The Scarlets home ground, Parc y Scarlets with it’s state-of-the-art undersoil heating is being offered as a possible venue for crucial Heineken Cup fixtures in the next fortnight as the big freeze is set to continue.
Parc y Scarlets’ pitch is unaffected during freezing temperatures. In addition to its regional rugby games, Parc y Scarlets has already hosted a number of international football fixtures as well as age grade rugby internationals in its first year in operation.
Scarlets Chief Executive, Paul Sergeant said: “Parc y Scarlets was designed and built to be one of the finest rugby stadia in Europe and all the very latest facilities and pitch technology to combat bad weather conditions.
“We know that these freezing conditions are set to continue and are making clubs and ERC officials aware that we could potentially host games to avoid a difficult rescheduling process at a crucial time – particularly in the run up to the Six Nations.
“There has been a huge impact in sport already this weekend with so many games being called off with frozen pitches. We just want to put our hands up to say that this stadium is available for use in the coming weekends.
“The fact that we don’t share our stadium with a football club means that next Friday and Saturday we could host matches here ahead of our own Heineken Cup match against London Irish on Sunday afternoon.”
The Scarlets CEO said the same applies for the following weekend when Parc y Scarlets could be available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as the Scarlets travel to Brive away for their European Cup fixture.
Mr Sergeant added: “We recently hosted a rescheduled Heineken Cup game for the Dragons at the last minute due to the icy weather; with just 18 hours notice and we’re open and willing to put our hands up to assist any clubs wherever we can in the next fortnight.”
The Scarlets say that they have the added benefit of the operational support of their stadium partners Carmarthenshire County Council to ensure that the areas surrounding the main stadium bowl would also be fit and safe for pedestrian use in freezing conditions.
