Arnold Bruggink and Kenneth Perez are extremely critical of the synthetic turf pitch of Sparta Rotterdam. The analysts call the derby against Feyenoord (0-1) in the program This was the Weekend by ESPN ‘a horror of a match’ and partly attribute that to the pitch at Het Kasteel. Bruggink states that such an artificial grass pitch is not possible if you take the competition seriously.
“It was a horror of a game,” Perez said. “It starts with turning on the television and seeing that field. It looks bad. You have to imagine how football players feel. When you see how the ball reacts on that field, you think: wow, this is going to be a difficult game. And it was. There was so little good football. With a beautiful goal (by Cyriel Dessers, ed.) at the end, I must say.”
“Apparently it is allowed, so Sparta is not doing anything wrong. Do you not have a home advantage with such a field? I think so,” Perez continues. “The ball just keeps accelerating”, Bruggink adds. “Sparta always trains on it, I assume. But you see that the ball does not slow down, which happens on a normal field. They are special things. I think this is no longer possible. If you want to take the competition seriously, this is simply not possible. Sparta has also explained why it is so, so I understand.”
Presenter Jan Joost van Gangelen explains that all youth teams train at Het Kasteel. Training complex Nieuw Terbregge is being renovated and after that there must be room for the first team to train there daily. When it is no longer necessary to train daily at Het Kasteel, you can switch to natural grass. That won’t be until next season at the earliest. Perez: “There is also a difference between one artificial grass pitch and another. Maybe this is the worst there is.”
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