Desso GrassMaster

[steviecarnie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desso_GrassMaster

i think we'll all agree that ER's pitch at the moment is a state and not helping the team in any way. Just wondering would this be a better option for hibs, rather than just getting new turf in that may die next year again if we have another harsh winter.

Even Wembley is a mess at the moment and that has 10games maximum a year (granted concert wont help the surface in anyway!!)

also would be another first for the pioneering hibee's (no scottish ground has this......yet)

[Bayern Bru]

The purists would hate it.


It looks like a nice idea, depends on how practical it would be I suppose. I think Motherwell are in greater need to be honest...

[--------]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desso_GrassMaster

i think we'll all agree that ER's pitch at the moment is a state and not helping the team in any way. Just wondering would this be a better option for hibs, rather than just getting new turf in that may die next year again if we have another harsh winter.

Even Wembley is a mess at the moment and that has 10games maximum a year (granted concert wont help the surface in anyway!!)

also would be another first for the pioneering hibee's (no scottish ground has this......yet)

Excellent idea - in fact, we'd be better playing on a top-quality synthetic pitch than the mess we've had at times over the past few years.

I see that there are five grounds where Rugby's played as well as Association Football, and four American Football stadiums have this pitch too. If the pitch stands up to that, it'll surely stand up to anything the SPL throws at it....






....except possibly the ten-men-and-a-forklift-truck-cannae-carry-man?

[maturehibby]

ER is like a bowling green compared to Motherwells park which I saw on the highlights and surely they should be playing all their home games at Hamilton or at the ground of their opponents

[laois hibby]

i was working at croke park in dublin when theres was laid and it looks amazing even before th grass actually grows. the plastic is knitted into the ground along side the grass seed. the plastic at first is around 2 inches above the surface and when the grass gets its first cut the plastic is cut with it. no matter how worn the grass itself gets it always looks green and there would be no worn patches around the goalmouth areas.

[Franck is God]

it's an impressive list of grounds that currently use it.

They've said that the pitch is being replaced in the summer and you would hope it will last better than the current one.

Personally I am in favour of using the new generation of artificial pitches, good footballing sides needs a good quality surface to play on and thats what you get every week of the year. If its good enough for FIFA and EUFA it should be good enough for the SPL.

It could also be a further source of revenue for the club, I'm sure there are a few other SPL clubs that could benefit from this kind of thing too.

[Framie]

good idea however arsenal use 612 "grow lamps" in use 24 hours a day between november and march so the grass grows all year and to improve pitch density and shady areas- could be a bit expensive

[hibsboy90]

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it's an impressive list of grounds that currently use it.

They've said that the pitch is being replaced in the summer and you would hope it will last better than the current one.

Personally I am in favour of using the new generation of artificial pitches, good footballing sides needs a good quality surface to play on and thats what you get every week of the year. If its good enough for FIFA and EUFA it should be good enough for the SPL.

It could also be a further source of revenue for the club, I'm sure there are a few other SPL clubs that could benefit from this kind of thing too.

I regularly play on these 3G pitches approved by UEFA etc, such as that used in Moscow in the Champions league. The one i use is the new Abereen University sports village complex, where they have an indoor, full pitch that anyone can rent out. It really is a fantastic surface to use, and you get a perfect bounce everytime. Slide tackling is absolutely fine as well, with none of the burns, scrapes etc assosciate with astroturf.

Infact, Mark Mcghee was training the Aberdeen first team the other day on 2/3 of the pitch - until we came on and used our third. Several Hibee shirts on show

[WHUHibs]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desso_GrassMaster

i think we'll all agree that ER's pitch at the moment is a state and not helping the team in any way. Just wondering would this be a better option for hibs, rather than just getting new turf in that may die next year again if we have another harsh winter.

Even Wembley is a mess at the moment and that has 10games maximum a year (granted concert wont help the surface in anyway!!)

also would be another first for the pioneering hibee's (no scottish ground has this......yet)

Stevie, I am a director of this holding company Desso but dont have an involvement in the sports division.

The Grass is approximately 100k more expensive than a normal pitch and the maintenance is about the same. Its a mixture of grass with nylon and it grows naturally and is cut as per normal. Periodically it is impregnated by nylon and then it continues to grow.

The upkeep and maintenance according to Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal is no more than they paid previoulsy.

I invited Tim Gardiner last year to Man City to meet the groundsman and maintenance team but he refused....

This is not an arificial pitch and does not have any of the scares you may have had in the days gone by and its FIFA approved. We have secured 6 out of the 10 world cup venues including Englands training pitches...

This system would certainly solve the issues we have with pitches but I am not sure we have the vision to invest.

[KerPlunk]

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good idea however arsenal use 612 "grow lamps" in use 24 hours a day between november and march so the grass grows all year and to improve pitch density and shady areas- could be a bit expensive

By Mike Steere
For CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The floodlights, corporate boxes and big screens at sports stadiums are all massive power sappers - but there's an increasingly popular technology which is chewing more energy than ever before.

Power-sapping technology: lighting rigs, like these ones installed at Telstra Dome are used to help grass growth.

The culprits are giant lighting rigs. The rigs are being adopted by football stadiums across Europe and the United Kingdom to encourage grass growth, but they're creating a significant footprint in doing so.

So, who's using the most power?

English Premier League football superpower Arsenal could have one of the worst carbon footprints in the region as its home ground is believed to use the biggest set of lighting rigs in the United Kingdom.

The club has been accused by environmental groups of using enough energy to power a small village in order to grow the grass on their home pitch.

The team's state of the art Emirates Stadium, which opened in 2006, boasts a set of 12 lighting rigs with huge sunlamps that run most of the year providing sufficient light to keep the turf growing and in a healthy condition.

The rigs, which have more than 600 light bulbs, have come under heavy criticism from environmental groups, who say they are "irresponsible."

What do you think of grass lighting rigs? Do you think they are useful or a waste of energy? Share your thoughts in the Sound Off box below -- we'll publish the best.

Purchased for more than $1,400,000 from Netherlands-based business Stadium Grow Lighting Concepts, the rigs can cover almost half of Arsenal's home ground at a time. The lamps contain sensors on the pitch to determine how many hours of light the grass needs in order to stay green.

Similar lights are used at seventeen other venues around the United Kingdom. Liverpool's Anfield ground has 10 lighting rigs, and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium uses nine.

In comparison, Wembley uses four, while Manchester United use just three rigs, at Old Trafford -- but there are plans to expand this.

[sadtom]

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By Mike Steere
For CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The floodlights, corporate boxes and big screens at sports stadiums are all massive power sappers - but there's an increasingly popular technology which is chewing more energy than ever before.

Power-sapping technology: lighting rigs, like these ones installed at Telstra Dome are used to help grass growth.

The culprits are giant lighting rigs. The rigs are being adopted by football stadiums across Europe and the United Kingdom to encourage grass growth, but they're creating a significant footprint in doing so.

So, who's using the most power?

English Premier League football superpower Arsenal could have one of the worst carbon footprints in the region as its home ground is believed to use the biggest set of lighting rigs in the United Kingdom.

The club has been accused by environmental groups of using enough energy to power a small village in order to grow the grass on their home pitch.

The team's state of the art Emirates Stadium, which opened in 2006, boasts a set of 12 lighting rigs with huge sunlamps that run most of the year providing sufficient light to keep the turf growing and in a healthy condition.

The rigs, which have more than 600 light bulbs, have come under heavy criticism from environmental groups, who say they are "irresponsible."

What do you think of grass lighting rigs? Do you think they are useful or a waste of energy? Share your thoughts in the Sound Off box below -- we'll publish the best.

Purchased for more than $1,400,000 from Netherlands-based business Stadium Grow Lighting Concepts, the rigs can cover almost half of Arsenal's home ground at a time. The lamps contain sensors on the pitch to determine how many hours of light the grass needs in order to stay green.

Similar lights are used at seventeen other venues around the United Kingdom. Liverpool's Anfield ground has 10 lighting rigs, and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium uses nine.

In comparison, Wembley uses four, while Manchester United use just three rigs, at Old Trafford -- but there are plans to expand this.

"Grow lamps" from Holland! Well i never.

[Framie]

the term grassmaster takes on a whole new meaning

[Hibs Class]

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good idea however arsenal use 612 "grow lamps" in use 24 hours a day between november and march so the grass grows all year and to improve pitch density and shady areas- could be a bit expensive

How about if we put solar panels on the roof of the new east stand? We could then use the power created for these lamps.

[hibsboy90]

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How about if we put solar panels on the roof of the new east stand? We could then use the power created for these lamps.

...then surely we wouldn't need the lamps, as we would be getting plenty of natural sunshine anyway.

[col02]

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...then surely we wouldn't need the lamps, as we would be getting plenty of natural sunshine anyway.

Height of the new stand will take more than it's fair share of natural sunlight away from the pitch leaving it in shade a lot longer. Grow lamps are the way to go and after being through at Ibrox a few weeks back their pitch is nothing short of fantastic and well maintained.

[Mon_the_cabbage]

Watched these in operation at the weekend.The Sky pundits were at Stamford Bridge after the Chelsea game and these things were on in the background.

http://www.sglconcept.com/en/mobile.htm


They do make for a good pitch all year round but suspect you need Premiership money to run them. It would also blow any pretensions of Hibs being "green".

[Lucius Apuleius]

then again, if global warming works the grass should grow all year anyway should it not?

[Godsahibby]

If we continue to play winter football then we can't complain when playing on shocking pitches, what else do we expect with Scotlands climate.

Only way forward is to move to next generation pitches, if they are good enough for the Champions league then they are good enough for the SPL. The standard of football is shocking at times and the pitches are one of the main reasons for this. With next gen pitches the standard of football would improve and clubs could benefit from the extra revenue from hiring the pitch out.

It's win win for th clubs and Scottish football.

[goosano]

A bit of perspective needed really-grass does not grow when the temp is below approx 10 degrees. Scotland had had it's coldest winter since 62-63. Max temp in Edinburgh in the whole of Feb was just over 6 degrees. This year is completely atypical and why many pitches are in such a mess

[blackpoolhibs]

I cant find it, but i'm sure i read somewhere, we were getting a seed pitch, and not turf. I wonder if this will be incorporated with this new nylon pitch?

[Framie]

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Watched these in operation at the weekend.The Sky pundits were at Stamford Bridge after the Chelsea game and these things were on in the background.

http://www.sglconcept.com/en/mobile.htm


They do make for a good pitch all year round but suspect you need Premiership money to run them. It would also blow any pretensions of Hibs being "green".

cant we retro fit these lamps into the floodlights then the pitch would be boosted everytime we use them? And we could all get a tan at the game

[Franck is God]

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If we continue to play winter football then we can't complain when playing on shocking pitches, what else do we expect with Scotlands climate.

Only way forward is to move to next generation pitches, if they are good enough for the Champions league then they are good enough for the SPL. The standard of football is shocking at times and the pitches are one of the main reasons for this. With next gen pitches the standard of football would improve and clubs could benefit from the extra revenue from hiring the pitch out.

It's win win for th clubs and Scottish football.

Definitely, Hamilton must have gutted they they had to rip up their 'perfect' pitch and revenue stream and swap for grass that costs way more to manage and has no further benefit to the club.

Anyone that thinks an astro pitch these days is what Dunfermline had is mistaken, I played on that and it was literally a carpet, the 3G surfaces these days are actually artificial grass and play really well.

[Judas Iscariot]

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Definitely, Hamilton must have gutted they they had to rip up their 'perfect' pitch and revenue stream and swap for grass that costs way more to manage and has no further benefit to the club.

Anyone that thinks an astro pitch these days is what Dunfermline had is mistaken, I played on that and it was literally a carpet, the 3G surfaces these days are actually artificial grass and play really well.

3G is not all that good tbh and wouldnt be a option nowadays as turf for a top flight team.

5G is the way forward, absolutely perfect grass imitation!

Check out Ainslie Park or even the Pitz at Sighthill!

[Franck is God]

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3G is not all that good tbh and wouldnt be a option nowadays as turf for a top flight team.

5G is the way forward, absolutely perfect grass imitation!

Check out Ainslie Park or even the Pitz at Sighthill!

I should have just said latest G....Didn't realise we were up to 5!

My point was that they are more than a match for grass pitches, I'm sure all pro's would like to play on a perfect grass pitch every week but in a country like ours that will only happen a few times a season. If we were to move to summer football that could change but that is another discussion completely...

[MSK]

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cant we retro fit these lamps into the floodlights then the pitch would be boosted everytime we use them? And we could all get a tan at the game

Naw ..& end up looking like this ...http://www.eastfootball.co.uk/forum/...ad.php?t=10235 ... ...

[Andy74]

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Stevie, I am a director of this holding company Desso but dont have an involvement in the sports division.

The Grass is approximately 100k more expensive than a normal pitch and the maintenance is about the same. Its a mixture of grass with nylon and it grows naturally and is cut as per normal. Periodically it is impregnated by nylon and then it continues to grow.

The upkeep and maintenance according to Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal is no more than they paid previoulsy.

I invited Tim Gardiner last year to Man City to meet the groundsman and maintenance team but he refused....

This is not an arificial pitch and does not have any of the scares you may have had in the days gone by and its FIFA approved. We have secured 6 out of the 10 world cup venues including Englands training pitches...

This system would certainly solve the issues we have with pitches but I am not sure we have the vision to invest.

Hibs have shown they have decent enough vision on investing in things that need it.

I'm sure this system is just one of many solutions and a lot of work will take place on the new pitch and the structure beneath it this year. Could it just be that they think another option is better for them at this stage?

I hope the sales pitch to Hibs didn't suggest they would lack vision if they didn't go for it.

[HFC 0-7]

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Height of the new stand will take more than it's fair share of natural sunlight away from the pitch leaving it in shade a lot longer. Grow lamps are the way to go and after being through at Ibrox a few weeks back their pitch is nothing short of fantastic and well maintained.

Not really its the West that blocks the sun from getting onto the pitch. The east would maybe block very early morning sun but thats it.

[Wat Dabney]

Here's a good article on the SGL Concept system:

http://www.agcsa.com.au/static/atm_a...ml/9_6_1b.html

It would probably cost about £500,000 to install and it uses a hefty amount of power (approx 200 KWatts).

Although it seems quite a hefty investment, I think the costs could be recouped - more chance of Scotland friendlies, CIS cup semi finals, even more Sky games, etc.

[WHUHibs]

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Hibs have shown they have decent enough vision on investing in things that need it.

I'm sure this system is just one of many solutions and a lot of work will take place on the new pitch and the structure beneath it this year. Could it just be that they think another option is better for them at this stage?

I hope the sales pitch to Hibs didn't suggest they would lack vision if they didn't go for it.

As ist not my division I wont put a sales pitch in but would try and give them a cracking deal.

Having attended meetings with Real Madrid(training pitches), newlands Stadium for the world cup, City of Manchester stadium it is real grass with a some strength of Nylon.

It survives extereme heat and extreme cold i.e American Football in the US and we worrying about 6 degrees.

There is no option in the world apart from this or Grass which is approved by FIFA. 3g would not be good enough.

We will see what happens but for those of us that blame the weather,,,the pitch was awful last season,,,so if winters continue should we be happy about it?

You cant quantify points lost but as a spectator I feel a little short changed...

[greenlex]

The question I would like to put is would fans pay an extra coupe of quid per game to pay for this better surface?