GrassMaster

GrassMaster is a hybrid grass sports playing field surface composed of natural grass combined with artificial fibres. The method was developed and patented by Desso Sports from the Netherlands in 1993. This hybrid grass system is now marketed and further developed by Tarkett Sports after a takeover of Desso Sports and has since been re-branded as GrassMaster.

Technology

GrassMaster reinforces a natural grass pitch by vertically inserting 20 million polypropylene (PP) fibres into the soil equally spread over the entire playing field. The 20 cm (7.9 in) long PP fibres are injected by computer-controlled machines, 18 cm (7.1 in) deep so 2 cm (0.8 in) remains above the surface.^[1] The PP fibres are inserted in a grid of about 2 cm × 2 cm (0.8 in × 0.8 in). The grass roots entwine with the fibres and grow deeper and wider.^[2] The PP fibres above the surface are designed to ensure an even and stable surface. GrassMaster may be installed before seeding, after seeding or on grass sods.^[3]

Major installations

Stadium	Club	Sport	Country
Ashton Gate Stadium	Bristol City and Bristol Bears	Association football and rugby union	England
Prenton Park	Tranmere Rovers F.C.	Association football	England
Villa Park	Aston Villa	Association football	England
St James’ Park	Newcastle United	Association football	England
Elland Road	Leeds United	Association football	England
Hillsborough^[4]^[5]	Sheffield Wednesday	Association football	England
Camp Nou	FC Barcelona	Association football	Spain
Luminus Arena	KRC Genk	Association football	Belgium
San Siro	Inter Milan and AC Milan	Association football	Italy
Stade Marcel Picot	AS Nancy	Association football	France
King Abdullah Sports City	Ittihad FC and Al-Ahli Saudi FC	Association football	Saudi Arabia
Mapei Stadium	US Sassuolo Calcio	Association football	Italy
Goodison Park	Everton	Association football	England
Stade Marcel-Michelin	ASM Clermont Auvergne	Rugby union	France
CNFE Clairefontaine	French Football Federation	Association football	France
Anfield	Liverpool	Association football	England
Selhurst Park	Crystal Palace	Association football	England
Carrow Road	Norwich City	Association football	England
Parc des Princes	Paris Saint-Germain	Association football	France
Stade de Roudourou	En Avant Guingamp	Association football	France
Stade Louis II	AS Monaco	Association football	Monaco
Stade Océane	Le Havre	Association football	France
Stade de France^[6]	France	Association football and other events	France
Stade Francis-Le Blé	Stade Brestois 29	Association football	France
Stade Auguste-Delaune	Stade de Reims	Association football	France
Estádio Parque São Jorge	Corinthians	Association football	Brazil
Neo Química Arena	Corinthians	Association football	Brazil
Arena do Grêmio^[7]	Grêmio	Association football	Brazil
King Power Stadium^[8]	Leicester City	Association football	England
Twickenham Stadium	Rugby Football Union	Rugby union	England
Emirates Stadium^[9]	Arsenal	Association football	England
Kirklees Stadium	Huddersfield Town and Huddersfield Giants	Association football and rugby league	England
Celtic Park	Celtic	Association football	Scotland
Leigh Sports Village	Leigh^[10]	Rugby league	England
City of Manchester Stadium	Manchester City^[11]	Association football	England
Old Trafford^[12]	Manchester United	Association football	England
Trafford Training Centre^[13]	Manchester United	Association football	England
Adams Park	Wycombe Wanderers (and formerly Wasps)	Association football (and formerly rugby union)	England
Vicarage Road^[14]	Watford (and formerly Saracens)	Association football (and formerly rugby union)	England
Wembley Stadium^[15]	England	Association football and other events	England
Aviva Stadium	Ireland national rugby union team and Republic of Ireland national football team	Rugby union and association football	Ireland
Stadion Galgenwaard	Utrecht	Association football	Netherlands
Euroborg	FC Groningen	Association football	Netherlands
AFAS Stadion	AZ Alkmaar	Association football	Netherlands
Sportpark De Toekomst	AFC Ajax	Association football	Netherlands
Forsyth Barr Stadium^[16]	Highlanders	Rugby union	New Zealand
Lerkendal Stadion	Rosenborg	Association football	Norway
Arena Khimki	Khimki	Association football	Russia
Mbombela Stadium	2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa	Association football	South Africa
Peter Mokaba Stadium	2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa	Association football	South Africa
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium	2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa and South Africa Sevens	Association football and rugby sevens	South Africa
Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia Eagles	American football	United States
Lambeau Field	Green Bay Packers	American football	United States
Liberty Stadium^[17]	Swansea City and Ospreys	Association football and rugby union	Wales
Millennium Stadium^[18]	Welsh Rugby Union	Rugby union (also Welsh international association football)	Wales
Cardiff City Stadium^[19]	Cardiff City (and formerly Cardiff Blues)	Association football (and formerly rugby union)	Wales
National Stadium, Singapore	Singapore national football team	Rugby union and association football	Singapore
Rodney Parade	Dragons Newport County Newport RFC	Rugby union and association football	Wales
Volkswagen Arena	VfL Wolfsburg	Association football	Germany
Metalist Stadium	Metalist Kharkiv	Association football	Ukraine
Donbass Arena	Shakhtar Donetsk	Association football	Ukraine
Central City Stadium	National Team of Kazakhstan	Association football	Kazakhstan
Murrayfield	Edinburgh Rugby and Scotland	Rugby union	Scotland
Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi	Hellas Verona and Chievo Verona	Association football	Italy
Lokomotiv Stadium	FC Lokomotiv Moscow	Association football	Russia
Kazan Arena	FC Rubin Kazan	Association football	Russia
Estadio de la Cerámica	Villareal CF	Association football	Spain
Melbourne City Football Academy	Melbourne City FC	Association football	Australia
Ooredoo Training Centre	Paris Saint-Germain	Association football	France
St Georges Park	National Football Centre FA	Association football	England
Bramall Lane^[20]	Sheffield United	Association football	England
Imam Reza Stadium	Padideh F.C.	Association football	Iran
Cairo International Stadium	Egyptian national football team and Zamalek	Association football	Egypt
El Sekka El Hadid Stadium	El Sekka El Hadid SC	Association football	Egypt
Misr Stadium	Egypt national football team	Association football	Egypt
Vodafone Park	Beşiktaş J.K.	Association football	Turkey
Bashundhara Kings Arena	Bashundhara Kings	Association football	Bangladesh
Darius and Girėnas Stadium	FK Kauno Žalgiris Lithuania national football team	Association football	Lithuania
Brisbane Road	Leyton Orient	Association football	England
The Valley	Charlton Athletic	Association football	England

References

^ Oldenkotte, Guy (2 September 2020). "Hybrid fields discussed - By Guy Oldenkotte". Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
^ Anderson, F. D.; Fleming, P.; Sherratt, P.; Severn, K. (1 January 2016). "Design and Development of a Novel Natural Turf Shear Stability Tester". Procedia Engineering. 147: 842–847. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2016.06.293. ISSN 1877-7058.
^ "Home - GrassMaster Solutions". grassmastersolutions.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
^ "Sheffield Wednesday: Work continues on Desso pitch". Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
^ "VIDEO: Sheffield Wednesday on track with new state-of-the-art pitch". Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
^ "Le Stade de France choisit Tarkett Sports et sa technologie Desso GrassMaster". dessosports. Paris. Archived from the original on 2016-08-10.
^ "High-tech hybrid grass for Grêmio Arena". GFPA. Porto Alegre (RS,Brazil). Archived from the original on 2013-06-06.
^ "Pitch Refurbishment Underway". LCFC. Leicester. Archived from the original on 2011-05-30.
^ "How Arsenal have put Wembley in the shade" (PDF). The Times. London. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-23.
^ "LSV beats the big freeze!". Archived from the original on August 19, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
^ "Manchester City inaugurates brand new stadium". Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
^ Parsons, Tom (5 June 2013). "Pitch battle prompts Manchester United to switch to new surface". Inside World Football. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
^ "Louis van Gaal: New Manchester United manager orders club to rip up training ground pitches before his arrival". The Independent. 7 June 2014. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
^ "Pitch relay news Desso is go". WatfordFC.com. London. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
^ "The Wembley pitch". FATV. London. Archived from the original on 2013-12-16.
^ "Dunedin's hi-tech stadium open for business". tvnz. New Zealand. Archived from the original on 2012-01-11.
^ "Liberty Stadium Pitch - Official Stadium Website". Archived from the original on 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
^ "Millennium Stadium to have new hybrid playing surface". BBC Sport. 23 May 2014. Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
^ "Cardiff City Stadium, Home of Cardiff City FC". cardiffcitystadium.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
^ "A new pitch for the Blades". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2019.

External links

GrassMaster website

[1] Oldenkotte, Guy (2 September 2020). "Hybrid fields discussed - By Guy Oldenkotte". Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.

[2] Anderson, F. D.; Fleming, P.; Sherratt, P.; Severn, K. (1 January 2016). "Design and Development of a Novel Natural Turf Shear Stability Tester". Procedia Engineering. 147: 842–847. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2016.06.293. ISSN 1877-7058.

[3] "Home - GrassMaster Solutions". grassmastersolutions.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.

[4] "Sheffield Wednesday: Work continues on Desso pitch". Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.

[5] "VIDEO: Sheffield Wednesday on track with new state-of-the-art pitch". Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.

[6] "Le Stade de France choisit Tarkett Sports et sa technologie Desso GrassMaster". dessosports. Paris. Archived from the original on 2016-08-10.

[7] "High-tech hybrid grass for Grêmio Arena". GFPA. Porto Alegre (RS,Brazil). Archived from the original on 2013-06-06.

[8] "Pitch Refurbishment Underway". LCFC. Leicester. Archived from the original on 2011-05-30.

[9] "How Arsenal have put Wembley in the shade" (PDF). The Times. London. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-23.

[10] "LSV beats the big freeze!". Archived from the original on August 19, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2010.

[11] "Manchester City inaugurates brand new stadium". Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2007.

[12] Parsons, Tom (5 June 2013). "Pitch battle prompts Manchester United to switch to new surface". Inside World Football. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2014.

[13] "Louis van Gaal: New Manchester United manager orders club to rip up training ground pitches before his arrival". The Independent. 7 June 2014. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2014.

[14] "Pitch relay news Desso is go". WatfordFC.com. London. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.

[15] "The Wembley pitch". FATV. London. Archived from the original on 2013-12-16.

[16] "Dunedin's hi-tech stadium open for business". tvnz. New Zealand. Archived from the original on 2012-01-11.

[17] "Liberty Stadium Pitch - Official Stadium Website". Archived from the original on 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2009-05-29.

[18] "Millennium Stadium to have new hybrid playing surface". BBC Sport. 23 May 2014. Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.

[19] "Cardiff City Stadium, Home of Cardiff City FC". cardiffcitystadium.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.

[20] "A new pitch for the Blades". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2019.

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