FIFA President's Pitch For Artificial Turf In 2010

Artificial turf recently received one of its biggest 'thumbs up' yet for use in high profile, world class sport: the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The event will take place in Africa and the climatic conditions that prevail there have been causing concern to its organisers for some time. With natural grass turf, the weather has to be considered and in many African countries the rainy and dry seasons make it difficult to produce and maintain top quality soccer pitches. The quality of the playing surfaces is always a crucial factor in top level soccer; indeed the final outcome of an important game can sometimes be influenced by how a pitch is playing. With these factors in mind, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has publicly suggested that artificial turf pitches are worthy of consideration for use in the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Commenting on the disappointing quality of the 2008 Nations Cup grass pitches in Ghana, Mr. Blatter pointed out that an artificial turf pitch offers players the same conditions all year round. In other words it's a matter of consistent quality.

As President of FIFA, Mr. Blatter is well aware of the importance of all he says. It is therefore been all the more surprising to many sports critics and fans that he went so far as to say:

"Artificial turf is the future"

Not surprising to us however! Within our Group we have a specialist company (SIS) that builds both natural turf and artificial pitches.

A more detailed account of Sepp Blatter's recent comments can be found on Eurosport.

Photograph: Artificial soccer pitch installed by SIS.

Rugby Pitch Success - Artificial Grass Scores Great Conversion

Moving towards the end of 2007, we are delighted to be able to look back on the year and see that artificial grass has won more media coverage than ever before – and all of it favourable. Great tabloid press reviews in the summer, Trade Show success and the recent TV Garden Makeover inclusion of our Lifestyle Lawn have given a our artificial grass products an emphatic ‘seal of approval’ for the UK domestic market.

However, the success story of artificial grass doesn’t end there – the sports sector too has been lending its approval to the product throughout the year. One such example is the recent review from a 2007 Rugby World Cup referee who was the man in the middle for the first game played on the new artificial grass pitch at Newcastle Falcons and Gosforth Rugby Club. After the game, referee Dave Pearson was asked to comment on his experience of the artificial grass surface and had nothing but praise for its characteristics. Here’s an extract from Dave Pearson’s interview with Richard Neale of the Newcastle Journal:

“It’s an outstanding pitch to run on and, coming off, it’s the best my legs have ever felt after a game for a long time … the pitch absorbs a lot of the pressure you put on your legs so you aren’t getting the jarring you get on some surfaces. At the World Cup some of the pitches we used were very hard and weren’t very good for your ankles and knees. Gosforth’s pitch was better than anything I used at the (2007) World Cup.”

Praise indeed, and the kind that the new generation of artificial grass for sport merits - based on practical use and credible experience.

Photograph courtesy of Support In Sport who installed the pitch. Read the full artificial pitch installation story here.