- Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
Workers inspect a section of the unfinished playing surface at the National Stadium last week.
Nodley Wright, Staff Reporter
A FEW BROWN patches (a mixture of sand and fibre) on the National Stadium pitch are nothing to worry about 10 days ahead of Jamaica's friendly against the United States on February 12.
By then the field will be a thing of beauty, says Bin Abu Abdullah of Gregori International, the French company responsible for creating a world-class playing surface at the island's only facility fit to host international games.
"Within a matter of four days the grass will grow up fully and if you come back next week you will see a different field," said Abdullah.
"The company has pushed and tried to get the field ready before February 12," Abdullah continued.
So confident was Abdullah that the Reggae Boyz would have a quality field to play on that he added that five to six days before the game the players will be able to use the field.
Despite recent rain, the field stood up firmly when it was walked upon, indicating that the drainage was good and that the soil was binding.
Abdullah explained that the brown patches which were seen were not bald spots but areas where a mixture of sand and fibre had been put in place in a bid to get the field level. A level field, he said, could not be achieved readily because of the number of layers of different materials which had to be put in place.
In order to get the grass growing properly, a white gauze-like material which Abdullah called J'textil was spread over the field to regulate the temperature of the grass allowing it to grow speedily.
"What J'textil does is that in the night when it gets cool, it gives the grass warmth which it needs to grow," Abdullah said.
"The opposite happens in the day when the sun gets too hot, it cools it down. Now it looks like this but in four to six days we are going to remove it and it will look different," Abdullah said.
It is not just the work of the French company that is doing wonders for the field. The elements also seem to have conspired with it favourably.
Rain, which can both help and harm the process, are proving to be a big help.
Once the grass is fully grown and the other kinds of grass which are competing with the good grass are killed, according to Abdullah, a roller will be applied to the field and it will be ready for action.
When this happens it will be the first time since Jamaica's World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica in November of 2001 that a football match will be played on the field. Since that time Jamaica have been forced to play international friendly matches away from home.
After starting out with losses against the United States and Nigeria, Jamaica recovered to build up a 10-game unbeaten run under then technical director designate Carl Brown.
Brown was given the title officially on January 1 had his team's unbeaten streak stopped a few days later to Barbados.
The US game will be his first at home as technical director.
