Freeze was so easy to beat
George Mullan, whose company Support in Sport Group has worked on stadiums for showpiece events all over the globe, including World Cups and Champions League finals, last night expressed amazement that organisers hadn’t used a heated dome system as temperatures plummeted in Paris last week.
Sligo native Mullan also said that decisions on a pitch’s match capability should have been made a day or two in advance.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner from Dubai last night, Mr Mullan described the scenario which unfolded as “crazy”.
He said: “There were two obvious solutions that would have allowed a game to be played in such conditions.
“The first is an under-soil heating system. It is crazy that a stadium of this size, hosting games of thisimportance, does not have such a system.
“But without such technology in place then the next obvious thing was to put a heated dome system in place. Basically you place a big balloon or dome over the pitch and pump hot air through it in the days before the match.
“There is a company in England that I know of which rents them out and at least one [such company] in France. It is that simple. It would have cost a about €25,000 for the week.
“It is not difficult. It is not rocket science. I have no idea why they didn’t opt for this.
“Some good planning, and a small investment, would have meant that the game could have gone ahead.”
In England, Sport and Stadia Services has a contract with Premiership Rugby for the dome device, known as a Macleod pitch-covering system.
The technology was used successfully over the last two years to ensure high profile domestic and European Cup games were played despite the cold snaps which created fixtures chaos in the region.
Mullan also expressed amazement that French rugby chiefs were reliant on frost covers to protect the surface.
“These protectors are basically just thin layers of covering. Once you go below minus two they are next to useless and the damage is done to the grass. Certainly when I saw temperatures heading towards -9C I had serious doubts that the game would go ahead.”
Mullan also admitted under-soil technology is now becoming an almost standard component of top class stadiums on the continent.
“It is petty rare in northern Europe for pitches not to have under-soil heating systems.
“Indeed, it is mandatory in some leagues. We have worked on stadiums in Turkey with under-soil heating systems and Turkey isn’t a country renowned for cold snaps!
“Cost wise you could be talking about €200,000 to instal such a system.
“Yes, it is not cheap when you consider it may only be required to be used six or eight weeks in a year. But then you have to compare that the cost of the damage done to the tournament’s profile by what happened on Saturday night.”
He added: “I thought it was dreadful. I was sitting at home in Sligo at five to eight getting ready to watch the game. I have never seen anything like this before.
“With no under-soil heating and frost covers this was an accident waiting to happen.
“A decision on this should have been made on Thursday, or Friday morning, before the Ireland team flew out to Paris.”
Mullan also revealed that his company has secured the contract to install an artificial pitch at Saracens’ Barnet Copthall Stadium in north London.
The Premiership side will become the first professional club to play their home matches on such a surface next season. “We are very busy with that and with a lot of other projects around the world.
“Currently I am in Dubai as we are involved in stadium projects in Basra and in Baku. So these are exciting times for us.”
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