Finnair Stadium to get natural grass surface

Artificial pitch to be taken up for UEFA Women's European Championships

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The Finnair Stadium in Helsinki’s Töölö district is to take up its artificial turf playing surface.
      The artificial pitch will be replaced by grass in May 2009, in preparation for the holding of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2009 tournament.
      The move will have a knock-on effect in that it will postpone the European Championships in American football, which would have been held in the stadium at the beginning of August next year. Permission has not been granted for the matches to be played on the new grass surface.
     
The questions of when the surface will be taken up and replaced, and whether an artificial turf pitch would then be put back later, are as yet still open. The latter is largely a money matter: who would pay for the exercise.
      It is also unclear as yet quite what solution would be used. One possibility might be to graft the natural turf directly onto the artificial surface, as has been done at two football stadiums to be used for this summer's European Championship finals in Switzerland and Austria.
      Since the Finnish Football Association are arranging the EURO 2009 tournament, they will pick up most of the costs incurred in changing the playing surface for the arrival of the women next year.
      The reason for the change is that the tournament is being played in Turku, Tampere, Lahti, and Helsinki, and UEFA insist that all matches should be on a similar surface - in this case natural turf. The Helsinki matches will be played here and also in the neighbouring Olympic Stadium.
     
The American Football Association of Finland is to determine whether it might be possible to arrange the European Championships here in 2010 rather than next year. Apparently there are no obvious constraints to this in the competition calendar.
      However, if the Töölö venue were to decide to keep a natural grass surface, it is unlikely whether it would be suitable for American football.
     
The playing surface in the 10,000-seat Finnair Stadium, which was opened in 2000, has been a constant source of woe.
      The first grass pitch that was laid down did not grow very well, but then the initial attempts at laying an artificial pitch were equally unsuccessful.
      The present surface, put down in 2006, meets with FIFA requirements for international matches, but even now it divides opinions, and does not enjoy the unreserved approval of all players.
      The venue is used by HJK Helsinki for league matches, and also occasionally by the Finnish national side for friendlies or matches against opposition who would not be likely to draw a full house in the larger Olympic Stadium.


Links:
  Finnair Stadium (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat