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Until now, users and operators of football grounds have had a choice of three surfaces when taking investment decisions. These are ash/slag, natural turf and artificial turf. By combining natural turf with artificial turf, EUROGREEN has achieved a breakthrough.
Natural turf is still supposed to be the most popular football surface, but has limits to its playability. Artificial turf withstands more stressing, but is also more expensive and still environmentally controversial. The ideal solution is a combination. The playing characteristics of natural grass are combined with the resilience of artificial fibres. The two turf types benefit and protect each other. The outcome is turf with up to two hours more playing time per day than conventional turf. PowerGrass® hybrid turf can be installed over the entire sports ground surface, although it can also be limited to certain areas, e.g. the goal area or penalty box.
With much lower investment costs than for artificial turf, it is the ideal solution for local authorities and clubs that want the best possible playing comfort combined with a stress-resistant surface. Furthermore, a hybrid sports ground is an oxygen generator, absorbs carbon dioxide, binds dust, and has a positive impact on humidity and surface temperature. And football retains its character as a sport played on grass.
Hybrid turf is an excellent choice particularly when existing ash/slag pitches are up for modernisation. It is also of course possible to build new grounds and partially modernize existing ones with this new surface. Exhaustive stress tests on the trial surfaces of the company’s own turf testing centre prove that PowerGrass® is not only faster to develop, but is also takes much more stressing in its stride. With a stress-test machine consisting of a double roller covered with studs simulating the effect of the studs of football boots, the surface is regularly punished – the levelness of the pitch and sward density are preserved astonishingly well.
External testers have also reported good test results. Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach and Oberliga (5th level league) club SG 06 Betzdorf have been using PowerGrass for goalkeeper and header training to the complete satisfaction of
players and club officials alike.
An important issue in this connection is turf maintenance. The latest trend here is towards robotic lawnmowers whose development paves the way to modern sports turf management for operators of turf sports grounds. They can thus cut costs, take the strain of maintenance staff and at the same time enhance the quality of the turf pitch.
The latest EUROGREEN product is the CutCat robotic lawnmower. With a working width of 100 centimeter, it automatically trims the turf to the optimal height. Contrary to usual practice, the turf is mown every day, independently of the weather or time of day and without an operator. Lawn-mowing is entirely software-controlled. What’s more, CutCat is GPS/GPRS-monitored. This way its position can be localised and the operator can review the key data from a remote location.
Equipped with two powerful electric motors, the robotic mower has sufficient power in reserve for a surface of up to 12,000 square meters. By using the new transportable charging station, it can be used in four work zones. The rechargeable 24 Volt battery pack using 15 Ah lithium ion technology supplies the required power. (Stadiaworld/Peter Kappes, 07.11.2013)
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