The grass is greener

FOOTBALL matches might be off, but stadium groundsmen are still working during the State of Alarm.

Eduard Rovira, technical director of a company that tends the pitches for seven First Division clubs, explained recently to the Spanish media that although all non-essential activity was suspended until after Easter, groundsmen could carry on working.

The text of the Official State Bulletin (BOE) placed this type of work in the “indispensable” category.

“The turf on a football pitch is not like a garden.  It is more susceptible to disease because it is far denser,” Rovira said.  “It can die within 24 hours.”

Neither does the turf need as much fertiliser at present and the experts are regulating its growth by one millimetre each day instead of four.

Mowing the pitches continues even when the football season is over and at present is as important as ever. “They are cut to 25 millimetres, which is an optimum length as the shorter the grass, the more stress it suffers,” Rovira said.

No-one knows when the footballers will return, but Rovira added that he knew what they would find. “When they come back they’ll have new pitches.  They’re going to be spectacular.”