Weather forces artist to postpone £500,000 forest football match

By BRIAN FERGUSON
Published on 18/07/2012 18:28

AFTER three years of planning, artist Craig Coulthard has been forced to shelve one of Scotland’s main contributions to the UK wide “Cultural Olympiad”.

Coulthard won £500,000 to help pay to create a new football pitch in the middle of a forest in the Borders to stage just two matches this Saturday.

But after inspections from the SFA yesterday, he has had to postpone the venture and a new date he has pencilled in is not until after the Olympics.

Dozens of trees had been felled in a forest near Selkirk to create the full-size pitch for an event which 1000 spectators were due to attend. The timber had been recycled to create a changing room, goal posts and benches for spectators.

The Edinburgh-based artist had won a Scotland-wide competition to land the grant for the project, which had been backed by the SFA and leading figures from the game.

However Coulthard said weeks of “exceptional rainfall” had left the pitch unplayable.

He said: “Right up until Wednesday lunchtime we were working hard in the belief that there was a good chance they could go ahead as planned.

“But following a final pitch inspection our advice from the SFA is that continuing bad weather, after weeks of exceptional rainfall, mean that there could be too much standing water and mud on Saturday to allow safe play. The safety and enjoyment of players and spectators is my top priority.

“I felt it was far better to make a final decision in the middle of the week, rather than wait any longer, to give us plenty of time to contact all the players and spectators.

“I am naturally very disappointed that, like so many events around the country, Forest Pitch has been affected by the bad weather. I’m also sorry for any inconvenience the postponement causes to our players – who are some of the most amazing people I’ve had the privilege to work with – or to any of the supporters I was looking forward to meeting.”

Mr Coulthard said he was now planning for the event to go ahead on Saturday 25 August.

Andrew Dixon, chief executive of Creative Scotland, added: “Obviously it will be disappointing for the players, their families and spectators that the matches have been postponed, but we support Craig’s decision to hold the match at a later date and look forward to seeing everyone on 25 August.”