SYNTHETIC SURFACES
Measuring the ‘angle ball
behaviour’ of artificial grass
for community use
Failure to maintain a pitch correctly is a common cause of
poor performance and can result in invalid warranties
Even the best quality surfaces will Training and small-sided pitches What will happen to the FA
not perform acceptably if they are As the FIFA Quality Concept for Football Performance Standards?
poorly or incorrectly installed. For a only covers full-sized pitches, the FA has As part of the harmonisation of stan-
pitch to satisfy the field test require- specified that small-sided and training dards, the FA has agreed to withdraw,
ments of the FQC it has to pass all pitches should be field tested in accor- with immediate effect, its Performance
the tests undertaken in each of the dance with British Standard BS EN 15330: Standard for Artificial Grass Pitches for
six test positions; there is no tolerance Surfaces for Sports Areas. This specifica- Community Use – published in 2004. In
of unacceptable performance. tion for synthetic turf surfaces is primarily addition, FIFA accredited laboratories
STEP 3 – samples of the installed artifi- designed for football (which has similar (that the FA requires to undertake
cial turf surface and infill are taken field test requirements to the FIFA One Star laboratory and field tests will not
from the site to the laboratory for analy- category) and recommends the artificial undertake tests in accordance with the
sis to ensure they are identical to those turf surface satisfies the laboratory test FA standard – so even if it is incorrectly
that satisfied the laboratory test require- requirements of the FQC, which are more specified pitches cannot be tested by
ments (Step 1). demanding than the British Standard. recognised test laboratories. ●
If the materials are found to be
different, the pitch will not be certified Converting existing Alastair Cox is director of Labosport –
by FIFA as the surface’s ability to provide synthetic grass pitches a FIFA accredited test laboratory
acceptable long-term performance As an increasing number of sand-filled
has not been proven. artificial turf pitches are being converted
STEP 4 – as part of the field test, to long-pile football surfaces, particular
Further Information
an audit of the maintenance equipment consideration needs to be given to the
and training provided to the ground provisions made in the FQC for such proj- Further details about the FIFA Qual-
staff is undertaken. ects – when an existing shockpad is to be ity Concept for Football Turf, FIFA
If the equipment is not as specified retained and incorporated into the new accredited laboratories and copies of
by the surface manufacturer or inade- artificial turf surfacing system. the laboratory and field test require-
quate training has been provided, As the performance and durability ments may be downloaded from
FIFA will not certify the pitch, as of the football turf is significantly influ- the FIFA website at www.fifa.com/
failure to maintain a pitch correctly enced by the shockpad, it is important aboutfifa/developing/pitchequip-
is the most common cause of poor that only surfacing systems incorporat- ment/footballturf/index
performance and often results in ing shockpads with similar performance Guidance on the testing of artifi-
warranties becoming invalid. characteristics to the existing one are cial grass football surfaces and the
Pitches satisfying the demanding considered for the resurfacing. Conse- testing of installed pitches in accor-
requirements of the FQC are certified quently, the properties of the retained dance with FIFA and FA requirements
by FIFA for one year for the FIFA Two shockpad must be measured on-site may also be obtained from Labos-
Star category and four years for the prior to tenders being sought (which port at info@labosport.co.uk
FIFA One Star category, although FIFA will require the existing synthetic The FA, in conjunction with La-
can (and does) undertake spot checks turf surface to be cut to allow access bosport, is currently updating its
at any time and if a pitch fails, its certifi- to the shockpad). Contractors bidding guidance notes on artificial grass
cation is cancelled. In addition, the for the resurfacing will then know pitches and these will soon be avail-
FA’s competition and funding rules what the performance of the shock- able on the FA’s website at
may require more frequent testing of pad is and can select an appropriate www.thefa.com
FIFA One Star category pitches. football turf surfacing system.
58 Read Sports Management online sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital Issue 1 2010 © cybertrek 2010
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