Dry Turf Hockey Seminar

On the 27th of March 2024 Syncotts International, an FIH Certified Field Builder based in India hosted a seminar on dry turfs for hockey. The seminar aimed to provide information and education related to the FIH’s (International Hockey Federations) ambitions to move towards more environmentally sustainable solutions for the game of hockey.??

Over the last 30 years, particularly at the elite level of the sport a watered surface has become the surface of choice, but the FIH recognise that using wet fields creates environmental and economic challenges. Water is becoming an ever-scarcer resource, irrigation systems are costly to install and must be maintained, and operating costs have risen. The FIH have therefore been working with the industry since 2016 to develop surfaces that use less water, and this has resulted in a reduction of around 70% from the watering needs a decade ago, however this still represents approx. 6000 litres of water per irrigation cycle per field. The FIH therefore set out an ambition and challenge to the synthetic turf industry to develop hockey turfs that provide acceptable playing conditions for top-level hockey without watering.?

The FIH’s dry (non-irrigated) hockey turf programme was introduced at the seminar by Prof. Alastair Cox (FIH Facilities and Quality Programme Manager) who has been instrumental in the development of the research and testing programme for dry (non-irrigated) hockey turf. Prof. Cox explained the process that led to the introduction of the Innovation Category into their Hockey Turf and Field Standards in May 2023, and the recent inclusion of a new field certification for fields that have Dry Turf surfaces, March 2023.?

FIH Preferred Supplier GreenFields B.V was represented at the seminar and presented their innovation journey for dry hockey turf, the GreenFields Pure EP. Dr Kathryn Severn (Product Director GreenFields B.V) says “At GreenFields, we care about sustainability. This philosophy perfectly matches FIH's ambition to make field hockey a sustainable sport. The GreenFields Pure EP represents a fundamental and innovative leap, introducing a completely different design principle. This ground-breaking approach results in a surface with significantly reduced friction, enabling remarkable speed and emulating the qualities of today's wet fields”.??

The first full size GreenFields Pure EP pitch was installed in June 2023 at MHC Weesp, The Netherlands. Since June 2023 88 matches and 312 training sessions have taken place on the pitch across different age groups and different climate conditions and the player feedback has only been positive. More importantly, by choosing the GreenFields Pure EP, MHC Weesp has saved over 2,500,000 litres water to date, the equivalent of an Olympic size swimming pool.?

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After completing the pitch construction at Weesp, four further pitches followed in 2023 in the Netherlands resulting in an impressive average of 25 million litres of water savings per hockey season.?

The roll out of pitches continues internationally in 2024, with several new projects confirmed in the Netherlands, Germany and France. The GreenFields Pure EP already meets the FIH Product Innovation Category and their requirements for National (dry) and Global (has to use water). Aayush Kumar from AcoutoScan, an approved FIH laboratory highlighted the importance of testing and utilising FIH preferred suppliers and field builders when constructing hockey fields.?

Syncotts International also welcomed former Dutch international field hockey player and Olympic gold medallist Floris Jan Bovelander to the seminar who is the founder of the Bovelander Foundation. The Foundation brings children, young adults and their communities together and supports them in their personal, social, athletic and educational development through hockey. On the FIH’s ambitions to move away from watered hockey fields towards a more sustainable future Mr Bovelander said, “Hockey should not just be for the wealthier countries, but accessible to everyone. Every player should have the ability to develop their skills on a hockey pitch. Where water is scarce it is not viable to have a watered hockey pitch that can use a towns water consumption for a day or a week even in some cases. The move towards dry hockey turfs means hockey can become more accessible globally and at all levels of the game”.??????

FIH’s seminar received great coverage in the Indian press:?

Hindustan Times: Dry turfs, wet balls – hockey’s transition towards a perfect pitch?

News18: FIH makes pitch for Dry Turfs in India, says it’s an evolution that’s needed?

Sportstar: Syncotts International hosts seminar in Delhi on ‘Dry Turfs’ for future of Hockey post Paris Olympics?

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