FIFA std grass pitch costs only $283K in expensive Canada, but $2.3 mil in S'pore?
Why does the National Stadium shit pitch cost $800k, and was so fucked up, they had to buy another $1.5 million in heating lamps to try and grow it and fix it and yet a FIFA certified grass pitch in vancouver Canada cost only Cdn$250K (SGD$283K) to put in? This whole grass fiasco smells of corruption to me. Its obvious that even for a high cost country like Canada, the price is only 12.3% of what the SSC and the Sports Ministry paid for the field!! Why is Vivian still a Minister with his track record of over budget and over priced sporting events? Its safe to say that if Vancouver paid $283K for a FIFA approved pitch, than the North American price for a quality pitch must be around the same. How can the PAP approve a pitch that cost 8 times that in a much lower cost country like ours? CPIB is strangely silent on this too.
Vancouver Green Party demands real grass for 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup
If artificial turf isn’t good enough for men, it shouldn’t be good enough for women.
Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr wants the city to demand a natural grass field at B.C. Place – or buy its own – to “level the playing field” in time for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup games next summer, according to a motion she will propose at council next week.
Despite the fact that FIFA has never hosted a men’s World Cup tournament on fake grass – some teams refuse to play on it as it poses a greater risk for injuries – the soccer organization has no plans to put in real grass for the women’s tournament at the stadium with artificial turf where the Whitecaps play.
“I believe it’s critical that Vancouver provides natural grass, not artificial turf, as a point of safety and equity for women players,” Carr said in a statement. “It’s such a double standard that men are not asked to play on artificial turf because it’s known to have a higher risk for injuries are health issues, but women are.”
If the stadium’s owners (the province and B.C. Pavilion Corporation) refuse to shell out the cash, Carr wants the city to spend $250,000 of its own money on the field, which will host seven matches during the tournament.
Objections to the artificial turf prompted more than a dozen elite female soccer players, including superstars from Brazil, Germany and the U.S., to file a gender discrimination lawsuit against FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association in the Human Rights Tribunal Court of Ontario. The lawsuit filed in September states the fake grass “devalues the player’s dignity, state of mind and self-respect by requiring them to play on a second class surface.”
Negative press around the artificial turf could jeopardize the reputation for world-class sporting facilities Vancouver developed for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Carr’s motion states.
Carr suggested using money from the emerging priorities section of the 2015-2018 capital plan to pay for the upgrade and attempt to re-use the grass at local schools after the tournament ends.
But her motion might not get the necessary support from Vision Vancouver.
Mayor Gregor Robertson said it’s up to the province to deal with the surface at B.C. Place, adding the city will “see what happens” with the lawsuit.
“I think we’ve had a good working surface there, the Whitecaps play on it, and it’s currently what’s approved by FIFA,” Robertson told reporters at an event Tuesday.
