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The following Sunday the Millers face Rochdale, the match having being put back one day to give staff time to get the gear cleared and the stadium cleaned.
Pat Smith, the General Manager of D.V. spoke to the Advertiser about the steps being taken to protect the pitch:
"Potentially there's the potential for damage to the pitch, but where you look at the other places the tour is going—San Siro, Stade Paris—they're not re-turfing the pitches. That's too expensive to do, So the way they've designed it, the stage is put on an aluminium platform that stretches right to the front-of-house mixer towers for people to walk on."
"The rest of the surface will be covered with a plastic formula called Terraplas, which is big plastic blocks which lay together. They were originally used at Wembley Stadium, where they do a lot of shows and lift them up and do a football match the next day. The blocks are designed to allow the grass to breathe and protect it. The whole of the grass will be covered by the two products which means the risk of damage is minimal."
"There will be discolouration of the grass from the time it's down but it won't kill the grass or cause surface damage. After that we'll be spiking and rolling and drag brushing to bring the blades of the grass back up and we'll probably get some water on it to freshen it up."
He is proud that Don Valley has been chosen as a venue of U2's tour saying: "Basically, the band choose where they want to go, they are hands on and they know what they want to deliver. It was their choice to come to Sheffield and to come to the temporary home of Rotherham United."
"In terms of this tour, Don Valley sits alongside the San Siro Stadium, the Nou Camp and the Stade de Paris."
The Millers fixtures were taken into account he said: "We had to look at the potential dates for the concert and make sure it fitted with the football requirements. There was a little bit of patience on the promoters' side to wait for the fixtures to come out to make sure it fitted together."
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