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| A Look Inside Xpert Arena |
Go Ahead Eikels progressed to the 7th round of the Pro League Cup this afternoon after a tense extra-time battle at Xpert Arena.
Not a lot of people in the real world know much about Xpert Arena, so we sent a reporter along to find out how so many games can be played on neutral ground in the same location.
Firstly, the title ‘arena’ is somewhat misleading. It is actually more like a medium-sized city. There are over 800 football pitches in the complex, each with seating arrangements in varying quantities. The most popular sides tend to play in one of the more central arenas, which have the largest capacity. The 4 largest arenas can seat 60,000 fans each, and are the equivalent of playing on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
If there is a centre court, then there must be equivalents of the outer courts too. And there are. If you are assigned any pitch with a number over 700 you know it’s a dog. No fixed seating, just bars to lean on. Exposed to the elements, and typically with a playing surface similar to playing on the moon. With over 800 pitches it is impossible to keep all the pitches in perfect condition. The best pitches are used the least, and the natural grass is mixed with synthetic fibres to make it more durable.
The Xpert Arena complex is over 100 square miles in area. It contains restaurants, hotels, a monorail system, and even has its own airport – for the teams that can afford to use it. It is so vast that it can take over two hours from arrival to finding your seat. Many fans making the pilgrimage for the first time get lost and miss kick off completely. Many have been known to miss entire while trying to locate pitch 764 and at least one person got completely lost, wandering around the complex for over a week before finding an exit.
It is a constant hive of activity. Many pitches host multiple games on the same day, and people from all over the world come to watch their favourite computer-generated players do battle. But the atmosphere is fantastic. It’s like a 24 hour a day carnival. When walking around you are likely to hear snatches of conversation such as, “I can’t believe we tightened the wings today! It was obvious we should have tightened the centre!”. Or “I’d have left Smith on the bench – he’s only got 9 skillbars. He was out of his depth.”
And don’t forget the referees. Due to a massive shortage of qualified “digital referees” each one has to referee up to 8 games at a time, by watching them all on a series of special interactive monitors that can convey the decisions into each stadium. Some manage this better than others, and it can be frustrating for fans on occasion.
There was a loud cheer today from the EIkel fans on pitch 24 when the final whistle went, and they were immediately herded out of the gates into the concourse, so that the semi final (first leg) of the Northern VIP Invitational League Cup could take place a mere 30 minutes later. It was chaos of course, but that is all part of the memorable experience of playing at the famous Xpert Arena.
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