Strong winds batter the Domagnano Stadium

The recent weather conditions, marked by exceptional gusts of wind that have lashed the whole of San Marino, causing extensive damage throughout the Republic, have not spared the sports facilities. Aside from minor repairs which, in the coming hours and following a priority intervention plan, the San Marino Football Federation will carry out at the Ezio Conti in Dogana and at the Montecchio Stadium, it is the Domagnano facility that is facing serious issues and has suffered significant structural damage. Exposed to violent air currents, the list of damage at the Domagnano Stadium is long and worrying, to the point that a potential change of venue for Libertas-Tre Penne – the first leg of the BKN301 Coppa Titano quarter-finals, scheduled for tomorrow evening at 20:45 – cannot be ruled out in advance. The FSGC’s intention is to restore the facilities needed by registered players and staff to ensure normal activity, including training sessions, and above all to guarantee their safety. To this end, a race against time has already begun and, should rain hit tomorrow evening, the match will in any case be moved to another venue, most likely the Ezio Conti. It should be recalled that last Sunday’s Tre Fiori-Juvenes-Dogana fixture was postponed to Dogana precisely after an inspection at Domagnano clearly showed that the critical issues did not guarantee the safety of the players and officials involved. The dugouts at the Domagnano Stadium are in fact almost completely destroyed and beyond repair, after being battered for an entire week by the strong gusts of wind which on Sunday exceeded 120 km/h, as reported in official measurements and across the media. The aluminium and steel frames of the dugouts – not to mention the plastic panels providing shelter from rain and wind – have literally been snapped. These conditions made their immediate removal necessary, saving – for now – only the seats that might still be usable tomorrow evening. This critical situation has forced the FSGC to turn to its suppliers to purchase two brand new complete dugouts. In the meantime, yesterday all the roof panels of the football dugouts were removed, leaving only five seats in place, which the Federation’s maintenance staff – who work on the facilities almost daily – managed to stabilise, also replacing five seat units. Unfortunately, that is not all. The effects of the wind have also had a major impact on the containers that were installed at the time to provide additional space and services (including showers) for the players involved in training sessions or official football and futsal matches. Initial inspections yesterday morning clearly showed that the wind had shifted the containers from their original positions, pushing them up against the fence – which in turn suffered considerable damage. More serious still is the fact that the containers are currently unstable and no longer resting on their concrete supports: the violent displacement also caused them to be crushed and disconnected from the external water pipes supplying their facilities. Early this morning, specialist companies began repair work to correctly reposition the containers on their concrete bases and assess the damage to the piping, in the hope that it can be restored as soon as possible. Further damage has been identified on the playing surface, both on the football pitch and on the area used for San Marino futsal activities.

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