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With considerable help from manufacturers and suppliers Coventry’s Ricoh Arena is


Going the Xtra mile ...


Report by LAURENCE GALE MSc


COVENTRY’S Ricoh Arena is already proving a massive attraction. In the first three months, since the opening of the £113 million multi- purpose complex on August 20, more than 250,000 visitors have been through the gates. The Arena is the home


ground of Coventry City but, in addition to football, other major events have taken place including a Bryan Adams concert, the B2B Midlands exhibition and a three-day conference on behalf of the Football Association.


The playing pitch system is Xtra Grass, a patented grass reinforcement system manufactured by Greenfields. It is a woven artificial carpet that allows natural grass to grow through; the end result is 94% natural grass and 6% fibre content.


The cost for the pitch construction, undersoil heating and irrigation systems totalled about


£500,000. Michael Finch is the


Arena’s Head Groundsman, and he is very pleased with the way the pitch is performing and settling down. “There is another Xtra Grass system at Oxford, but our environment is very different. The Arena is much more enclosed, however we do have glass panels in the roof which have certainly increased the lux light levels.”


Michael has been involved with the new pitch since its conception and throughout the construction phase. Having the opportunity to see all the site preparation works and material


installations has helped him have a better understanding of his pitch. He has also built up a good working relationship with all the parties involved, especially George Mullen of SIS, the company who installed the pitch.


According to Michael,


working together and respecting the expertise and knowledge of each other has produced a pitch he is happy to work with.


Michael has been with the club for 18 years and he still feels a touch of sadness not being at Highfield Road which was such a major part of his life. He has many fond memories of the old ground. However he is relishing the new challenges the Arena brings each and every day. How will it perform? What new skills can be learned? Not to mention the added demands and expectations of being a high profile venue. “Working with the Xtra grass system will certainty test our skills as groundsmen,” commented Michael. “We need to learn how to bring the best out of the system. Our initial priority was to maintain grass cover and increase root and shoot densities while at the same time maintain pitch stability. The


turf has responded well to our maintenance regimes, and already the pitch is revealing some interesting information, particularly on its strength and stability and that’s when the roots have only yet reached 100mm in depth.” According to Michael the system seems to be providing a softer, more subtle playing surface than either the Desso or Fibre sand pitches. “At first the players thought it was quite hard, but the pace and bounce has continued to improve as the season has gone on and, now they have got used to it, they feel more comfortable on this surface than any of the others.” There is one thing for


sure, the pitch certainly produces a lot of grass. In the early stages the pitch was being cut at least seven times a week and, when the temperatures and growth were at their optimum, sometimes twice a day.


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