One of the key challenges for the new stadium was actually nothing to do with technology at all: grass. Wembley is all about the pitch. And the major problem was keeping it as green as the national stadium’s pitch should be. The pitches at many club grounds - notably
Old Trafford and
Stamford Bridge – have suffered as stands have been built ever higher. And increasingly large swathes of grass remain in near-permanent shadow.
This doesn’t just make for a bad pitch. It also means that watching matches is difficult as TV cameras struggle to cope with the contrast of shade and bright sunshine during games.
The stands at the new Wembley stadium are higher and closer to the pitch than ever before. To top it off, the pitch is 4 metres lower than the old one. To meet the challenge, the new design was computer modelled to minimise the impact of shade. The result? At 3pm on Cup Final day only the two southern corner flags will be in the shade – if the sun manages to shine, of course.
The modelling mimicked the effect of sunlight on the stadium. Though it obviously didn’t predict that some of the seats would go pink as they did last week. Air flow and movement were also looked at. The roof can be moved quickly in the event of inclement weather too. A speedy 15 minutes is the closing time of the four acre moveable section.
Another benefit of the computer modelling is that seat views can be looked at. Many clubs now give ticket holders the ability to see the virtual view from their seat in the ground. And Wembley is no exception.
More technology was used to plan out how the stadium could host a world-class athletics event as well as football. Football stadia with athletics tracks are generally accepted to be less atmospheric than those where fans are closer to the pitch.
Architects HOK Sport and Foster and Partners got round this by designing a removable prefabricated platform that can be placed over the lower part of the bowl – hence the low pitch. The platform will cover some of the seats but it creates the increased space needed for a 400m track. The platform would take “a few weeks to install and remove,” according to Wembley sources.
However, one area where Wembley won’t take advantage of technology is in its ticketing – which promises to remain rudimentary. The FA refused to replace 1,600 FA Cup Final tickets issued to Liverpool fans for last year’s final at the
Millenium Stadium after they were stolen from a Post Office van.
The FA claimed there was no way to distinguish between the originals and their replacements. And the problem is set to continue at the new Wembley despite the millions spent on the project. By contrast, all World Cup and European Championship tickets now include a scanable chip.
At the time a WNSL spokesman told The Guardian: "We are working on a number of solutions but ultimately we will not be able to guarantee that the same problem won't occur in the future."
Back to page one.
Published on 18th May
