The latest news and views from SAPCA
Twickenham, the home of rugby, is one of a number of stadiums to have installed a hybrid playing surface to aid with pitch care
the quality and carrying capacity of nat- ural grass pitches it is the development of synthetic turf pitches specifically for rugby that is starting to allow cost ef- fective superior playing surfaces within the professional and club sectors or the game. The International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) back in the early 2000s recognised the potential bene- fits long pile third generation synthetic turf surfaces offered the game by pro- viding surfaces that could be installed in regions where natural grass could not be grown or at venues where the play- ing demands meant that natural grass pitches could just not sustain the high levels of use. Wishing to ensure that only accept- able quality synthetic turf surfaces are used for rugby the IRB developed a performance standard for synthetic turf rugby surfaces and incorporated it into the Laws of the Game via IRB Regu- lation 22. Similar in concept to the standards developed by FIFA for syn- thetic turf football surfaces the World rugby Standard is based on ensuring synthetic turf surfaces are manufac- tured from materials of proven quality and offer levels of performance that replicate good quality natural grass. Of particular concern is the risk of
player injury and the Standard pays particular attention to minimising the risk of high impact forces, concussion,
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At the community level, the ability to sustain higher levels of use on a single pitch is proving attractive to rugby clubs
fatigue, carpet burns and injury through slipping or twisting. Compliance with the World Rugby
Standard is mandatory for any facility being used for any form of competitive play or rugby training; Regulation 22 requiring all pitches to be surfaced with a synthetic turf surface that has been laboratory tested and shown to meet the Standard. In addition each pitch needs to be tested prior to use and then retested once every two years to en- sure it is still providing the performance and safety the game requires. Under constant review by World
Rugby the Standard has just been up- graded to provide even greater levels of player protection through the life of the playing surface.
This means that
a typical system satisfying the 2015 requirements will comprise a 60mm synthetic turf carpet with a granulated
rubber (or other form of material such as granulated cork) infill and sand stabi- lising layer overlaying a rubber or foam shockpad. Synthetic turf rugby surfaces are now being used for premier league rugby by Saracens, Cardiff Blues and Newcastle Falcons and a number of other elite level clubs are known to be considering converting to the surface. At the community level the ability to sustain much higher levels of use on a single synthetic turf pitch is proving very attractive to many rugby clubs and leisure centres. They are now able to train and hold a large number of match- es on the same pitch or diversity and allow the use of the pitch for football, rugby league and even basic hockey training. This ability to maximise the use of a pitch is one that World Rugby, FIFA, FIH and RFL all wish to encourage and they are jointly working towards a common standard that define the basic requirements to allow all four sports to be played safely on one surface. Likely to be published later this year
or early in 2016 the One Turf initia- tive my help to finally allow all players to move away from the mud baths or yesteryear to the clean, fast and technically skilled surfaces that the pro- fessional game is already using. l Alastair Cox, Alastair Cox Associates Technical advisor to SAPCA
sportsmanagement.co.uk issue 2 2015 ©Cybertrek 2015
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