By Andrew Warshaw
April 9 – Switching the Russian season to bring it into line with Western Europe has been attacked by veteran international midfielder Igor Semshov (pictured left) who says the revised schedule is killing the game in his country.
The Russian season traditionally began in spring and ended late autumn because of harsh winter weather conditions, but forcing clubs to now play during the winter instead of a March-November campaign which meant competing through the summer, says Semshov, has backfired dramatically.
“We’re professional players and want to play in decent conditions, not the ones we’re forced into,” said 33-year-old Semshov, who has 56 caps for Russia and is in his second spell with Dynamo Moscow.
“Everyone wants the Russian championship to grow and stand side by side with European leagues, but now it’s clear that it’s not growing but getting worse.
“What enjoyment does the spectator get out of the kind of football that we’re forced to play?
“I get the impression that people changed things with absolutely no knowledge of the climatic conditions – and they don’t know what country we live in.”
Russia is currently undergoing a marathon 18-month “catch-up” season to bring it into line with Western Europe.
Stars including Anzhi’s Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos and Lokomotiv Moscow’s former Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko (pictured below in white) have already denounced the state of the muddy pitches, but Semshov went further.
Switching the schedule to make Russian clubs more competitive in European competition, he said, was a terrible error of judgement.
“They play on green pitches, but we play on brown ones,” he said, adding it was crazy not to take advantage of the Russian summer.
“The pitches will just sit there unused, and the players will be tanning themselves in the sun.
“Utter nonsense.”
Semshov also said he was surprised by uncertainty surrounding the football calendar.
Just weeks before the resumption of the season, matches were postponed by a day to avoid clashing with the March presidential elections.
“It was obvious about the presidential elections for ages.
“And we couldn’t decide when to start.
“It’s a circus.”
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