Saracens ignore row and pitch to stay at Wembley

The Guinness Premiership club are delighted to have used the stadium for the first time this term and on Saturday will face Harlequins there in the final match of a four-game deal.

However, the build-up to the clash has been overshadowed by the fall-out from football's FA Cup semi-finals last weekend, when the pitch cut up badly. The Football Association announced yesterday they are considering relaying the surface for the 11th time in three years.

Wembley's packed schedule — it will stage eight football matches in the space of three weeks next month — has been blamed in part for the problem.

But Saracens are keen to return to the venue next season, when Heineken Cup rugby is likely to be on the agenda, and have not been told that their presence is a problem. Sarries chief executive Edward Griffiths said: "There has been no suggestion from anyone involved with the running of Wembley that rugby has played any part in the current pitch problems.

"We are a North London club with a 134-year history of playing rugby in this part of the city and Wembley fits into this very well and it makes sense to use the stadium for big matches.

"No one believes Wembley is a stadium fit for only 10 football matches a year and it should be used for all kinds of events. We are proud to be given the chance to use it for four games this season and we look forward to playing their in the future.

"We don't have a long-term agreement in writing after this season but we intend to roll that into next season and there will be on-going discussions with Wembley once we know the games.

"We have almost certainly already qualified through our league position for the Heineken Cup which offers the opportunity for major matches against teams like Munster, Leinster and
Toulouse."

Saracens are keen to build on the crowds of 40,000 they attracted to Wembley for the wins over South Africa, Northampton and Worcester.

They are planning an entertainment spectacular for Saturday featuring the first high-wire walk between two sides of the stadium roof and a £250,000 prize for a fan who kicks a rugby ball through a target on one of the posts.

This programme of events will not impact on the pitch and Griffiths is sure rugby won't cause the same damage as football.

He said: "The problems with the Wembley pitch started a long time before we began playing there. Rugby and football co-exist very successfully at major stadia like Stade de France in Paris and I believe it is the fact that most footballers wear blades rather than studs causes the problems.

"From what I have been told, the blades are far more harmful that normal studs and a rugby game is less wearing on a pitch because the whole of the area is used rather than wear and tear being seen in localised parts."