SAPCA comment
Eric O’Donnell, managing director of Sports Labs – a SAPCA member – offers his views on how to choose the right surface for a synthetic pitch.
OF all the choices you’ll face when building a synthetic sports pitch facility, deciding the type of playing surface to be installed is the most important. The chosen surface has direct implications for pretty much everything else – from the design of the drainage system and the need for irrigation to the nature of the base and sub-base and, in some cases, for the marking of lines. There are two main things to consider when
selecting a synthetic surface – the types of sport the pitch will cater for, and the level of use it will need to sustain. These two considerations should be the starting point for most facility projects.
accommodating sports The sports that the pitch will cater for should largely dictate the type of surface. This is because synthetic pitches used for hockey and other small-ball sports, such as tennis, are totally different to the ones used for ‘big ball’ sports, such as football or rugby. At one end of the scale are hockey pitches,
where you have a synthetic turf carpet that has no infill and is only between 11 and 13mm in height. So it’s very dense and requires watering. At the other end of the scale are rugby pitches, which are designed to be shock
attenuating and tend to have a carpet that is 60mm in length and about 40mm of sand and rubber infill. The differences are to do with the conditions
which the sports want to create with their synthetic systems. Surfaces designed for rugby and football are
softer and have a long pile because both sports want conditions which replicate natural grass. With hockey, it’s the complete opposite – the sport needs a fast surface on which the ball can travel. It makes the game faster and also results in more skillful play. There are currently six preferred categories
of synthetic surfaces which have been recognised by the four national governing bodies. Each of the surface categories have their own playing characteristics, making them more suitable for some sports than others – and in some cases not suitable at all for specific sports.
what level of use? The second key question to ask is how much use the pitch will see – and at what level. A pitch which will be mainly used for elite competition and limited community use will be entirely different to one which is expected to sustain 12 or more hours of grassroots sport
SAPCA is the recognised trade association for the sports and play construction industry in the UK. Its role is to foster excellence, professionalism and continuous improvement throughout the industry, in order to provide the high quality facilities needed at all levels of sport, physical activity, recreation and play. For details on the above stories and more visit
www.sapca.org.uk
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pactfacilities.co.uk
each day. The specific questions to ask yourself when
deciding on a surface include those relating to pitch management. Are you having a lot of school groups during the day? Are you going to accommodate small-sized games by having three (or even four) pitches across a full-size football pitch, which will put extra strain on the surface? Or are you, perhaps, planning on regularly splitting a hockey pitch into two smaller fields? It’s crucial to drill down all these questions to
eventually come up with an exact specification for a pitch which caters for your unique set of circumstances. The better you can predict the way your pitch will be used, the more accurate your specification is – and the better the surface will fit your intended user profile.
www.sapca.org.uk
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