On Saturday, the all-weather rugby and hockey pitches at the Stade Boy Konen in Cessange were inaugurated by the Ville de Luxembourg, with the Ambassador of Austria and The Netherlands in attendance, as well as representatives of the rugby and hockey clubs and federations.
The Mayor of the Ville de Luxembourg, Lydie Polfer, stated that for over 40 years a cooperative sports facility has been active in Cessange which was then developed, not only for football, but also for hockey and rugby. Now the two new all-weather pitches are being inaugurated, having been avaiable to the clubs for a number of month (rugby since August 2015 and hockey since November 2015). She stressed that sporting facilities across the Ville de Luxembourg are for the benefit of its residents and are extremely important for the city's social cohesion.
She stressed that 70% of residents of the city and its environs do not have Luxembourgish nationality so this facility is enjoyed by the multi-cultural and multi-lingual make-up of the city's population.
Simone Bessel, Alderman at the Ville de Luxembourg, stated that the municipal offices put in a lot of effort behind the scenes to research the best solutions for converting the existing pitch facilities into all-weather facilities. While the natural grass has been replaced by artificial surfaces, this enables the modernised and renovated facilities to be used more often and by more people.
The technical solution came from an installation in Switzerland to which members of the city and the rugby club had been invited during the process to identify the best practical solution, with representatives travelling to a comparable facility in The Nethlands re the hockey pitch. Up to then the rugby facilities as Cessange had been over-utilised with the pitch becoming a mud-bath early in the season, without time for the grass to be able to grow. The original synthetic hockey surface had been laid in 2001 but had been affected by underground problems which had led to a sloping of as much as 50cm in some places. The new solution was to install an underground "géo-grille".
The 130.4m long and 72.2m wide synthetic rugby surface incorporates a "carpet" of 35mm long (green) fibres on polypropylene shock pads; this cost €1.16 million. The 100.5m long and 62.3m wide synthetic hockey surface incorporates a 15mm-deep two-tone "carpet" made from polyethylene and reinforced by a géotextile; this cost €953 thousand.
The presidents of both the hockey and rugby clubs both spoke, with the president of the CSCE rugby club presenting Mayor Polfer with a rugby jersey. Steve Karier, President of the Luxembourg Rugby Federation, also spoke briefly and announced that the 2017 European Rugby Congress will be held in Luxembourg this time next year, with over 100 representatives expected from almost 50 countries attending the three-day event.
The issue of capacity was also addressed, with 550 rugby players availing of the facilities in Cessange weekly. With the pitch at Weimerskirch about to be lost to a property developmwnt, Mayor Polfer confirmed that another solution would be found and put in place before that facility become unavailable.
Photos by Geoff Thompson
