By Nick Creely

It’s been a hectic week for the Marvel Stadium arena crew with the multi-purpose facility transformed into an international soccer field just days after hosting three matches of AFL.

Marvel Stadium arena manager Trent Lamb and his team of nine have spent the week preparing the surface to strict FIFA guidelines for the highly-anticipated Matildas v Argentina soccer friendly on Friday 30 May. 

The hard-working team also maintains home facilities for AFL clubs Carlton, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs throughout the week. 

The stadium hosted three AFL games the weekend prior - a double-header on the Saturday and a single clash on the Sunday - leaving them with short notice to get the surface up to scratch.

“It’s a busy week, it’s a bit of a process changing over for the Matildas to get the ground turned around. There’s always something to do,” he said.

Lamb said the process of preparing the surface started a few weeks ago but the nitty-gritty of meticulously rolling, cutting and marking the ground - as well as removing AFL goals and installing soccer goals - were done this week.

“A few weeks ago we had to start the process of the grass signage which is a bit of a topical one on the soccer field so the Ausign guys wash off a few weeks before so we could make sure we could wash them off for the game,” he said. With the AFL ones there’s not a lot we can really do about it, they’ve been in since the start of the season so we just needed to green those out.

“We’re quite lucky in a way, we’ve only got the one game this week, so we’ve dropped the AFL goals, true rolled and cut north-south in the soccer pattern which is different to our AFL pattern and then you need to put the sleeves in for the soccer goals.

“Once the goals are in you’re then able to do your markings. Soccer is inside to outside, back-to-front so they go from the inside of the post to the line.”

Lamb said in terms of cutting lengths there weren't any major differences but needed to ensure it was meeting international standards, with a major emphasis on slick, fast and controlled “ball roll”.

 “FIFA’s preferred requirement is 23mm, which is not much different to the 25mm we usually run at here. They also send out an independent agronomist a month prior and then a week out to just do inspections of the field, traction tests, ball roll, infiltration and shear tests - the full works,” he said. 

“The guys are excited about it, it’s something different for them. It's a different set of lines and patterns, so we do a few different things. Soccer is a bit more particular then AFL because of the ball roll because it’s a ball on ground game, they like it slick. Our priority is to have it flat and reduce any bobbling which is why at the start of the week we procore the whole field.”

Lamb said the Marvel Stadium surface had some turf replaced as part of ongoing maintenance done every year due to the volume of foot traffic from AFL matches each weekend.

“We replaced 130 square metres in the centre circle last week, in anticipation of this but we have to do it once a year anyway like all grounds, it’s such a high wear area,” he said..  We replaced about 300 at the north end as well which will include the northern six yard box.

“The rest of it, we rely heavily on the light rigs here. Our northern 50 metres doesn’t get any sun this time of the year so is fully reliant on the light rigs and they basically go out straight after the game and as soon as the AFL season comes around.”

The Matildas are currently ranked 16th in the FIFA World Rankings while Argentina sits 33rd but enter the clash in strong form. The Matildas enter the two-game series off the back of a back-to-back wins against Korea in early April but have endured an up-and-down run of form after losses to Colombia, USA and Japan earlier this year.

The international friendly between the Matildas and Argentina will kick-off at 8pm AEST.

Matildas' 23-player squad for Argentina series
Steph Catley (captain), Kyra Cooney-Cross, Leah Davidson, Caitlin Foord, Isabel Gomez, Charlotte Grant, Winonah Heatley, Bryleeh Henry, Michelle Heyman, Clare Hunt, Alanna Kennedy, Kahli Johnson, Holly McNamara, Teagan Micah, Courtney Nevin, Natasha Prior, Jamilla Rankin, Amy Sayer, Kaitlyn Torpey, Emily Van Egmond, Clare Wheeler, Jada Whyman

Images provided by Trent Lamb/Marvel Stadium