Charlton's pitch battle

Charlton Athletic FC have asked the Premier League to authorise a replay of Saturday's 4-1 Premiership defeat at Chelsea FC which was played on a heavily sanded pitch.

'Beach' football
Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri described the Stamford Bridge surface as a "beach" and Charlton chief executive Peter Varney, who had already notified the league of his concerns, today asked for the game to be replayed on grass.

Formal complaint
He said in a statement: "Following discussions with our manager and players, and based on evidence before us and information provided by Chelsea officials, we have reached the conclusion that in the interests of the integrity of the Premier League and sportsmanship, we must lodge a formal complaint to the Premier League regarding Saturday's match.

'Replayed on grass'
"In the light of the evidence available, we are requesting that the match be replayed on a grass surface." Charlton's complaint centres on information passed to them by a Chelsea official, who said the match was played on the base upon which a new pitch was to be laid on Monday and yesterday.

Bad bounce
Varney added: "We were not offered an opportunity for our players to train on the artificial surface to judge the effect of the bounce of the ball, which in our opinion video evidence will show was different to a normal grass surface, and to make decisions on the appropriate footwear to be worn. Chelsea officials advise us that the Chelsea players trained on the pitch on Thursday and Friday of last week, and at last Saturday's match the footwear worn by their players was appropriate for an artificial surface."

Chelsea response
Chelsea issued a statement in response which said: "The referee and match officials carried out an inspection of the pitch before the game. Their decision was that the surface was in a satisfactory condition for the match to be played."