The concept of building a hockey pitch in a stadium for one-off worldwide matches has never been a possibility, that is up until now. thanks to a ground-breaking partnership spearheaded by England Hockey, this dream is now a game-changing reality.
The dream was lastly knew earlier this month, when some 11,500 advocates assisted produce hockey history at the Twickenham Stoop, thanks to a revolutionary portable hockey pitch system. The crowd made fantastic Britain’s matches against new Zealand the best-attended games in the nation considering that the London 2012 Olympics – yet one more marker for a sport on the rise. In addition, England Hockey estimates that the men’s match had the greatest ever male hockey attendance on these shores outside a house Olympics.
Since the beginning of the 2012 games, a million advocates have now paid to enjoy hockey in Britain, with the Olympics, Women’s world Cup, commonwealth Games, EuroHockey championships as well as lots of a lot more events contributing to hockey’s new condition as a authentic spectator sport.
With the FIH pro league coming back to London next year as well as four huge weekends of hockey in the funding in 2020, the game shows no indications of slowing down!
LONDON – 2019 FIH pro league (Men), Great Britain v new Zealand (RR). Courtesy: WORLDSPORTPICS Copyright: FRANK UIJLENBROEK
England Hockey commented:
Working with our partner Polypipe we installed Permavoid, which enabled us to develop a hockey pitch over the existing rugby pitch, supplying a strong base, enabling the lawn to keep growing as well as supporting drainage. We likewise utilized the new hockey turf established by Polytan for the Olympic games in Tokyo next year, which needs as much as 65% less water than other pitches. The pitch utilized at The Stoop will later be installed at Bisham Abbey for the men’s as well as women’s teams to prepare for Tokyo, as well as the Bisham pitch will then step to Lilleshall for young players in the country’s national Age Groups. The pitch innovation is ground-breaking; ourselves as well as partners maintain the IP as well as all being well it can be utilized by other nations, stadia as well as events in the future.
This option is extremely ingenious since it is temporary, removable as well as repeatable. It is cutting edge innovation as well as a patent has been filed to enable us to continue to establish this work. It is a lot more versatile than the semi-permanent option utilized in the Netherlands for the 2014 Camiseta Gremio Hockey world Cups. Work began approximately 6 weeks before the games take location to prepare The Stoop as well as produce a level field. Future plans would indicate that the innovation can be brought in as well as out a lot more swiftly (10-14 days).
This revolutionary job was spearheaded by England Hockey as well as their connection with Harlequins Rugby. Sport England as well as the worldwide Hockey Federation have likewise supported the Camiseta Villarreal CF scheme, Camiseta Southampton FC which is aimed at additionally capitalising on the tradition of the London Olympics as well as championing the spectator flourish that hockey has experienced in recent years.
Once the vision was established, a group of broader professionals were pulled in to establish the world’s very first elite portable pitch system, which included:
Polytan – FIH worldwide partner as well as official hockey turf vendor for the world cups as well as Olympics
STRI – natural sports turf research study as well as advancement specialists
Polypipe – A group of ingenious sub-base as well as water administration experts
LONDON – 2019 FIH pro league (Men), Great Britain v new Zealand (RR). Image, courtesy: WORLDSPORTPICS copyright: FRANK UIJLENBROEK
So, exactly how was this ground-breaking option derived as well as what were the difficulties that needed to be overcome…
Challenges
The job had several difficulties to overcome, lots of have never been attempted before within the sport. These included:
Developing as well as installing a momentary water pitch to elite standards. The surface had to be appropriate for worldwide matches as well as satisfy strict accreditation requirements as detailed by the worldwide Hockey Federation (FIH)
Protecting the natural grass. We had to produce a system that would enable the natural lawn beneath to breathe by means of appropriate airflow
The capability for the system to be quickly installed as well as removed. Tests showed we needed the portable pitch to be installed, played on as well as eliminated within 6-8 days or the lawn beneath would die because of lack of sunlight. This speed was likewise needed for future stadium utilisation, to ensure that the stadium can be utilized for rugby as well as hockey on alternating weekends without compromising either sport
Needed to be re-usable. A system that would enable us to eliminate as well as store it, including rolling up the turf top layer tonullnull