The new player in the Indian sports infrastructure scene - FieldTurf - the next generation artificial grass for sports surfaces has very quickly completed 1,300 installations. All Sports Magazine spoke to FieldTurf director, Anil Kumar, about the company's past performance and future prospects.
What are the advantages of having artificial grass over natural turf? Primarily, we are offering a very viable, beneficial and cost-effective solution where natural grass cannot be grown or cannot be maintained. The applications are very wide: sports fields (amateur to professional surfaces for every grass-based sport), offices, restaurants, clubs, homes, schools, etc. FieldTurf artificial grass requires a one-time investment and with its long life of 15-20 years (even with regular, intensive usage), it works out to be ,ore cost effective than natural grass.
These next-generation agrass varieties are soft and silky and there is hardly any chance for injuries while playing on it. That is why it is a popular choice with schools, playgrounds, parks, etc., where natural grass could not have survived. Equally important, there is no on-going maintenance required: No watering, fertilising, weeding, replacement etc. And it is very environment-friendly as it is made from recycled materials and prevents depletion of natural resources.
What is the response from various sports clubs, academies and state associations? The response till now is very satisfying. During our five year presence in India, cricket academies (National Cricket Academy, ML Jaisimha Indoor Cricket Academy, Mulund Cricket Academy), Cricket Associations of Andhra, Vidarbha, Goa, Punjab, Orissa and Vidharba, football fields (Chowgule College and Dr Pillai’s Global Academy) have been reaping the benefits of FieldTurf. More recently, even the iconic Salt Lake Stadium has awarded us a contract to install FieldTurf artificial grass of FIFA standards.
Tell us about Salt Lake. Whwn will the work be completed? Salt Lake is definitely a new milestone in our effort to promote the use of next-generation artificial grass in India. It is the world’s second largest stadium by capacity and in a place where football is a religion. So it is quite a honour for us to be installing a global-standards football field there. We are currently building the sub-base and drainage system and the turf installation will start by mid-July. Overall, the installation should be completed before mid-august.
Salt Lake hosts a number of cultural activities apart from football. Will it damage the new surface?
No. We are pleased that this installation will be a live example to show that FieldTurf can be used as a multi-sport and multi-purpose surface. With some basic precautions, we welcome the use of the surface for many non-sports usage (cultural programmes, trade shows, public meetings etc.). And yet, the surface will be in perfect shape for the highest level of play the very next day.
Are you planning to approach the government for developing public playgrounds? Yes, we have been doing that. The public play areas in India need a drastic transformation. For generations together, the state of the play grounds are sub standard and their maintenance is totally ignored. Most play grounds are actually hard dust-bowls. With FieldTurf, there will be lush-green playing surface the year round, enabling the use of the area for not only all sports but also other non-sports activities described earlier.
Courtesy: All Sports Magazine, July 2009.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 12 August 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.