Before and after the game, Lee welcomed Ryo Miyachi and Nam Tae-hee of Yokohama. Miyachi has been in constant contact with each other after serving as Bolton Wanderers. Nam has been a teammate of the Korean national team for a long time. However, their first conversation was about grass. "The first words of the two were 'Why is the grass so bad?' and 'You look dangerous,'" Lee said. "It's been four years since I came to Korea after cleaning up my life in Europe, and I feel it every time. It's getting worse." "I go to other countries through ACLs even though the weather is affected," he said. "The grass is in good condition even in places where the weather is worse than ours."
In fact, grass quality was significantly compared at two consecutive home and away matches against Thailand last month for the World Cup qualifiers. Unlike uneven grass conditions at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, the hot and humid Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand showed off its best condition. Rumors have it that the state of the grass influenced Korea's 1-1 draw at home and a 3-0 win at an away match. "In order to play fast-tempo and aggressive soccer, grass condition is important. Players will be able to improve their performance and fans will be pleased," Lee said.
The K-League's grass introduced Kentucky bluegrass, which is commonly used in Europe, to build the stadium for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. However, it is a Korean paper-type lawn. The damage is getting worse as it cannot withstand the increasingly hot and humid domestic climate. The Korea Professional Football Association has selected Samsung C&T's lawn environment research center as a lawn consulting firm since 2021 to improve the quality of the ground, but the effect has not been sufficient. The Seoul World Cup Stadium itself has a hybrid lawn that is a mixture of artificial and natural grass. The institute diagnosed grass growth and soil layer including density, color, and root length. However, the solidarity of the lawn does not meet expectations.
To get rid of complaints, we need to create a management system that is different from the existing one. However, lawn mower management in the K-League is managed by a facility management corporation or facility management office that is affiliated with the team. There are limitations to lawn mower management as there are many cases in which interests of soccer teams differ. The K-League is seeing its lawn mower become the most enemy.
BY: 메이저놀이터
