Wasps statement: Coventry City pitch damage criticism

Wasps CEO Stephen Vaughan has fired back at Coventry City following criticisms by the football club about the state of the Coventry Building Society Arena pitch after it hosted both the men’s and women’s Rugby 7s events at the recent Commonwealth Games.

Coventry City boss Mark Robins was critical about the condition of the playing surface at his weekly media briefing last week, claiming that a new turf was scheduled to have been laid prior to the Commonwealth Games but this hadn’t taken place.

A football club statement then followed, warning that a pitch inspection was needed to see if their opening home match of the new Championship season could go ahead versus Rotherham.

That match, scheduled for last Sunday, was eventually postponed and Coventry moved quickly to get permission from Burton, whose stadium is more than 40 miles away, to stage this Wednesday’s Carabao Cup home tie with Bristol City for fear of potentially having another called-off match if they tried to stage it at the Coventry Arena.

It has resulted in the stadium-owning rugby club being heavily criticised by the ground-sharing football club and its fans but the Gallagher Premiership outfit, whose home league season begins with a September 17 game against Bristol Bears, have now hit back with a strongly worded statement from CEO Vaughan.

It read: “We were saddened to see that information and stories have been put out in the press without our prior knowledge, and this message has been relayed to the football club. In May we informed CCFC that we would not be relaying the pitch. No objection was raised to that course of action then or at any other time.

“The contract to host events for the Commonwealth Games was agreed and signed before CCFC committed to returning to play their games at the Arena. They were fully aware of the timetable of events. We were advised that a number of games should be played away from home at the start of the football season to allow sufficient time for the pitch to be prepared, but we were informed by CCFC that this was not possible.

“Sixty-five Rugby 7’s matches were played at the Arena in three days and a pitch, new or established, could not withstand that amount of wear and tear, and then be in pristine condition a week later, regardless of the efforts of the ground staff.

“Maintaining a pitch with two sports on it is always a challenge, so the recent unique set of circumstances has been particularly difficult and has naturally put the pitch under enormous strain.

“The business has a number of priorities to deal with. Despite what some may think, we want CCFC to play all their home games here, and it benefits no one when there are issues such as this played out in public with incorrect or missing information.

“Wednesday’s Carabao Cup game was moved from the Arena without a further pitch inspection, which is the prerogative of the football club, but I hope they and the officials feel they are able to play next week’s home game here at the Arena.

“We have agreed that an independent agronomist selected by the EFL can come to the Arena and carry out their own inspection of the pitch. We hope they feel it is able to be played on and I know, as professionals, they are aware and understand the circumstances surrounding the pitch recently.

“It is extremely disappointing to yet again be defending ourselves against rumour and accusation, particularly as it’s the supporters of CCFC and Wasps who are having to deal with the fallout. We won’t be getting involved in a protracted, public discussion about this, which serves no one’s interest, but felt we needed to ensure people had the correct information.”