‘TestbedNordic’ An Infill Innovation Pilot– Field Notes
Layout plan of test bed fields T1 - T4 at Råstasjön, Stockholm
TestbedNordic
Is an innovation testing ground for artificial football surfaces of tomorrow that will help inform the transition to fossil free materials. The site is being monitored for usage, climatic conditions and maintenance while recording on-field testing data and essential player feedback. The player feedback is tracked with a Sports Labs designed standalone mobile app the players can download and fill in after playing on the surfaces.
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Case study site, Råstasjön sports field in Solna, Stockholm
Råstasjön sports field in Solna, Stockholm, has two 7 aside and two 5 aside pitches of varying performance infills from natural resources, but also bio-based plastics and composites. Each performance material is tested for an entire year through the Nordic climate, to gather comprehensive feedback. The fields are identified T1 – T4 as above.
The stakeholders
TestbedNordic is a three-year project financed by Sweden’s Innovation Agency Vinnova, the City of Solna and the Swedish FA (SvFF).
The active steering group
· The Kommune, Solna Stad
· The Member Association, The Swedish FA (SvFF).
· The Stockholm Football Federation
· The Test Institute, Sports Labs Nordic
All stakeholders are independent of manufacturing and installing and thus provide a balanced review to the industry.
Innovation test beds embrace innovation
Ultimately the buyers of turf require confidence in value for money when taking a leap of faith with innovation, and the end user requires safety and performance compliance. Pilot test beds make that leap of faith less of a risk and encourages more environmentally friendly solutions to prove they work.
The problem
In Europe the artificial turf industry is facing potential restriction or increased management regulations on infill components used and the products on the market are trying to improve their environmental impact.
Polymeric infills such as SBR, EPDM, TPE, and many thermoplastic variations are under pressure as we strive to create a sustainable model for artificial turf. Polymeric infill does however provide shock absorbency on impact and many environmentally friendly infills do not provide this.
We see non fill surfaces and sand filled/dressed surfaces being installed with some uncertainty on life expectancy, and some products having player satisfaction issues.
One of the biggest unknown entities is the performance of these products under live usage, climatic and maintenance stress, normal site conditions. We need to document the player experience with these infills and how they cope under these stress tests. Can they maintain long term performance?
Many new materials that have not been in a test bed provide no or very short warranties, another reason for investors not to take the risk.
Innovation & being a leader
Leaders and risk takers are needed to embrace innovation and many of the new products need to prove compliance, noting they may still only be in the version one of prototyping.
Procurement and organisations who manage multiple fields should be the champions of innovation and can have a much larger impact on the environment. The smaller councils, Kommune’s might naturally follow the larger investors who have more time, money and resources to research innovation.
Variables
Key variables at TestbedNordic are weather through 12 months, usage and maintenance stress. These are all documented while correlating player feedback and objective testing of the surface.
Seeing how these infills and systems react in high, low and volatile temperature changes is clearly very important to Nordic countries. The impact of these conditions on material breakdown, and compaction can make a surface unsafe for the player.
Another example could be the mobility of less dense materials in heavy rainfall.
To create a fair comparison the components, apart from the performance infill are kept as similar as possible, such as sub-base, shock pad, sand infill, artificial grass product, maintenance etc.
TestbedNordic is open to all systems and products, the only stipulation is where possible laboratory testing can be carried out to prove initial compliance before being installed in a field environment.
Sports Labs as the accredited test institute provide that due diligence, from desktop appraisal to ball surface and player surface interaction tests. TestbedNordic project will also support the manufacturer through that process.
The objectives
The key objective is to support artificial turf improve its environmental footprint by providing a test bed for investors to monitor and ultimately reduce the risk by investing in high potential innovation. TestbedNordic Swedish football wants to contribute to both the UN Global Goal of fighting climate change, and the Swedish national aim to become one of the world’s first fossil free countries.
On all surfaces, while documenting key variables
1. Monitor player safety
2. Monitor Pitch performance
During the season we will monitor ‘live’ player feedback and testing to identify system failure, and on completion of the programme carry out a tier 2 analysis looking correlation between all variables.
Testing program
The testing is carried out on completion of installation, throughout the twelve months and an on ‘reactive’ stand bye should player feedback identify serious issues. Testing will also be carried out in extreme weather where possible.
The testing covers performance, safety, and construction categories, and are carried out in accordance with European standards, The Nordic Test Certificate, and the handbook of test methods for football turf published by FIFA. Please note all these fields are too small to be officially certified on the FIFA list of registered fields.
Player feedback
The players use an APP with a series of 18 questions that takes 2 minutes to complete. The APP is in Swedish and can be delivered to default to local language.
Questions, fatigue, footwear, injury, hardness, traction, playing time, age, sex, weight
Player feedback is critical to ensure that the player satisfaction is met. So, rating pitches simply as ‘very good’ or ‘very poor’, or ‘met expectations’ is important to categorise surfaces.
Collating all feedback from varying age, weight, sex, and while considering the field age, usage and maintenance we can start to draw conclusions on artificial turf systems that work.
The feedback app linked to a portal, which is notification enabled and password encrypted has questions in Swedish. This is mass data collection that helps validation.
A word from the Project Manager
‘‘As an industry it is important we work together in order to change to a fossil free game. In this work ahead we all need to have a pragmatic approach with focus on both football functionality and environment.
The support from Sports Labs during the setup of the project and the design of all tests has been a key factor to the success of the testbed. In June 2022, we will install new infills to be tested and interested companies with new materials in pipeline can get involved. Please get in touch to find out more.’’
Robin Johansson,
Project Manager Stockholm FA and TestbedNordic
Contact
Niall MacPhee
Project Manager
Robin Johansson at the Stockholm Football Association.
E-mail: robin.johansson@stff.se,
Both Stockholm Football Association. and Sports Labs will be present at Träffpunkt Idrott 2022 in Gothenburg. Come and see us.
