Surely some of the hardest wearing grass to be on used for sports such as soccer and American Football. That really has to be TOUGH. :wink:

I always wondered how the grass is kept so strong, is there a specific soil they use? Could it also be that the grass is kept at a certain hight to make it less vulnerable?

I think a lot of venues tend to use artificial grass, especially in the US.

I remember Manchester United`s stadium at Old Trafford some years ago having terrible problems with their playing surface and they imported turf to relay the pitch from Holland.

Interestingly I saw this news article which perhaps demonstrates how good Dutch grass is compared to the rest. It`s in connection with the 2006 Soccer World Cup:-

http://www.sports-city.org/news_details.php?news_id=384

Quote:Dutch grass used at all FIFA World Cup 2006 stadiums
28/06/2006

All twelve fields for this years FIFA World Cup consist entirely of Dutch grass. The grass varieties and types used for the turf in the stadiums were specially developed for the event. FIFA entrusted this task to Barenbrug, an international grass-seed company.

FIFA demanded: "We want the very best grass and the same turf conditions in all twelve stadiums. The pitches must all be as comparable as possible. What's more, the grass must be 'fast' to facilitate technical and attractive football."

A specially formed FIFA committee, named the 'Rasenkompetenzteam', went to work with these instructions in mind. After thorough research, Barenbrug from The Netherlands was selected as the supplier with the best grass product and know-how.

"We are extremely proud of having received this order," said Christiaan Arends, grass turf specialist at Barenbrug. "Of course, we would like to see this as recognition of the development work we have been doing over the past years.

“The grass seed mixture, which is made up of various types and varieties, was the result of extensive testing and research. Tests included intensive treading and the filtering out of sunlight, after which the recovery capacity and growth of the tuft were closely examined. The committee was clearly impressed by the newest generation of grass varieties," concluded Arends.

An important FIFA demand was to use grass types that had a positive effect on the speed of the ball. 'Fast' grass therefore was the ideal surface for technical and attractive football. As a specialist in this field, Barenbrug had the right types of grass in their portfolio to meet this requirement. They have developed varieties with stronger horizontal growth and types that allow for extremely short mowing. The turf for the World Cup venues was consequently sown with a specific combination of these varieties, resulting in a short-leaved, dense and exceptionally fast surface.

The process of growing the grass began back in April 2005, when it was sown at two turf growers, spread over nine fields in The Netherlands and three in Germany. After a growth period of more than thirteen months, the 'sods' were harvested and transported to all twelve stadiums where the pitches were replaced with this specially-grown turf.

The Royal Barenbrug Group is an international concern, specialising in plant breeding, seed production and the worldwide marketing of grass seed. With a workforce of 600, the group operates from twenty subsidiaries in twelve countries on five continents.

"The effort that Barenbrug puts into research & development has fuelled rapid progress in grass breeding," explained Christiaan Arends. “In fact, Barenbrug won the Richard Hubert Innovation Award in 2005 for its development of the 'Shadow' grass seed mix.

“Barenbrug grasses can be found in many stadiums, sports fields, golf courses, public parks and meadows all over the world. This family company is an international leader in its field.”