Irishman who pitched for World Cup glory will watch from home
IF THE figures match up with 2014, a billion viewers will tune in to the World Cup final in Moscow tomorrow.
But the Irishman charged with making sure that the pitch is of an acceptable standard will be watching from his home in Sligo.
George Mullan, chief executive and owner of SIS Pitches, the company that
secured the contract for installing pitches in six of the 12 World Cup stadiums, has no fears about the state of the Luzhniki Stadium surface for the France v Croatia clash.
Mr Mullan left Russia on Thursday confident his team of mainly Russian workers who have managed the surface throughout the tournament will be able to see it through.
The business is thriving, and it has come a long way from humble beginnings and a gamble from Mr Mullan in 2001 that came with a 98.4pc paycut. He was working for a pharmaceutical company in Amsterdam when he learned his PA’s husband was involved in a company that specialised in pitch installation and he and his English wife Jo decided to buy into it.
Mr Mullan hailed from a farming background but the main driver was a desire to run his own business.
“We moved to England, the biggest market, and began to make our own artificial carpet which we’ve supplied to teams and schools all around the UK and then to Ireland,” he said.
SIS has now provided the pitches for five Champions League finals and targeted this World Cup. When nobody is talking about the pitches, then it’s a job well done and Mr Mullan is satisfied with the feedback from a tournament that will be remembered for the positive football.
He made the decision to move back to Sligo so his children could go to secondary school there.
SIS employs close to 350 staff with offices in Moscow, Istanbul, Dubai and England.