium’s playing surface under continued scrutiny and speculation. Wembley Stadium is an iconic football venue and therefore deserves the optimum playing surface.
The Institute of Groundsmanship, the UK’s leading membership organisation for groundsmanship, has every confidence in the standard of groundsmanship in the country.
The industry itself suffers from the fact that whenever a match is played at Wembley, the first thing called into question is the standard of grounds management.
This was highlighted nearly 12 months ago when Steve Welch was replaced as Grounds Manager and subsequent decisions were taken at management level to bring in a respected consultancy to oversee the playing surface and its ongoing management.
Given the fact that problems still persist with the playing surface, the IOG believes it is time to bring the experts together who can independently offer solutions.
Many Premier League stadia serve as excellent examples of football surfaces.Their playing surfaces are clearly sacrosanct and non-football events are limited in scope and nature.Surfaces are not replaced regularly; they are managed and maintained year-round to a very high level.
The IOG believes UK grounds management leads the world and, therefore, the expertise to overcome and solve the Wembley problem does exist.
We would suggest that an independent enquiry would be in the best interests of everyone to understand the nature and cause of the ongoing issues concerning Wembley’s playing surface, and the IOG would be a willing partner in facilitating a possible solution.
We would welcome the opportunity to lend our expertise to solve the problem.
Geoff Webb
Chief Executive on behalf of
The Institute of Groundsmanship
