Winter Sports - Football
Stoke City Football Club
May the fourth be with you
The hybrid turf used in the Bet365 stadium has become a standard-bearer that represents the forward-thinking arm of pitch management. From Wembley and Madrid’s Bernabeu, all the way to iconic Lambeau Field and South Africa’s Newlands, some of the world’s premier stadia have invested in kitting out their primary surfaces with the pricey addition.
Stoke City Football Club Grounds Manager, Andy Jackson, explains how they have opted to extend the luxury of Grassmaster to yet another of its training pitches
of the oldest types. The others include the previous system
T
used at Stoke, known as ‘Fibreturf’ or natural turf to grow through the gaps which remain.
Another is much like Fibreturf, but the for the natural grass to grow through the
in the technology is the inclusion of a job to the controversial rubber crumb used rubber, but have been replaced with other materials such as cork. When producing ‘Grassmaster’, Desso mat of natural soil every 2x2cm, which sits 20cm below the surface and protrudes 2cm above. It also funnels sand to the base
here are four widely adopted variants of hybrid turf sold under various brands, but the most successful, distributed by Desso as ‘Grassmaster’, is an example of one
of these. A pitch of regular size will be Grass seeds are then sown, and the roots
around them, like a vine on a gardener’s bamboo shoot.
incidence of injuries related to burns and impact, whilst maintaining the longevity for It also allows for enhanced drainage,
turf are deep enough to allow the moisture to seep directly to the drainage systems below. The sand injected earlier also provides increased porosity. For stadia that double up as concert
Stoke last did so a couple of years ago, when Rod Stewart was in town, although this took place on the previous Fibresand pitch.
maintenance commitment. At Stoke, for example, the pitch is thoroughly cleaned means daily. This current update is being undertaken
Andy stresses what he believes is the importance of ‘moving with the times’, and repeats how quickly the technology in the industry is advancing, and that there is an inherent expectation to study and utilise it
” PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 I 83
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