Viva Lewes Issue #107 August 2015

football
Photo by B arry Collins
Lewes FC v Viva Lewes
A historic (mis)match on a state-of-the-art surface
“They look a bit handy,” says my team-mate Simon,
looking across at the Lewes FC XI lined up
in their pre-kick off formation on the club’s brand
new 3G pitch. ‘Brand new’, is exactly right. This
is the first ever match on the surface: final work
on the pitch has been completed earlier in the day.
We are nominally a Viva Lewes XI, mostly culled
from another team called ‘Priory Ruins’: there are
more over-forties in the group than under-thirties.
The Lewes team includes no first-team or
youth-team players, thankfully: it is mainly made
up of back-room staffers. On the subs bench are
a number of people who have been attending the
club’s football therapy sessions. On the left wing
is LFC Director Charlie Dobres, the mastermind
behind the whole project.
The pitch boasts an absolutely state-of-the-art
surface, laid by SIS UK Ltd, who have also laid artificial
‘3G’ pitches for Liverpool, Fulham, West
Ham and Arsenal. It has cost the club £850,000,
most of which was raised in grants and private
investment, and as well as acting as Lewes FC’s
training ground it will be rented out to the public.
Remarkably, as I write, it is the most state-of-theart
3G pitch in the country.
We kick off, and there’s the usual period of sizing
up the opposition as the ball does its to-ing
and fro-ing between the boxes. It is immediately
apparent that it runs smoothly over the surface,
there is no extra bounce, and there is plenty of
give. My first meaningful contribution is to
stretch out and slide along my backside in order
to pass the ball to our goalkeeper, the sort of
movement I wouldn’t have attempted on a normal
Astroturf pitch for fear of ripping skin off.
In this case I remain unscathed. The pitch is also
designed to play rugby on, and thus to absorb the
impact of crashing bodies.
The best thing I can say about the surface is that,
as the game progresses, I forget about it, involved
as I am in the job of trying to make sure the opposition
don’t score: tracking runs, putting in tackles,
and keeping our back-three in a line. It soon
becomes apparent that the Lewes team doesn’t
have as organised a defence: by half-time we are
5-0 up. In the second half, as Lewes work hard to
accommodate their various substitutes, the game
turns into something of a rout. Did I mention
their goalkeeper is 14 years old? He does brilliantly,
in the circumstances.
Let’s not dwell on the final score. As a defender,
I’m just happy with the ‘nil’ at our end. And proud
to have been involved in such a historic occasion.
This pitch is a big new asset for the town.
Alex Leith
Check lewesfc.co.uk for pitch-hire details.
Priory Ruins kick around on Convent Field,
10.30am every Sunday, all welcome.
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