ENGLAND'S EURO TRAINING CAMP ALMOST HAD NO FUEL FOR MOWERS
French strikes jeopardise preparations
The Telegrapgh has reported that preparations for the England team’s Euro 2016 training ground in France were set back two days after nationwide strikes deprived their lawnmowers and tractors of petrol.
England's training ground in Chantilly, pictured in The Telegraph
The paper says though despite the industrial action the groundsmen in Chantilly are still just about on course to complete the training ground as planned for the team when they arrive at their base camp today (Monday June 6th).
“We’ve had to cope with the weather and the fuel strike. When the weather’s been good, we had no diesel, when the weather was bad we’ve had diesel (but couldn’t operate the machines due to the rain),” a source at the Stade des Boulognes told The Telegrapgh, where pitches have been built from scratch to meet FA requirements.
It's reported that English groundsmen Andrew Cubitt, 25, and his colleague Matthew Davies, 25, arrived in Chantilly on May 23, and last Friday were putting the finishing touches to the “pitch of honour” where the team wiill train ahead of their first game against Russia next Saturday in Marseille. Two French groundsmen were also working flat out to finish the job in time.
Henry Samuels writes "Getting the ground ready in time was always going to be a challenge, as when England announced its decision to use Chantilly as a base, the FA issued pictures of old and worn-out, and in one case sloping, pitches that mostly serve as home to local amateur side US Chantilly.
"But organisers had no idea they would also have to cope with added strain of some of the wettest weather in recent memory in the area, which has seen the Seine rise to its highest levels in 35 years and eleven people killed in floods, as well as - perhaps more predictably in France – crippling strikes.
"French unions angry at labour reforms that they believe will dilute their powers have been blocking six of the country’s eight petrol refineries for the past two weeks, at one stage leading to almost half the country’s stations running DRY and diesel particularly hard hit."
The report goes on to quote a stadium source as saying, “The strikes have held us back with operations as we couldn’t fuel the machines up for the jobs we needed to do. Some tractors take up to 40 to 50 litres of diesel. We needed to put some sand on the pitch last week, which held us up a day or two, and at that time, the weather was actually really good so it was frustrating.”
It does say how however, they now have some reserves of fuel in stock in case any further problems arise.
Read the full report and see more pictures here.
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