Winter Games Pitches

For soccer and rugby applications the emphasis clearly has to be on the durability of the turf. The harder wearing the better. But the considerations do not end with just wear and tear. As today’s football stadia demand more and more seating for spectators, so the stands get increasingly higher and the ground receives less light and air movement as a result.

Consideration has also to be given to the underlying conditions of the ground. For example:

• Is there a formal drainage system in place?
• Is there a specified rootzone in place?
• Does the facility have a good groundsman and appropriate maintenance machinery in place?
• When is the turf required and how quickly does it have to be brought back into play?

All these questions need an answer before deciding on the first choices of turf. A few examples would be:

• For club level football, school playing fields, and local authority provisions (i.e. non-professional use) usually INTURF Lawn or INTURF Classic turf grown on indigenous sandy soils would be suitable.
• For purpose-developed professional football grounds, such as those seen in the Football League and Rugby Union, INTURF Customer Grown Turf would be appropriate, grown specifically to be compatible with the usual sand based imported rootzones that went into the construction of the ground.
• Fibre reinforced rootzones appear to be growing in popularity and Inturf regularly supply a number of Premiership clubs with INTURF Fibre Turf.
• For make-overs and urgent repair work employing Inturf’s Super Wide technology, Thick Cut Big Roll or Lay ‘n’ Play Fibre Turf are usually available in these materials as with standard thickness cut turf where establishment periods of around four to eight weeks, depending on the time of year, would normally be required. Whilst this material usually requires at least twelve months to produce, Inturf does carry some free stock of this material at most times during the year.