New series with Jason Mohammad visiting the most impressive and innovative stadiums around the world
Almost since the beginning of time people have been drawn in their thousands to the excitement and emotion of the playing fields. Being a part of a crowd to experience the euphoria of victory or the disappointment of defeat is one of life’s greatest experiences and one that’s unique to stadiums.
Their history goes back thousands of years, and the construction continues to this day. In a new series, Stadiymau’r Byd gyda Jason Mohammad (Stadiums of the World with Jason Mohammad) on S4C on Thursday 6 April at 9.00pm, S4C will visit some of the world’s most iconic stadiums and playing fields.
“Nobody forgets the first time they walk in through the turnstiles.” Says Jason. “And for me, as a Cardiff boy, Ninian Park – the former home of Cardiff City Football Club – is the stadium closest to my heart. But, unfortunately, its not here today.”
Naturally, this is where the first episode starts, on the center spot of the old stadium, which is now a housing estate opposite the new Cardiff City Stadium. Here, Jason experienced some of the Bluebirds’ greatest games, standing on the famous Bob Bank. As a young 11-year-old in 1985, he was even the mascot of the team – and has a photo to prove it, “from the attic, from the Mohammad archive”!
Jason Mohammad:
“Standing here, thinking about friends, is wonderful. We came from Ely, sometimes by foot because we didn’t have a lot of money, to Ninian Park, to meet guys from Aberdare, Rhiwbeina, the Docs – all walking into the ground waiting for Cardiff to win but sometimes, in the 80s and 90s, they lost all the time! But this was our stadium.”
Jason’s fond memories of Ninian Park makes him excited to embark on the journey to visit other stadiums that evoke the same emotion for other people around the world.
In this chapter, the main focus will be on stadiums that are examples of innovative architecture and engineering; in London, Portugal, Japan and China.
On his journey, Jason visits the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the new “five star” stadium, which replaced the famous White Heart Lane. There, he visits the home team’s luxurious changing room, a brewery that brews beer on site, and the Tunnel Club’s posh restaurant where you can enjoy a meal and watch the players walk through the tunnel towards to the field.
Exclusively to the programme, Jason has a rare interview with the club’s Chairman and lifelong fan, Daniel Levy, about the planning process and huge logistical challenge of building the stadium, as well as meeting some of the fans.
One of the club’s most famous supporters is 5-year-old Ryley Keys. Ryley lives with cerebral palsy and uses his frame to play football every Saturday morning for his local team. And after a video of him scoring a penalty without his frame went viral, two of Tottenham’s (and Wales’) stars Ben Davies and Joe Rodon came to say hello. Ryley had the opportunity to score a goal on the stadium’s own football pitch and since then, he’s a very familiar face around the place!
Away from home, S4C go to Portugal to one of the seven stadiums built from scratch after UEFA announced that that country would host the Euros in 2004, the Estádio Municipal de Braga. Its iconic design is well-known throughout the world with a rock quarry at one end of the pitch and an open view of the country at the other end, with the two stands connected by a series of cables.
The series’ cameras also visit the Yanqing National Sliding Centre in China. These bobsleigh tracks are among the most complex in the sporting world, especially this one, which was built on top of a ridge above a steep valley. Incorporating the track into the landscape was a huge engineering challenge and although not a stadium in the traditional sense, it is undoubtedly one of the most impressive structures in the sporting world.
And in Japan, the show visits one of the most stunning multi-use stadiums in the world. The unique building of the Sapporo Dome is home to the Nippon-ham Fighters baseball team. But Japanese people also love football. So, when the baseball game ends, the Sapporo staff begins the transformation process. The football pitch is outside, and to move it into position, a lifting air system is used – the first of its kind in the world – which means the 8,300 ton structure can be lifted and to roll into position.
Stadiymau’r Byd gyda Jason Mohammad, S4c, Thursday, 6 April, 9pm
English subtitles available
On demand: S4C Clic, iPlayer and other platforms
