The defective turf at Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona continues to make headlines. Now the NFL’s longtime Super Bowl greenkeeper is speaking out – and says he’s identified the problem.

“That was the worst field I’ve ever played on,” Haason Reddick said after his Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs (35-38).

In general, the turf was an issue, not only during the game, but also for weeks afterwards.

Now a true expert is speaking out. George Toma, who for years was a greenkeeper specifically for the playing surfaces in the Super Bowl, now claims to have recognised the problem.

Too much water, not enough sun

On “ESPN”, the 94-year-old said the current greenkeeper – Ed Mangan – spread too much water on the field. “He put the field under water and then drove it into the stadium where it didn’t get a single ray of sunlight. You can’t do that,” Toma said.

In the morning, the field should have been watered so that it would dry outside in the desert sun. After that, it should only have been driven into the arena, instructed the long-time NFL greenkeeper. The 94-year-old did not want to blame the natural grass: “I have used natural grass for 27 Super Bowls, everything always went well.

However, Mangan, the direct successor to George Toma, clearly did not want to listen to advice. “Not only did he not care about the field, he did not want to listen to anyone,” he complains.

Toma himself, however, did not want to return to the business, he said. “That is out of the question. The league and I are done.” Several dozen Super Bowls have been played under gels prepared by him.