TURF TALK
All eyes on smart turf monitoring system
Turf care goes high-tech in new study at Johan Cruijff Arena
The Johan Cruijff Arena in
05
www.stadia-magazine.com June 2019 Amsterdam is one of the world’s
first sports venues to employ
smart technology to closely monitor
the condition of its playing surface.
Home to soccer side Ajax FC and
the Netherlands international team,
the venue is teaming up with the
Royal Dutch Football Association
(KNVB) to install a new high-tech
system that utilizes sensors installed
beneath the turf to monitor the soil
and feedback to groundstaff whether
it needs watering, feeding or light. The
aim is to perfect growth and prevent
waste of resources.
The research program will assess
the data and determine whether the
smart monitor is an effective solution
to roll out to professional Dutch
soccer clubs to help optimize the
playing condition of their surfaces.
While the KNVB has already
implemented the system at its
training fields for the Dutch national
team in Zeist, the installation at the
Johan Cruijff Arena is the first sports
stadium to operate the technology.
The system works using a
combination of 15 sensors buried into
the soil that constantly measure
quality, moisture and temperature,
which are then joined by further
sensors around the stadium checking
on ventilation and light. There are also
five weather stations – one the field
and four on the roof – that keep track
of climate conditions. All the data and
measurements from the system can
be viewed by groundstaff in real-time
via a digital dashboard on mobile
devices to allow the team to predict
what the condition of the field will
be like in as far away as a week’s time.
This knowledge aims to enable the
stadium operators to save on costs
and prevents waste of resources by
ensuring not too much water or
fertilizer is used and requiring fewer
maintenance hours.
Each time the hybrid turf is mown,
scanners measure growth activity,
including the number of blades of
grass on the surface, and identify
damaged spots and alert the grass
team. To increase efficiency further
the Johan Cruijff Arena plans on
employing a robotic lawnmower
to cut the grass, which can also detect
grass quality and density. By 2020
the stadium’s operators aim for the
playing surface to be self-steering for
its LED lighting and irrigation needs.
Record breakers
Qatar’s World Cup 2022 venues smash installation time for new turf pitches
For the Supreme Committee for
Delivery and Legacy, who are the
organizers of the FIFA 2022 World
Cup in Qatar, speed is of the essence
as it readies seven brand-new stadia
for the competition. During the recent
installation of new turf at two of its
venues speed was on show as the
record time of laying a pitch was
broken not once, but twice.
The first installation took place
at the recently opened Al Janoub
Stadium in Al Wakrah, where a
50-strong team took 438 rolls of grass
specially grown at the facility’s
neighboring turf farm and laid over
67,800ft2 (6,300m2) of new playing
surface in nine hours and 15 minutes.
This feat beat the previous record of
13 hours and 40 minutes previously
held by the Khalifa International
Stadium, which is also a venue to be
used at the 2022 World Cup.
“By installing the pitch in record
time and having a turf farm in the
stadium precinct during the entire
tournament, we ensure we have a
backup strategy if any issues were
to arise during the competition. Now
I know for sure that we’re ready for any
eventualities,” said SC Landscape &
Sport Turf Management senior
manager, Yasser Al Mulla.
However, the new record was then
smashed just weeks later when the
team laying the pitch at the Al Bayt
Stadium managed to complete the job
in just six hours and 41 minutes. Key
to the success of the speedy install was
the specialist machinery used, which
included John Deere 1025 R SideKick
units that use an innovative hydraulic
turf placement and compression plate
to quickly slide turf rolls into place,
which contributed to greatly reducing
the intensive and time-consuming
manual installation of the turf.
Sensors keep track of turf
Turf being installed at Al
Bayt Stadium in record time
using SideKick machinery
/www.stadia-magazine.com
/www.stadia-magazine.com