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New Polytan hockey turf at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre:

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Optimal training conditions for Great Britain’s hockey teams

Polytan will be in on the action when the world’s top athletes pit their strengths against each other at international level this summer. The turf used for the hockey matches in Rio comes from Polytan, as was the case in London and Beijing too. Blue and green versions of the new Poligras Platinum CoolPlus synthetic turf system are being installed. The very same hockey pitch has also been available to the British hockey squads at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre since last October. The professional athletes are thus ideally equipped to prepare for the Summer Games.

The pitch comes in an eye-catching colour combination: a blue playing field with a light green border. The blue part of the playing field in particular is a hit in terms both of its design attributes and its appearance: ever since the blue pitch made its debut in London in 2012, the enhanced contrast between the dark playing surface and the light hockey ball has been appreciated by players, spectators and television audiences. The blue pitch in England’s capital city had a playing field with a pink border and was likewise a synthetic hockey turf system from Polytan.

Polytan has refined this synthetic turf system in terms of both colour and technology for the upcoming hockey tournaments in Rio: a higher stitch density and special texturing technology mean that even more accurate moves are possible when playing on Poligras Platinum CoolPlus.

Sally Munday, Chief Executive of England Hockey: “We have enjoyed a fantastic relationship with Polytan for a number of years and once again they have done a first-class job of installing the new pitch at Bisham Abbey. The quality of their product is outstanding, the installation work went without a hitch and the feedback from the players has been excellent.”

Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre is one of three national centres of excellence in England and was set up by Sport England, the central sports organisation. The venue enables British national hockey teams to make professional preparations for forthcoming competitions, as well as elite athletes in other disciplines.

Kevin Burton, Head of National Centres, Sport England: “In order to ensure our Great British hockey players had the best possible chance of success in future sports competitions, Sport England took the decision to replace the hockey surface at Bisham Abbey with the exact same surface that will be installed for the international sports competition in summer 2016. The process from our first contact with Polytan, working through the delivery of the project, to the handover was incredibly efficient and caused minimal disruption to ongoing operations. It helped enormously only having to deal with one company, as Polytan not only manufacture the carpet, but undertook the installation as well. The feedback from our hockey players and travelling international camps has been overwhelming. We are delighted with the surface as well as Polytan’s first-class service.”

First Cruyff court in Liverpool installed with TenCate Ecocept™

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GreenFields and the Cruijff Foundation are proud to announce the official opening of the new court in Anfield-Liverpool. The new court is part of a £260 million regeneration of Anfield, courtesy of funding partners Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Football Club and Your Housing Group, working together to improve housing and sporting facilities in the area. There are currently only two existing Courts in the UK, both of which reside in London: Cruyff Court Dennis Bergkamp and Cruyff Court Tottenham Hotspur – the Anfield Sports and Community Centre Cruyff Court will be the first outside of the UK’s capital, and the first which GreenFields have installed.

This particular Cruyff court is very special as it is the first court where the new TenCate Ecocept™ performance sports base is used. TenCate Ecocept™ is a new innovative sports base specifically developed for synthetic turf athletic playing surfaces. Is integrates seamlessly with the synthetic turf product. This product is a new sports base which utilises a 50/50 mix of recycled rubber and plastic, and saves roughly 140 tonnes of materials from landfill for every full size pitch. This system gives an improved shock absorbency for players, due to the stability of the base, and provides several functions in a single layer.

In the meanwhile the Cruyff Foundation, founded in 2003, has installed more than worldwide – including Argentina, South Africa, and Brazil. The foundation supports various projects that encourage young people to exercise in a safe environment.

Football clubs and korfball club in Almelo opt for GreenFields® slide max XQ™

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GreenFields has installed four soccer and one korfball pitch in Almelo during the summer months under instruction from the region’s municipal sports trust. Mid-week evening training sessions on the new surfaces are in full swing, with league games being played at weekends, which has led to very ethousiastic reactions of the players of all clubs.

Selected on intensity of use and durability

The clubs in question were all consulted on the choice of pitch. Nieuwmeier comments: “Representatives from clubs based in the region were involved in the selection process, looking at the different pitch options available. This pitch system came out on top in terms of the intensity of use and durability, in particular. For us, we’re talking around 1,500 hours of use each year. The system will last us twelve years and will retain its properties.”

Football clubs Oranje Nassau and Almelo are based on a complex which sits in the shadows of the Heracles Almelo stadium. Plans to grant the two amateur clubs a couple of new artificial turf pitches have been in place since the re-development of the first division club’s stadium, one year ago.

Joint approach for greater efficiency

The project was a substantial one, albeit that more and more municipalities are choosing to lay a number of artificial pitches simultaneously with a view to maximising efficiency and saving costs. The various stages of work involved – from digging and laying the underlays to installing the turf – took place sequentially, moving from one sports complex on to the next.

Hatko installs second FIFA two star artificial grass pitch with TenCate Grass fibres

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Early may 2015, Hatko installed a second FIFA** pitch in Cyprus using TenCate Grass artificial grass fibres as its base. The pitch is located in Gazimağusa, a town on the country’s east coast, and measures 106 by 76 meters. It is named after the Turkish-Cypriot politician, Rauf Denktaş, who passed away in 2012.

Hatko Dokuma Tekstil insaat Taahhut Ve Ticaret Ltd Sti. is TenCate Grass’ partner in Turkey. The customer opted for the Omega Turf – Hatko’s top of the range pitch. TenCate Grass Middle East Ltd. engineered and produced the synthetic turf fibres within the space of a single week. The entire installation process took just three weeks to complete.

According to Hatko, the Omega Turf is renowned for its unique, curved shape and three ‘spines’, which create a bouncy grass fibre offering excellent flexibility and durability. Testing and analysis performed by Hatko engineers showed that the system’s durability remained uncompromised after as many as 40,000 Lisport Test cycles.

Hatko Sports has been using TenCate synthetic grass yarns for a number of years. The company has successfully completed many sports and landscaping projects throughout Turkey and the Middle East using TenCate technology.

Polytan

Polytan presents new hockey turf Brazilian style at FSB 2015:

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Made in Germany with South American flair

The International Trade Fair for Amenity Areas, Sports and Pool Facilities (FSB) will once again be opening its doors in Cologne from 27 to 30 October 2015. As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of synthetic sports surfaces for outdoor use, Polytan will be in on the action over an area covering approx. 250 m². The colour scheme devised by the Burgheim-based sports surface specialist for its stand at the fair is designed to showcase the new colour concept for international hockey venues.

A blue playing field with a pink border caused quite a stir during the 2012 Olympic Games in London and has since enjoyed great popularity among everyone using it. Now, for the first time since London, Polytan will be showing off a new, equally unusual colour combination for the new Poligras Platinum CoolPlus synthetic hockey turf system at this year’s FSB: the playing field is graced by a bright shade of blue, whilst the border is bathed in shimmering light green. Polytan is celebrating the introduction of both shades with Brazilian joie de vivre: cocktails and coconuts will be served to a samba beat. The blue part of the playing field in particular is not only a hit in terms of its design attributes: since the Summer Olympics in London, the enhanced contrast between the dark playing surface and the light hockey ball has been appreciated by players, spectators and television audiences alike.

Apart from the new colours, Polytan has made technical advances with the design of the synthetic turf system: a higher stitch density and special texturing technology mean that even more accurate moves are possible when playing on Poligras Platinum CoolPlus. The national teams of Great Britain and Argentina found this out for themselves on the newly installed hockey pitch at the Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre in England in mid-October. Polytan CEO Markus Deimling: “We are convinced that our new hockey turf provides optimal conditions for exciting matches at top level. We installed it for the first time early this year in Valencia at the Campo de Hockey de Valencia in the blue/orange colour combination. This ground was the venue for the semi-finals of the FIH Hockey World League – the first time our latest hockey product had been put to the test, as it were.”

Polytan

Polytan at FSB 2015 with new synthetic turf system:

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Professional football (nearly) the same as on real grass

Among the highlights presented by the Burgheim-based sports surface specialist at this year’s International Trade Fair for Amenity Areas, Sports and Pool Facilities (FSB) was a premium synthetic turf system for professional footballers.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 in Canada demonstrated that synthetic turf is now well and truly established in international top-flight football. Polytan’s LigaTurf RS+ CoolPlus premium turf turned in a winning performance in the BC Place stadium in Vancouver, the venue for the final. A year or so later, Polytan presented another premium product “Made in Germany” for professional football at the FSB trade fair in Cologne: the LigaTurf RS Pro II CoolPlus synthetic turf system.

It has been possible to achieve nearly the same playing qualities as on real grass and even better wear resistance with this new product by optimising the yarn geometry and the material formulation. Thanks to the patented ENTANGLEMENT technology – a special interlacing of the molecule chains of the turf fibres – the turf is pleasantly soft, even with a thicker cross-section (400 µm). And the thicker cross-section means that the playing qualities are of a similar standard to real grass for a long time, without additional maintenance, as the playing field has an above-average capacity to “recover” after heavy use.

As an added bonus, the LigaTurf RS Pro II CoolPlus is the first synthetic turf to be supplied by Polytan in a bi-colour design as standard. The two-tone, light and dark green stalks give the playing field a rich colour similar to the lush appearance of real grass. For a long time, a standard feature of professional football systems has been the CoolPlus function. Pigments on the filaments reflect the sunlight so the pitch heats up to a lesser extent.

Polytan

Polytan at FSB 2015 with new hockey pitch:

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For exciting hockey matches at the very highest level

Polytan aims “To make the optimal surface for sporting success” – and in order to achieve this ambition as effectively as possible in the future, it has added more high-quality products “Made in Germany” to its portfolio. Among the highlights presented by the Burgheim-based sports surface specialist at this year’s International Trade Fair for Amenity Areas, Sports and Pool Facilities (FSB) was a hockey pitch with advanced technical and colour features.

Poligras Platinum CoolPlus is the name of the unfilled synthetic turf system with which Polytan hopes to set new standards in international hockey once again. Trade visitors at the FSB stand were impressed not only by its technical features, but also by the new colour concept in blue and green.

This new product is the result of continuous advances in the Poligras Mega CoolPlus synthetic hockey turf system, which has already been tried and tested a number of times at international competition venues. Poligras Platinum CoolPlus has an even more compact appearance thanks to its higher stitch density, whilst a new texturing technique, Polytan PreciTex texturing technology, provides for optimal crimping of the synthetic grass stalks. The result is a fast-paced game with precise and accurate moves. Furthermore, the sealed surface allows the turf’s CoolPlus function to take full effect, which causes the turf to heat up more slowly on hot days and reduces water consumption considerably.

Whilst its predecessor in the blue/pink colour combination (blue playing field with pink border) was met with enthusiasm at the Olympic Games in London in 2012, Polytan presented the new turf at the FSB trade fair with a blue playing field and a light green border. The blue part of the playing field in particular is not only a hit in terms of its design attributes: since the hockey competitions in London, the enhanced contrast between the dark playing surface and the light hockey ball has been appreciated by players, spectators and television audiences alike.
The Poligras Platinum CoolPlus hockey turf meets the current requirements of the Global category of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and has an RAL quality assurance certificate. The system was installed for the first time early in 2015 in Valencia, where the semi-finals of the FIH Hockey World League were held on the new turf to put it to the test, as it were. Officials in Valencia opted for a blue playing field with an orange border.

Royal Ten Cate nv

World Cup Hockey pitch new standard in international top hockey

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The Hockey World Cup 2014 was a great success. For fourteen days the world could enjoy hockey at the highest level. The high-quality synthetic turf system made from TenCate fibres and backing was a perfect base for the World Cup Hockey. Players were able to get the best out of themselves. The audience could enjoy fast and technically advanced top hockey.

There was widespread praise for the high quality synthetic turf system materials developed by TenCate. TenCate is proud of the exploit they have made with their partners. Not only in the construction and maintenance of the top hockey turf at the Kyocera Stadium and temporary GreenFields Stadium, also in the twelve amateur fields in and around The Hague (The Netherlands), where the international teams trained.

Professional players and coaches now require high-quality synthetic turf system made from TenCate fibres and backing to be the new world standard, including for the Olympic Games in Brazil in 2016. For the European Championships Hockey in 2017 in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), the hockey players may already play on this system. It has recently been installed in the Wagener Stadium in the Dutch capital.

The World Cup Hockey system with TenCate components meets all the requirements that are needed for the modern, fast paced hockey games, this includes:

  • A high ball roll speed;
  • Non-directional ball roll;
  • Low friction properties; in dry as well as wet circumstances;
  • Sliding friendly thanks to the usage of TenCate Monoslide™ LSR® fibres;
  • Perfect and well balanced grip (torsion);
  • A damped rebound that will keep the ball low and will result into a perfect control of the ball;
  • Maximized shock absorption; therefore the system will protect the back, knees and other joints which will reduce the risk of an injury;
  • The strong and flexible turf blades will ensure that the hockey stick can be fully placed under the ball.

Facility improvements at Alpenbauer Sportpark Unterhaching, Germany

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Spielvereinigung Unterhaching is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division Bundesliga alongside its more famous cousins, Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich, for two seasons between 1999 and 2001. The team currently play in the 3. Liga, the German third division, having been relegated from the 2. Bundesliga in season 2006-07 and then moved into the newly created 3. Liga for 2008-09 following a reorganisation of the German league system.

Until 1960, Haching played their home matches at the Jahnstraße football field and moved then to the Grünauer Allee stadium, which has about 4,000 standing places and where they played before the Sportpark stadium opened in April 1992. The Grünauer Allee stadium is now home ground of the club’s reserve squad, Haching II, which is currently playing in the fourth-division Oberliga Bayern. The Grünauer Allee stadium is also the home ground of Fortuna Unterhaching, established in 1992 and playing close to the bottom end of the German league system. During winter, Fortuna Unterhaching shares the synthetic football pitch owned by SpVgg Unterhaching.

The Sportpark Unterhaching, currently known as the ‘Alpenbauer Sportpark’ following a sponsorship deal in 2013, is home of SpVgg Unterhaching. It is used almost exclusively for first-team games and occasionally for reserve-team games. It has a capacity of 15053 – 6874 seated and 8179 standing. The stadium is owned by the town of Unterhaching.

With the club well-established in the 2. Bundesliga, the stadium was constructed in the early 1990s to provide a more suitable home for the team. In 1999, following the unexpected promotion of the team to the Bundesliga, the stadium was expanded and modified to meet the requirements of the German Football Association.

Prior to the stadium expansion, the Sportpark had a capacity of 11,000. The current main stand on the west side of the ground, with its alpine-style roof, and large parts of the south stand were already established, although the current north stand was made up of a few concrete steps and the east stand was a grass mound.

Promotion to the Bundesliga in 1999 necessitated improvements in safety, security and capacity, resulting in the current maximum of 15,053.

Outside the stadium, the ground was leveled to create more parking spaces and the combined foot and bicycle lane, running from the stadium to Fasanenpark station, was upgraded. In July 2000 the synthetic pitch has been installed.

Despite the upgrade, the stadium still has several charming idiosyncrasies, for example the two-storey clubhouse and the players’ tunnel that comes out of the south stand. The stadium also houses a restaurant and an adjoining beer garden. The south-east corner of the ground has parking for the opponent’s team bus.

Royal Ten Cate nv

FC Köln to opt for woven synthetic turf system with TenCate synthetic turf fibres

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Professional football has had many years to get used to synthetic turf and to its look and feel. Leading trainers, managers and clubs praise its many advantages, including FC Köln (Cologne). As the frontrunner, however, the club wanted to move with the times and to have the most modern pitch available. Recently two new pitches were installed, one GreenFields MX and one Evolution XQ, at its grounds. Both pitches use the innovative and durable synthetic turf fibres of TenCate Grass.

FC Köln is known as a progressive football club. Immediately after the formation of the Bundesliga, in 1963, the club already had a training centre for both professional players and juniors. The Bundesliga is the highest division in professional football in Germany. The football federation requires every professional football club to have a training centre for young players and this centre must nowadays have synthetic turf. “Here too FC Köln leads the way. The club is, incidentally, also one of the first champions in the Bundesliga”, says Werner Jakobs, managing director of the GreenFields distributor in Germany.

More playing hours on synthetic turf
In the view of Jakobs – a midfielder at Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 1980s – FC Köln has limited space. “With two synthetic turf pitches the football club can both play matches and have training sessions on the turf. This is because synthetic turf makes it possible to play on the pitches more intensively and much more frequently. In this way its young players also have greater opportunities to develop.” The club used the summer recess to completely renew two pitches, whereas one pitch is installed with GreenFields MX. FC Köln became the first club in Germany to opt for GreenFields MX.

Natural appearance
Before the pitches were renewed, FC Köln had already been playing on synthetic turf from GreenFields for many years. “We were delighted with it. GreenFields material is of high quality. Moreover, its appearance very closely resembles that of natural grass”, adds Jörg Schmadtke, managing director of FC Köln. “The new generation of synthetic turf enables us to take huge steps towards bringing synthetic turf as close as possible to natural grass”, states Werner Jakobs. “And what is more, the material is fully recyclable.”
Special pitch for goalkeepers

Schmadtke is known as a successful manager: in fact, several years ago he was voted Manager of the Year in the Bundesliga. Previously he had been a professional keeper. That background probably played a role in the decision to install a special pitch for the professional training of goalkeepers, which will be a blend of synthetic turf and natural elements.