Artificial Turf
Our complete in-house laboratory and testing facility enables us to research and develop innovative products that meet the most stringent specifications of the world’s sporting governing bodies – a unique capability within the artificial turf industry. GreenFields® also cooperates with accredited laboratories that carry out testing and research for international sporting bodies.
These laboratories measure the effect and benefits that synthetic surfaces have on ball roll, ball bounce, friction, sliding, resistance, hardness and shock absorption. We have the knowledge and skills to advise you on all artificial turf systems. Need further information? Simply call the GreenFields office and one of our qualified representatives will be happy to assist you.
Quality control and testing
All GreenFields artificial turf systems pass through an extensive quality control and testing process in accordance with the stringent ISO-standards. The quality control system involves identification and control of the yarns and primary backing before the first phase of the production process (tufting) starts.
The uncoated half fabricate is stored and moved through our factory in a strictly controlled fashion to minimize the risk of damage and ensures high endproduct quality. This strict quality monitoringcontinues during the second phase of the production of back coating to lock the fibers into the primary backing, until the rolls are packed and labeled ready to be transported. Strict site quality controls continue after installation with the results used to improve product quality and optimize product performance.
GreenFields strict control of product quality has been achieved by designing the production facility around the ideal production process. Routing during manufacture is organized to minimize internal transport, which results in optimal runtime and drastically reduces defects and production errors.
The statistics on artificial turf are the same
The development of technology in many areas has also had an effect on artificial turf. Nowadays, the third generation of products perform almost equally as well as good natural turf. As part of a performance analysis of team sports, the specialised organisation ProZone studied 100 matches, including the Champions League, UEFA Cup, Dutch First Division and 2007 World Cup for Under-20. All players and ball movements were measured using 10 sensors. The results were absolutely conclusive: “The technical data obtained on the high-quality natural turf and artificial turf showed no demonstrable difference.” The data on the time in which the ball was in play, the number of times the players played the ball, the assist percentage, averages and all other data are very similar. Another study was conducted on injuries in matches in Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Russia. This study was carried out in 2003 and entailed the analysis of more than 600 thousand match hours. Again, no significant differences emerged. Years ago, I watched the World Cup for under-15 teams. Two of the fields were natural turf, while the third was artificial turf. After the matches on artificial turf, the players complained that their feet got overheated.
Artificial grass (sometimes called astro turf) has been around now for several decades. It can be argued that artificial turf was originally developed to address the limitations of natural grass. However, the earliest versions were not designed for football and changed the game dramatically. Therefore, football never thoroughly embraced the thought of high-level competition matches on artificial surfaces.