Demonstrated by the growth of synthetic turf in elite football, alongside numerous studies, high quality artificial turf provides performance and safety advantages for both training and tournaments.
For years, synthetic turf has had a place in both male and female elite football. Last year’s U-20 Women’s World Cup, 2007’s U-20 Men’s World Cup, FA Cup, Champions League and other top clubs across Europe have progressed to synthetic turf as the surface’s popularity continues to grow. Today’s synthetic turf, used by the NFL, FIFA, World Rugby, the International Hockey Federation, and other international sports groups, combines the playing characteristics, look and feel of natural turf, with the advantages of increased frequency of usage, extra revenue generation, less maintenance and water usage, better climatic resistance and fewer canceled games.
As the established surface for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015, synthetic turf provides a consistent and equal playing surface across all tournament venues, while offering performance and safety characteristics benchmarked to the best natural grass.
While previous generations of artificial turf felt abrasive and hard, the synthetic turf industry has heavily invested in research, technology and testing to improve performance and safety features. Extensive research has benchmarked natural grass for qualities such as traction, slip resistance, ball behavior, surface abrasion and foot stability. By choosing high quality synthetic yarns and turf systems from a FIFA Preferred Producer for Football Turf, customers are reassured that the product is engineered, installed and tested to match, if not beat, these benchmarks.
Act Global recognizes the need for a safe, durable, and high-performing playing surface for all men’s and women’s sporting events – which is why we prioritize quality in every single detail involved in doing so. From raw materials, to quality control, to installation partners, we ensure best-in-class performance is consistently delivered to end users. Synthetic turf fibres from Bonar Yarns feature the highest-grade polymers, which undergo stringent quality checks before, during and after the production process. World-class synthetic turf manufacturing from Act Global and professional installation ensures the pitch is executed to the highest international standards of play.
For the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup an independent consultant has tested all six host stadiums to ensure the playing surfaces meet stringent performance criteria. Each pitch is FIFA Certified, meaning it is benchmarked against natural grass characteristics in terms of ball bounce, ball roll, skin abrasion and shock absorption.
The Montreal Olympic Stadium Xtreme Turf pitch, installed by Carpell Surfaces, passed stringent field testing to be certified to FIFA Two Star elite level.
Synthetic turf provides a reliable, all-weather surface that is fit for training, games, elite sporting competitions, tournaments, community events and much more. With an emphasis on synthetic turf quality and performance, players, coaches and fans can focus on the game at hand, not the surface.
Let the World Cup games continue!
** The Montreal Olympic Stadium will showcase Act Global’s highly durable Xtreme Turf DX system, which contains an exclusive fibre blend from Bonar Yarns. The artificial turf has been expertly installed by Carpell Surfaces over a Schmitz Foam ProPlay shock pad and finished with eco-friendly infill.
Shelby Becker is a creative content creator and marketing specialist at Act Global. She’s an animal rights activist, avid concert-goer, and scary movie enthusiast. Follow her on LinkedIn .
For more information, contact marketing at sbecker@actglobal.com