FT Starnberg fears the "Super-GAU": 19 teams, no own place - permanent condition?

Created: 2022-01-28Updated: 2022-01-28 09:39

By: Michael Baumgartner

The 17 youth teams of FT Starnberg 09 can currently only train on pitches from other clubs – such as on the small artificial turf pitch at SC Söcking.

© Kathrin Rumland

Due to bad weather, the new artificial turf of the FT Starnberg 09 cannot be completed.

The 19 football teams are currently training on foreign pitches.

And it could stay that way for a long time.

Starnberg

– "Everyone here is already scratching their hooves and finally wants to be on the pitch," says Alexander Nitsch.

But the head of the football department at FT Starnberg 09 has to keep putting off the impatient.

The new artificial turf on the sports grounds on Ottostraße is still not finished.

In November, the Starnberg footballers were overjoyed when construction work began on the new artificial turf, which cost 400,000 euros.

But the weather threw a spanner in the works for the contracted construction company.

The project could not be completed.

And since then, work on Ottostrasse has been on hold.

"There are still three work steps to go," explains Nitsch.

First, a layer of quartz sand has to be placed in the artificial turf carpet to stabilize it, and then the surface is filled with cork.

And last but not least, the margins would have to be cut to the intended size.

Nitsch estimates that only five to six working days are needed for this.

“It was scheduled to be completed in December.

When it snowed for the first time

And that raises all sorts of problems. 17 youth teams, a men's team and an old men's team play at FT Starnberg. They all have to move to places at other clubs. "We are very grateful that we can currently train at SV Söcking and SC Percha," says Nitsch. Both clubs have small-pitch artificial turf pitches. But of course this is not permanent. This can still be managed to some extent by the end of January because there is still no complete training operation. However, the effort is enormous. "Every week I coordinate all the teams to Percha and Söcking, this week also to Oberalting," says youth leader Kathrin Rumland. "It's really annoying." When the official preparations for the teams begin in February and all teams are supposed to train twice a week, things will get really tight."And if it should last longer than the end of February, then that would be the super meltdown," says Nitsch.

But not only the FT is affected by the construction delay. Other clubs such as TSV Perchting-Hadorf or SV Wangen and the footballers of the Starnberg Argonauts would like to train or play test matches on the Starnberg artificial turf, as in previous years. Nitsch now has to comfort them all without being able to give them a perspective. Because the free gymnasts do not have a promise as to when the work can be continued.

Another problem arises for the FT 09 due to the blocking of the artificial turf.

"We lack important financial income," explains Nitsch.

Teams from outside the area usually use the pitch to train or play preparatory games.

They pay rent to Freie Turner for this – which is no longer the case.

"I have a lot of inquiries.

We urgently need the money from the rental for our budget," says Nitsch.

The city, as the client, cannot give the footballers a window of time in which the artificial turf will be completed.

"We are in constant contact with the responsible company," said Lena Choi, spokeswoman for the city of Starnberg, on request.

According to information from the company commissioned from Memmingen, the outstanding work could only begin if the weather had been dry for a few days.

Otherwise, the filling material to be inserted into the artificial turf carpet would stick together, says Choi.

No good prospects for the FT kickers, after all, according to the weather forecast, it's supposed to snow or rain a lot today and in the coming days.