The new turf of third division club Rot-Weiss Essen is in a catastrophic condition. A player from Erzgebirge Aue may have injured himself because of it.

Everything was supposed to be better in the stadium on Hafenstraße. During the summer break, third-division football club Rot-Weiss Essen had replaced the stadium turf at great expense and relied on a different strategy. Instead of laying turf, the grass was sown. The result so far has been a disaster.

Already in the cup match against Hamburger SV, RWE players Felix Bastians and Jakob Golz complained that the new turf was difficult to play on. The turf apparently did not grow together properly in many places. This also became clear in the first league home game on Sunday evening against Erzgebirge Aue. Large pieces of turf came loose in many places, and the surface is still in a terrible condition.

Aue left-back Linus Rosenlöcher had to experience this in a very painful way. In the 37th minute he got stuck in the turf and had to be substituted with a contorted face. Rosenlöcher was holding his knee. There was applause from the stands, a fair gesture by the Essen supporters.

Criticism of Rot-Weiss Essen: “The turf is catastrophic”.

Christian Straßburger, who is commentating on the match for Magenta Sport, had clear words for the condition of Essen’s turf. “For God’s sake, nothing has grown there at all. The turf is catastrophic.” Earlier he had already mocked the new turf: “Someone who knows what he’s talking about has got to do something about it.” A damning verdict for the greenkeeper of the city of Essen.

Rot-Weiss Essen’s CEO Marcus Uhlig took a stand on the problems during half-time of the match at Magenta Sport. “I am not a gardener. But we have to talk about that again, we will take a closer look. We definitely have this topic on the agenda this week. “