The cancellation of the match between Winterthur and St.Gallen at short notice is causing frustration - especially among FCW coach Patrick Rahmen. His clear criticism is directed at the club's own infrastructure.
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- The Super League match between Winterthur and St.Gallen was canceled at short notice due to the unplayable pitch.
- FCW coach Patrick Rahmen sharply criticizes the cancellation and calls the situation "embarrassing" and "unbelievable".
- The outdated infrastructure of the Schützenwiese is once again the subject of criticism - a planned modernization - without pitch heating - is to be put to a vote in the autumn.
The Super League match between Winterthur and St.Gallen, which was due to take place on Saturday at 6 p.m., had to be postponed. The fourth official classified the pitch on the Schützenwiese as unplayable. The ground was frozen and therefore posed a safety risk for the players.
Winterthur coach Patrick Rahmen was not happy about the cancellation at short notice. "Unfortunately, it turned out over the course of the day that the two sixteen-a-side pitches didn't thaw out, and several areas on the side of the opposition stand were also as hard as a rock," he told blue Sport in a frustrated telephone interview. The risk of injury was too great and a lot was left to chance, summarizes Rahmen.
The 56-year-old believes that the lack of turf heating on the Schützenwiese needs to be addressed. "It's embarrassing that you can't play."
After all, the external conditions were "basically good". Although there were sub-zero temperatures during the night, it wasn't raining or snowing, he explains. The fact that you can't play in these conditions is "unbelievable", complains Rahmen.
Interval training as a replacement program for referee Dudic
The match against FCSG was sold out, 8700 spectators missed the eagerly awaited game. St.Gallen coach Enrico Maassen had also expressed his dissatisfaction to him. "Both teams were prepared for us to play a good game today, but now everything has gone wrong at short notice," said Rahmen.
Referee Alessandro Dudic was informed in the morning that a pitch inspection would be carried out at 1.45 pm. As he was "already on his way to the car", he was informed that the match had been called off. "I then went straight into interval training to get rid of the energy," said Dudic.
Rahmen's criticism of his own club is no coincidence: the infrastructure on the Schützenwiese is an ongoing issue. A referendum is expected to take place in the autumn, in which the sports facility is to be modernized for almost 35 million francs in order to meet the requirements of the Swiss Football League.
There are no plans to heat the pitch, as the city of Winterthur already invested almost one million Swiss francs in the pitch in summer 2020, as "watson" wrote about the "never-ending problem". At the time, the city said that pitch heating was out of the question "for ecological and financial reasons". A possible change would not be possible until 2023 at the earliest.
It is not yet clear when the match will be rescheduled.
