Returfing
Juventus FC went to the Richter Rasen turf farm in Austria, when they wanted to returf the Delle Alpi Stadium
ALEX RICHTER reports
THE Juventus F.C. decision makers understood that it was best to buy high quality sports turf and accept an extra day’s transportation rather than install incompatible turf into the stadium. The choice of turfgrass species and
proper root zone is crucial to the function of a natural sports turf. The major key to a successful pitch is to match the soil from the turf, with the soil from the stadium preparation. As time is usually very short for this type of project, good logistics are very important. The club also decided to purchase a weather station to monitor the microclimate, an added tool for their turf manager.
The first job was the removal of old turf and partial artificial fibres - (“Sportsgrass”). This was a first generation idea from the artificial turf companies. It consisted of artificial turf with longer grass strings and a porous mat to allow water percolation. The mat is then top-dressed and seed. This system had made it difficult for the turf manager to carry out standard cultural practices. Next was the preparation of soil substrates and surface levelling. It is important that the ground underneath is prepared properly. What level preparation you see underneath is what you will end up with on the top. If the prepared ground has an uneven surface, it will remain the same when the turf is installed.
If the substrate is a clay loam then it will hold water like a bath, it is likely there will be no turf after only a few games. The answer is to provide a substrate that is more of a sandy loam, then drainage is no problem and the roots are strong; what comes with that is stability of turf. In other words when the pitch is constantly wet and does not have time to dry out, then the roots remain short as they do not have to search for water because it is sitting in the surface. If the correct substrate is formed, the water is able to drain easily and the roots have to search for water, perhaps and preferably
down 8 to 10 cm or more.
Once the decision is made as to which turf best fits the stadium’s needs and the soil preparation is finished, the harvesting begins. The turf for the job at Juventus was cut to 4cm deep 120cm wide and 10 to 12 metres long. Other jobs require different situations. The decision of thick cut turf was made due to the intense fixture schedule. Each roll of thick cut sports turf weighed about 1,000kg depending on roll length. The Delle Alpi field size is
approximately 112m x 73m which equals 8176 square metres. A total of 25 trucks with 33 rolls per truck, a total of 825 rolls and 8700 square metres. The distance to transport the turf from Austria to Italy took a total of 2 days. The grass species used for Juventus
F.C. is Poa pratensis. This is the foundation of a quality sports turf due to its regeneration via rhizomes. Once this turf is established it can be over seeded with Lolium perenne to aid the Poa pratensis in different microclimates that can be a problem for stadiums. These mixtures of different cultivars have benefits. Each cultivar has different tolerances; examples are shade, disease, and wear. When one cultivar is not doing well, the other cultivars are there as back up to the others, to help keep a uniform natural turf. Uniform colour is one of the things that the artificial turf businesses are trying to promote. But you can do the same with natural turf and at the end of the season you can still verticut, aerate and top-dress. The main reason why Juventus FC decided on thick cut turf was the heavy fixture schedule. There were 7 upcoming home games in a row. So the aggressive playing schedule called for thick cut turf as it is more stable after installation. In most stadium situations there is never enough time, particularly mid-season, to use normal thin cut turf, because this requires time for root growth to make the playing surface stable.
Turf Industry: What the turf industry can contribute to
“It’s time to listen to what you know inside and stop listening to everyone else. Trends come and go, but Natural turf is forever.” 18
stadiums is quite simple - a quality natural surface for players. There is a misconception that natural sports turf is all the same, but this simply is not the case. Selection of the correct seed cultivar is the first step. Next is the selection of soil substrate. What many of turf growers strive for is the perfect combination of turf cultivars and soil substrate. It’s very important to educate the Stadium managers that not all turf farms are the same. The majority of turf farms tend to use the soil that is on their land for all there products be it for sports, landscaping, domestic use etc. These soils are very often a loamy clay or loam soil which can hold on to water and harbour diseases! You could have the best soil
preparation in the stadium according to all the criteria, then the stadium is turfed with a clay loam which has a high water holding capacity. Again the roots are never encouraged to grow into the substrate due to all the moisture in the top. If the roots never grow down, the sod never attaches to the substrate and the whole project fails. Most stadiums do not need 100% water holding capacity, as there is usually an automatic irrigation system.
Natural turf is a natural filter of
organic components. Grass also has a cooling affect in summer and an insulation effect in the autumn and early winter.
Natural grass is the surface that we all
grew up playing on. It’s the preferred choice for professional players. We hear the synthetic arguments all the time, about the amount of play they can take. They may well host more hours, but maintenance costs are at least the same as a natural pitch, and the cost for replacement is far more expensive than a natural pitch. It’s time to listen to what you know inside and stop listening to everyone else. Trends come and go, but Natural turf is forever.
Read the full article on
www.pitchcare.com
JUVENTUS
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