Magdeburg have to convert to beach soccer in order to secure their league status as the pitch resembles more a beach than a football pitch. A Churchillian twist to their already tough situation.

It is certainly no secret and no wizardry is needed to establish the fact that in order to play football a pitch is needed. Sometimes however, this pitch resembles a steppe and each kick is accompanied by little clouds of dust. In Magdeburg however, the pitch appears to be a beach as gaps in the terrain have been filled with sand as is visible in the video clip embedded in this tweet.

Der 1. FC #Magdeburg und Waldhof #Mannheim trennten sich am Ende verdient unentschieden. Sehen Sie hier die Tore auf einen Blick. @1_FCM @svw07 #FCMSVW @3_liga pic.twitter.com/zCQyIPM854

— Sport im Osten (@SportimOsten) March 6, 2021

The local paper „Volksstimme“ reported that there are no plans to renew the lawn for the remainder of the season. The reasons for the state is the roof of the ground which protrudes and thus covers large parts of the lawn, particularly in the southern corner of the ground. The break in the season which normally lasts from mid-December until the end of January was cut down to just two weeks, leaving the pitch no time to recover and of course the weather. While the architectural and corona inflicted problems are comprehensible, the weather is not. Yes, winter is a hard time but this is not an excuse. A machine to solarise the pitch would be extremely costly, the paper added.

It is a shame since even the opponent’s coach from last Saturday, Patrick Glöckner admitted that Magdeburg are a strong team but they are hindered by the pitch. The team are doing a great effort to keep the club up, so is the off pitch team. Now the greenkeeper have to do their part.

For now, Magdeburg shall fight on the beaches!

© photo credit: Stefan Fussan via Wikimedia under CC BY-SA 3.0

All of Winston Churchill’s speeches can be found at the website of the International Churchill Society.

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