Everybody plays football everywhere. There would be a ball and a relatively flat area, which will become temporary football field.
They kicked the ball and left. Who will mow such a football field?

We are going to talk about football pitches for playing real football, more precisely about the lawns of these football pitches, planted with grass.
Obviously, the quality of the pitch of Premier League football fields is different from that of factory or rural stadiums.
However, there is general principles and recommendations regarding the care of football pitches.

What should a real playing football field be like? Let's take a look at the FIFA Football Stadiums Technical Guide:
Recommended field sizes for FIFA World Cup ™: length = 105 meters away, width = 68 meters.

Around the playing field there must be auxiliary (service) zone 10 meters wide behind the goal and 8.5 meters on the sides of the field, intended for the movement of assistant referees, children serving the ball, medical personnel, security services, the press, etc.

A part of the auxiliary zone, 5 meters wide from the side borders and the goal line, must be covered with the same grass as the lawn of the playing field.
Therefore, the total lawn area of ​​a standard football field is 8.970 m2 (0.87 ha)

Wikipedia states that other sizes of the football field are possible:
Length: minimum 90 m (100 yards), maximum 120 m (130 yards)
Width: minimum 45 m (50 yards), maximum 90 m (100 yards)

Dimensions of the field when conducting international matches :
Length: minimum 100 m (110 yards), maximum 110 m (120 yards)
Width: minimum 64 m (70 yards), maximum 75 m (80 yards)

The football field is a complex agricultural facility:

Firstly , it is not flat, but has a slope on all four sides (called an "envelope"). At the same time, the top point of the field is in its central circle and rises 25-28 cm above the edges.
The rise is 5 mm per meter (i.e. 0.5%) and is practically invisible.

Second, the football field is like a "layer cake" consisting of a substrate (bottom layer) and turf (top layer). Not every agronomist can find the optimal recipe for the "pie".
Back in 1957, the Ministry of Public Utilities of the RSFSR, with a circulation of 1000 copies, published a book by Professor R.B. Dawson (UK) titled "Creation and maintenance of lawns" (M .: Publishing house of the Ministry of communal services of the RSFSR, 1957 .-- 224 p..), in which several pages are devoted directly to the care of football fields.

Based on years of practical research, Professor Dawson highlighted key points that you need to pay attention to in order to create a good football field and keep it in perfect condition:
- all preparatory work must be done without haste, a plan should be drawn up providing for a preliminary change in the composition of the soil (if necessary), because after planting the grass, it will be much more difficult and expensive to do this;
- the football field must be well drained to avoid stagnant water;
- the seedbed must be thoroughly cleaned of any viable weed seeds;
- it is advisable to sow grass at the end of August (with the exception of arid regions). Harrowing the soil before sowing is necessary.
- sowing should be uniform, carried out on dry soil, the seeds should not be too deep;
- perennial raegrass (aka perennial chaff, lat. Lolium perenne) should make up the bulk of herbal mixtures, because grows very quickly. It is necessary to avoid clogging of the lawn with the knotweed bird and the large plantain. Weed them out mercilessly.
- do not over-fertilize since this leads to diseases of the grass;
- Lawn mowing should not be carried out at long intervals, it is preferable to do it 2-3 times a week, without setting the mower blades too low;
- sod piercing is one of the essential conditions development of grass cover.

The teaching of the "style icon" of Professor Dawson was developed by our national football field specialists, whose names are heard by the enlightened and are pronounced with respect: Leonid Mikhailovich Krivosheev and Givi Georgievich Abramishvili. Givi Georgievich, for example, developed a special bluegrass variety, calling it "Spartak". The masters were not afraid to ask questions and experiment ...Thanks to their efforts and the efforts of many skilled club agronomists, high-quality football fields have been created in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

But, back to the arrangement of the football field:
1) Most experts admit that substrate (seedbed) the football field must contain up to 85% sand, since it is the sand that not only provides good oxygen access to the root structure of the grass, but at the same time absorbs excess water. And when there is a lack of water on the surface, it exports it from the depths. And an excess of organic matter (including those introduced in the form of fertilizers), on the contrary, over time turns into dust, which clogs all the pores in the soil and leads to its compaction. With all negative consequences for grass.
It has been noticed that in sandy soils, the grass forms a powerful root system, which prevents it from being pulled out by the players' boots during games and training.
The remaining 15% of the substrate is black soil, peat, mineral fertilizers etc...

2) Herbal mixture: perennial raegrass (perennial chaff) + a certain amount of meadow bluegrass(Latin Poa praténsis). For example, at the Kiev stadium "Dynamo" they planted mainly long-legged long-legged (or Keleria (Latin Koeléria)) and French reygras (aka high reygras, (Latin Arrhenatherum elatius)).
Both plants are perennial.
Not to say about them better than the professionals - the specialists of Firma Agbina LLC (www.agbina-grass.ru/):
"Pasture ryegrass is moisture-loving, does not tolerate drought; responsive to irrigation, but does not withstand prolonged flooding and near groundwater.
Ryegrass is one of the fastest growing lawn grasses... Prefers a mild climate, but can tolerate temperatures down to -16 ° C -18 ° C without snow cover. In the presence of snow cover, pasture ryegrass tolerates even lower temperatures. In regions with a temperate climate, perennial ryegrass is truly a perennial herb with high vitality. Can be grown on all types of soils, except for very wet soils. A characteristic feature of ryegrass is its very high wear resistance due to the rapid regrowth of shoots and leaves. This makes it an essential component of sports turf mixtures.
Bluegrass is a viable herb with strong underground shoots and erect leafy shoots. To grow in early spring... It grows back in a leafy mass suitable for bevelling and clean cutting. Bluegrass tolerates trampling well. Thanks to underground shoots, it can recover after big damage... It tolerates heat well, making Bluegrass a suitable partner for other herbs ".
And here is the information we got on the Zoougolok website (http://www.zoougolok.com/readarticle.php?article_id=80):
What is the strength and stability of bluegrass? Perhaps inthe mass character of his countless blades. This herb grows densely, closely: 17 thousand shoots per square meter, on the site where one can hardly fitfootball player. Three hundred stems under each sole. Brush! You will not break and notyou doubt it. You can stand on it without fear of being crushed ...
Famous for sports arenas, bluegrass attracted the attention of urban landscapers. He gave excellent lawns in parterres in front of buildings, in parks and squares. Scientists at the Main Botanical Garden in Moscow compared bluegrass to other plants used for lawns. They took 112 species. Two thousand samples. The bluegrass was the best.
For twenty years it has been permanently decorating the parterre of the botanical garden, turning green near the Kremlin wall and near the Mausoleum. It is recognized as the best in the south, in the stalls of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden in Crimea, and in the stalls of Novosibirsk. And in the United States, bluegrass is planted two-thirds of all lawns. There they consider it the most reliable herb.
And then it turned out that meadow bluegrass begins to suffer with too short a haircut.
In 1970, a small turf was spotted in one of the stadiums, which did not look quite like an ordinary meadow bluegrass. The stems did not stick out upward, but curved in an arc and touched the soil. When the foot of a football player pressed them to the ground, they gave roots, and a new shoot grew from the root collar, and its arc again tilted to the ground.
The unusual shape of the bluegrass immediately attracted the interest of specialists. And a year later they tried to plant creeping bluegrass on the playing field of the Central Lenin Stadium. Compared with the usual bluegrass in the penalty area, where the fiercest battles erupt. The common bluegrass does not survive here. Its thickets begin to thin out. Creeping keeps the rows close. Yes, and its roots penetrate into the soil to a depth of two times greater than that of the meadow.
Creeping is not afraid of soil compaction. And does not require special soil fertility. And most importantly, you can cut it not only up to three centimeters, but even up to two! Almost at the root. This is beneficial not only for stadiums. For pastures too. After all, sometimes animals eat up the grass under the very root. "

3) Maximum grass height on the lawn of a football field should not exceed 5 cm(according to UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) regulations).
In Russia and Ukraine, many experts prefer to limit the grass height to 3 centimeters. Watering the grass before a match is often used to "improve the movement of the ball".
Someone sets the cutting height 1.8 - 2 cm so that the ball does not wrinkle (for example, this is practiced at the Dynamo stadium (Kiev)) or so that the players' legs do not cramp from the super soft surface.
Apparently, there is no clear-cut attitude "do this and only this way." You have to set the cutting height depending on climatic conditions, the density of the grass cover, the power of the root system, and even the habits of football players ...

To "float the ball" - as the deputy director of the stadium "Dynamo" (Kiev), chief agronomist of the Committee on stadiums and safety of the competition of the FFU Anatoly Kolosha says. Most of the articles devoted to the problems of creating football fields and their maintenance are in one way or another related to this specialist.
Therefore, it is hardly possible to say about the football field better than Anatoly Yakovlevich did it - " It [the football field] should be perfectly flat, well-drained, and have a dense grass carpet that should not be hard, but resilient. . These are the main criteria".

4) The football field is a "living" organism, so he needs a good rest before work. Experts believe that the football field is 50 hours per month(these are two games and two workouts per week). If the field "works" in the Stakhanovian way, then the care for it should be more intensive.
We will leave all the subtleties associated with fertilizing, watering, aerating and heating the lawns of football fields outside the scope of this article.
And let's pay attention, first of all, to mowing the grass, because this operation is not as simple as it might seem, and requires certain knowledge.

How to cut the grass on the football field?

The most important thing is to decide for yourself the question when(how often) and how.

"When" depends on two factors: the rate of growth of the grass and the chosen cutting height.
Grass growth rate is a variable, each variety has its own average values. The spread is large: from 10 to 90 cm per season. You will have to establish the rate of growth on your football field by an empirical method of knowledge: naturalistic observation.
However, there is an established practice.
Experts say that " the lawn should be mowed as the shoots grow, at least 1-2 times during the week at a height of 3-4 cm, and during drought - less often and not lower than 4.5 - 5 cm. Regular mowing increases the flow nutrients and moisture from the soil to plants, prevents the appearance of diseases, enhances tillering and density of the cover".
They are echoed by specialists from the site "Zoo corner": For the lawn to work well, the grass must not overgrow. She needs to be cut frequently. The sports lawn is mowed twice a week. The lower, the stronger the green brush under the foot of the players. It is necessary that the bluegrass bristles stick out only three centimeters above the ground. Four at the most. Better yet, two!".
In some world-class stadiums, the grass is cut three times a week.
Conclusion: at least once, but not more often than three times a week(depending on the beliefs of a particular specialist).

"How" to cut the grass also depends on several factors:
1. From the requirements of football standards (for example, UEFA Stadium Rating).
2. From the established technology of football turf care (including the established cutting height);
3. From the financial capabilities of the stadium.

There is a clear football standard - to mow the lawn of the football field only across, leaving clearly visible stripes on the lawn (to facilitate the work of the side judges). These dark and light green stripes are seen in top-tier stadiums, where the games of the world's elite are played.

All these stadiums, as a rule, belong to the highest (4th) category according to the UEFA classification, in which it is allowed to host the final matches of the European Football Championship, the UEFA Champions League and Europa League finals. For example, according to the rating of football stadiums in Russia, the top ten include: 1 \ Luzhniki Stadium (Moscow); 2 \ "Akhmat-Arena" (Grozny); 3 \ "Anji-Arena" (Kaspiysk); 4 \ "Lokomotiv" (Moscow "; 5 \ Metallurg (Samara); 6 \" Petrovsky "(St. Petersburg); 7 \" Saturn "(Ramenskoye, Moscow region); 8 \" Arena Khimki "(Khimki, Moscow region), 9 \ "Kuban" (Krasnodar) "; 10 \" Olymp-2 "(Rostov-on-Don)
Many of the stadiums of the extra class, and of the lower category, are currently using artificial turf and not only for the main field, but also for the training fields. Why? Experts answer this question:Today, synthetic turf for stadiums is very popular due to a number of advantages. Firstly, it does not require particularly careful maintenance and periodic restoration. The coating is durable and reliable. Despite long-term use, it does not knock out or trample, retaining its original color. Secondly, artificial grass for football fields is as close as possible to natural in its properties, for example, it also glides. You don't need any special devices to take care of it. If the natural lawn needs to be watered, provide sufficient lighting for growth, and cannot be used in frost or rain, then any weather phenomena are not afraid of artificial grass. It is enough just to comb it correctly and in time. Third, the coating can be used all year round... If the lawn freezes in severe frosts and withers under the scorching sun, then synthetic grass for football fields will retain its properties regardless of the season. She doesn't need recovery periods. On it, you can easily fill the ice rink for the winter; nothing will happen to the grass, even under the ice. (http://www.bamard-sport.ru/projects.html).

But back to natural lawns for football fields.

The coloring of the lawn of the football field "under the watermelon" is created using spindle (drum) lawn mowers.

The main advantage of these mowers is the smooth cut of the grass and the extremely low cutting height (from 1.5 millimeters).
Spindle lawn mowers are also used when mowing golf courses, in particular the " green "(putting green), which is a rounded area with a hole cut in it, as well as when mowing baseball fields.
Spindle mowers require a level lawn and sufficiently low grass to operate.
Using these mowers on uneven and littered city lawns is impractical and, more often than not, even impossible. But spindle mowers were not designed for such a thankless job.

Traditional Riding Lawn Mowers(or riders (from the English ride-on)) with the collection of cut grass are also used for mowing football lawns, but in two main cases:

- for preliminary mowing tall overgrown grass and removing its cut excess from the lawn. After this preparatory training"finishing" mowing of the field with spindle lawn mowers is performed immediately before the game;
- for mowing football fields with a cutting height of more than 4 cm(as a reminder, according to the FIFA regulations the maximum grass height in the stadium is 5 cm).

At many stadiums where the games of the teams of the First and Second Divisions take place, and even more so, at the stadiums of small towns and settlements, not only professional riding lawn mowers are produced, but sometimes also disc mowers mounted on a tractor.

The experience of the specialists of the SDYUSSHOR them. A.A. Syroezhkina from Bronnitsy, which serve 12 standard football fields.
By trial and error, the specialists of this football school came to the choice of a professional lawn mower ETESIA Hydro100-MVEHH(see) for mowing grass in their fields. And this is not a random choice, because MVEHH has a high productivity, provides an even cut and high-quality collection of cut grass, even when mowing in the rain or after rain.
Currently, there are 3 professional lawn mowers ETESIA H100-MVEHH in the SDYUSSHOR, the oldest of which has already worked more than 12,000 hours.

And finally robotic lawn mowers, which today are an innovative solution.

More than 350 ETESIA robotic lawnmowers are currently in operation on football pitches in Europe and the world.
Famous football clubs such as Bayern München, Schalke 04, Stuttgart, Nantes and many others are mowing the fields of their stadiums and training grounds with ETESIA professional robotic lawnmowers.

Why did the choice of eminent clubs fall on professional robots?

There are several reasons:
- high quality mowing(even cut, fine mulch)
- unique performance: large cutting width and work in any weather, without days off and holidays (during the rain, the robot continues to work, and does not hide at the base)
- lack of guide wires and wires lying on the surface of the lawn
- lack of noise and harmful emissions into the environment
- low operating costs
- process aesthetics

How it works?
First of all, you need to decide on the mowing area. It can be just a football field or additionally a green lawn around the field. Several football pitches can be combined into a mowing area.

But it should be borne in mind that the ETm105 robotic lawnmower can qualitatively "serve" an area of ​​up to 2 hectares, and ETm65 - up to 1 hectare (recommended length of the football field = 105 meters and width = 68 meters. The area of ​​the lawn (including the football field and the service area around) is only 0.87 - 0.9 hectares).
Qualitatively means that the grass on each square centimeter will be cut at least 3 times a week... The result is a very fine mulch (how much the grass will grow in 2 days), which will rot in a timely manner, fertilizing the lawn, and not inhibiting the growth of the grass.

In order for the robotic lawnmower to work, you must:

- install a 220 volt charging station (included in the price of the robotic lawnmower).
- limit the cutting area with a special power cable that creates a weak electromagnetic field.

And that's it, nothing else needs to be done.

Charging station occupies an area of ​​less than 1 square meter. It is advisable to install it at an equal distance from all the farthest corners of the cutting area. And although ETm105 can move away from the base at a distance of up to 1200 meters (and Etm65 - up to 900 meters), it is still more competent for the robot to spend more time on work, and not on moving.
The robot's batteries are charged for about 1 hour of operation. When the discharge reaches 70%, the robot starts looking for the closest power cable in order to return along this cable by the shortest path to the charging station. First, it returns and continues mowing along the power cord, and when the charge drops to 10-15%, it stops mowing and focuses its efforts only on movement.
Do not worry! The robot will return to the base 100% of the time (unless it falls into a hole from which it cannot get out, but there should be no such on the football field).
It will take about an hour to charge the rechargeable batteries. and the robotic lawnmower continues mowing. In this case, the robot will not return to the point where it finished its work, but will start everything from scratch.
That's why it is important to correctly place the charging station.

When mowing several soccer fields using one robotic lawnmower, it is advisable to have several charging stations in order to minimize the idle run of the robot: it will always find the station closest to it and rush to it.

Power cable acts as an invisible fence that limits the movement of the robotic lawnmower. The robot always works and moves inside the perimeter created by the power cable, and never goes beyond it by more than 20 cm (that is, 1/6 of its body - ETm105).

The second role played by the power cable is the road along which the robotic mower returns to the charging station (to recharge or to rest).
The power cable is laid to a depth of 5 cm. The hole is cut either with the help of a special (very simple) cable-laying machine, or in the old-fashioned way - with a bayonet shovel.
The cable is supplied in separate coils of 300 or 500 meters in length. The cable is connected using special connecting chambers with full hydro and electrical insulation.
This is the difference between the cable laying for the professional robotic mower and for the hobby robot cutting grass in the backyard.
For the "fence" of the football field and service areas, about 400 meters of cable will be required(only 1 bay).

Before starting work, the robot needs to be given a task, that is program.
Programming is done using the built-in control panel.
It is necessary to set the cutting height, travel speed, working intervals(when the robot is obliged to work, and when it can rest) and the trajectory of the approach to the charging station(taking into account its position and ease of access) according to the given schemes.
If desired, the robot can be made to work 24 hours a day (mowing - charging - mowing-charging and so on ad infinitum).
Then the robot needs to be placed on the charging station. In an hour he will be energized and set off ...
From now on, you can forget about the robot! :)

Now let's take a closer look at our hero - a robotic lawn mower .
Exactly ETm105 we recommend using it for mowing football fields. And not because it is more expensive than ETm65 and will bring more profit to the seller, but because the robot will work with medium load, optimally combining work and rest, which will allow him to do the work with high quality and serve you much longer.
By the way, the robot has the rudiments of intelligence, if it discovers that the grass has not reached the cut height set by you, then it will not "thresh" with knives in vain, but will stop working and return to the base. He will rest and recharge himself, and let the grass grow!

Professional robotic lawnmower ETm105 ideal for mowing soccer fields, stadiums, racetracks, golf courses, driving fields and various large lawns (up to 2 ha per mower (ETm105).

High performance This model is achieved not only due to the unique working width (105 cm), but also due to the ability to move at high speed - up to 3.6 km / h.

ETm105 operates silently, providing maximum safety for people and animals, thereforecan be used during the day or night and in any weather (even rain). In the workingmode, the robot consumes a minimum amount of energy, showing outstanding results autonomy.

The trajectory of movement is chosen by the robot in a random mode (we can say that it moves in a chaotic manner), so the mowing paths do not intersect and the maximum coverage of the territory is achieved. The change in the direction of movement occurs at the moment of reaching the power cable (the robot itself chooses the angle of rotation - from 0 to 172 degrees) or when it encounters an obstacle (for example, with a gate bar). The operating principle of the robotic mower ensures that the grass on the football field will be cut by him less than three times a week(or less often at your request).

During the mowing process, the robot creates mulch, i.e. very small fractions of cut grass. The size of the mulch depends on how much the grass will "add" between the cuts (usually 2-3 days). The mulch created by the robot in the process of work will save you from the need to collect and dispose of cut grass. Mulch is a useful environmentally friendly organic fertilizer and has a beneficial effect on the grass cover.
One ETm105 robot can work and take care of 2 football fields with moderate grass growth, since it has "Multizones" mode, which allows you to set the robot's work schedule for two fields.

A cutting width of 105 cm is provided by five cutting platforms with their own suspension, which allows high-quality mowing of grass yes the same on uneven surfaces. Each platform has three short, sharp floating knives made of anti-corrosion (stainless) steel. The cutting elements are equipped with protective reflectors. All this minimizes the risk of accidental injury, especially when children or animals may be around. The blades turn when hitting uneven surfaces and low obstacles, which prevents damage to the lawn surface and ensures an even cut, adjustable in height from 22 to 85 mm. Wheels with a diameter of 45 cm with an agricultural profile and powerful electric motors allow the robotic mower to feel confident on lawns with difficult terrain and on slopes with a steepness of up to 30% (17 °).

For maximum safety, the robot is designed with built-in acoustic and volume sensors, which allow, when an obstacle is detected, to correct the work of the robot: reduce speed, stop and change the direction of movement. More traditional safety measures have not been forgotten - the rotation of the blades will stop immediately if the mower (or one of its sides) is lifted off the ground or the cover of the control panel is opened.

Personal security code and geolocation will protect the robotic mower from theft - the model is equipped with GPS and GPRS modules. The robot will promptly notify you of any failure during operation or attempted theft by sending an SMS with a description of the incident and its location.

In the manufacture of ETESIA robots are used corrosion resistant materials, namely: ABS (high impact technical thermoplastic resin), anti-corrosion steel and aluminum. Brushless electric motors run on high-capacity lithium-ion batteries (LiFePo4). The number of mechanical assemblies and parts subject to wear on the robotic mower is minimized.

Using the ETESIA ETm 105 robotic mower instead of the traditional operator controlled lawn mowers will significantly reduce lawn maintenance costs through labor, maintenance and fuel costs.
You will achieve tremendous energy saving results.
The ETm 105 robotic lawnmower can save you up to 100 working days per year per worker.

So, before buying a lawn mower for your football field, you need to correctly assess all the factors on which the choice depends: the condition of the lawn, the required cutting height, financial capabilities and the upcoming operating costs.
And the conclusion suggests itself:
The experience of more than 300 European football clubs suggests: IT IS WORTH PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ETESIA ETM105 and ETm65 PROFESSIONAL ROBOT MOWERS!

10.06.2015

Seminar of the company "Compo" for agronomists of sports fields in Germany

Firm "Agbina" continues the tradition of holding meetings for Russian agronomists of sports fields. Thanks to the German company "Compo" the next seminar for specialists took place in Germany, in the city of Munich.

The seminar program lasted 3 days and included a visit to the golf club on Lake Tegernsee and football stadium Allianz Arena.

The meeting and acquaintance of the seminar participants took place at the Weissen Brauhaus restaurant. A pleasant atmosphere, national cuisine and, of course, traditional Bavarian beer helped to start a friendship.

Golf club "Tegernsee"

The next day, the seminar participants went to the Tegernsee golf club, located on the shores of the purest lake in Bavaria at the foot of the Alps.

The chief greenkeeper of the club, Alois Tremmel, kindly gave a tour of the golf course and talked about the nuances of his work. Due to the fact that the greens on the golf course are 100% annual bluegrass, they require much more nitrogen than greens grown from bent grass. But the abundant application of fertilizers can negatively affect the ecological situation of the favorite vacation spot of Munich residents.

The situation is further complicated by weather conditions: the golf club is located in a lowland, where there is a large amount of rainfall and where water rushes from the mountains. Fertilizers "Compo" have the lowest leaching rate, so they are almost completely absorbed by plants and are not washed out of the soil. Therefore, the use of granular fertilizer "" has become the most environmentally friendly solution.

After lunch, Mogens Toft Jensen, Chief Product Manager for the German Bundesliga from DLF-Trifolium, spoke about the types and varieties of lawn grasses for sports fields. Special attention he gave the Expressmaster grass mixtures, which include varieties of tetraploid ryegrass, which perfectly tolerates stress (heat, cold, disease) and has excellent resistance to trampling. Mixes of the Expressmaster series are already successfully used by Russian agronomists at the stadiums Lokomotiv, Otkrytie Arena, Akhmat Arena, Kuban, etc.

Upon arrival in Munich, the seminar participants were offered an exclusive tour of the city's sights with a Russian-speaking guide.

Allianz Arena Football Stadium

The second day of the seminar included a visit to the Allianz Arena - the main stadium in Bavaria. In the VIP box of the stadium, a discussion was held with the chief agronomist and the football field maintenance team.

Dr. Fritz Lord, Chartered Agricultural Engineer and Member of the Board of Directors of the International Lawn Society (ITS), spoke about the role of nutrients in lawn care and advanced fertilization technologies sports fields.

Alexander Richter, greenkeeper and director of Richter Rasen, spoke about the importance of using high-quality natural turf in football stadiums.

The Allianz Arena uses the Grass Master technology, which implies inserting artificial fibers into the natural lawn. About 17-18 million stitches are implanted on one football field using a special machine. Planting depth is about 20 cm. Thanks to these fibers, the field becomes more stable, better drained and retains its green color. The roots of the herb are intertwined with a stronger base and strengthen the vegetation layer. At the same time, natural grass makes up 95-97%, so that such a coverage can be called absolutely natural.

We were lucky enough to get to the stadium at the time of the renovation of the football field. The video shows how agronomists remove the top layer of the lawn without damaging the artificial fibers of the Grass Master system. Subsequently, a new lawn will be sown on the field, consisting of the sports varieties of bluegrass and ryegrass.

A big problem for greenkeepers is the shade of the football field. In order for the lawn to receive the required amount of light, the technical service of the stadium installed an artificial lighting system, the maintenance of which costs 750,000 euros per year!

Agronomists home arena football club Bavaria uses Compo fertilizers abundantly. To prepare the field for the games, they apply the "" series of prolonged-release fertilizer, which ensures long-term feeding. During the championship, experts switch to weekly application of instant fertilizers, alternating between liquid fertilizer "" (applied with irrigation) and granular fertilizer "".

We can say that the trip to the heart of Bavaria was successful. The rich program of the seminar was highly appreciated by the participants and invited experts.

The Agbina firm expresses its deep gratitude to the Russian agronomists, who, despite the busy schedule, found the opportunity to attend the event, foreign specialists who prepared interesting speeches, and the Compo employees who organized this useful seminar for everyone!

Football has become a Great Game because it has always been and remains a living organism. Over time, the rules have changed, the generations of players and coaches, the shape of the players and the color of the ball. The reasons, as a rule, were technology, scientific discoveries and advertising budgets. Only one postulate remained unchanged, no matter what: the world championships were always held only on natural turf.

About this important component big tournament we'll talk today.

WHERE IS THE LAWN, AND WHERE IS THE FOUNDATION

All experiments are carried out on an experimental field with an area of ​​6x6 meters. In terms of its equipment, this is a tiny copy of a modern football stadium.

So, the starting point of our research will be the grass. Rather, not even the emerald flora itself, but an engineering complex of structures, which is commonly called a football pitch.

After all, no one has been playing on a sown meadow for a long time: a modern meadow is a multi-layered cake in which there is as much engineering as there is agronomy. The thickness of this structure reaches a meter, and the layers in it are no less than in the popular Napoleon cake. In a word, you can't do without a real specialist here.

In addition to the canonical "why is the grass green?" and “how do you do it?” there is a whole list of topics to cover: engineering fundamentals, field components, agronomists, breeding and timing. After all, the start of the long-awaited world championship is not long to wait, and many fields of brand new stadiums are not yet pleasing to the eye with abundant vegetation.

To be completely frank, only the stadium in Kazan and the Otkrytie arena are ready to host the championship. And in Yekaterinburg, for example, they are just preparing to fill the foundation for the stands.

EMIRATES AND HYBERY: NOTHING IN COMMON

With these thoughts we got to Kotelniki, where an excursion to the world of herbs in the specialized center "Russian Lawns" awaited us. We will be brought up to date by the teacher of the Timiryazev Academy, expert and enthusiast Dmitry Lyanguzov, chief specialist of lawn quality control. It is he who must reveal all the subtleties of the structure and content of the field in a modern football stadium.

The technology of football fields at our stadiums is no different from foreign ones, because we, like the rest of the world, use patented solutions that have been tested and run in many sports facilities, ”says Lyanguzov.

There are, of course, their own specifics. For example, we often lack ventilation during a match, which is so necessary for the grass, due to the prohibition of the security service to open the gates at the stadiums. This is bad for the field, but not critical.

We already know how to deal with the cold, as well as with the reluctance of herbs to give the desired result in late autumn and early spring. So, modern Russian stadiums have everything you need to host matches of any rank.

- What is the basis of a good football pitch? What determines its quality and condition?

The modern football field is extremely complex from an engineering, biological and agronomic point of view. After all, one has to take into account a myriad of interdependent factors, each of which must be kept in mind by the agronomist (or, as it is now fashionable to call it, the greenkeeper).

Even experienced and talented colleagues, and for me the model of a football stadium agronomist is Natalya Belikova (agronomist of the Petrovsky stadium in St. Petersburg. - Ed.), Even people of this level are not immune from mistakes.

Because it is impossible to take into account all the parameters. And it is often impossible to influence them. But if it is required to play in November, then we will prepare the field, no matter what.

- What options does an agronomist have for arranging a football field?

There are several directions for the organization of a football field and its operation. If we are talking about the traditional use of the meadow, then the process takes a lot of time and is associated with significant expenses and careful maintenance for long-term operation.

Today everything is different. New technologies have appeared, the selection of herbs again. The dynamics of the sport itself has increased, and the functionality of the stadium has also changed. Today they are playing for the Cup, and tomorrow they will have a rock concert. And agronomists need to adapt to these trends.

Comparing Emirates Stadium to Highbury, we find almost no similarities. For decades, the lawn has been grown and groomed in the old stadium. No wonder he was considered the best in the whole Old World.

Emirates has three surface changes per season. One day for preparation, one day for replacement. And that's all. You can go out and play. Ultimately, everything depends on finances, everything is decided by the economy. The main thing is fast and functional.

"THERE IS NO ROLLED LAWN"

- Is it correct to say that today the roll lawn rules the ball?

I always say that there is no roll lawn. A roll is a way of moving from one point to another. Any lawn is still sown, grown from seeds.

There is a technology for the production of a roll lawn, sharpened specifically for sports. If it is grown for our climatic zone, then there will be no problems. Rolled and grown lawn technologies do not compete, but complement each other.

For each stadium there is a whole load of requirements that must be taken into account when building a field. Greenkeeper chooses based on his capabilities and needs. Therefore, everything is deeply individual.

Lighting, irrigation and heating are the foundation of a solid football field.

- You mentioned the term "climatic zone". How will the lawn for Petrozavodsk differ from the Krasnodar lawn?

A fundamentally different selection of herbs, because temperatures and illumination are fundamentally different. And then it's a matter of technology.

- How long does it take for the lawn to reach its playing parameters?

Breeding work does not stand still. There are already varieties of herbs that, two months after sowing, create excellent conditions for playing football.

- What else needs to be done in order for our field to be able to host the matches of the national teams and the Champions League?

You need to sew it with synthetic thread. Regulations international competitions allows the presence of 5% synthetics in natural grass. There is special devices, allowing you to flash an entire football field in a day. Gradually, the grass roots grow together with synthetic fibers, adding strength and stability to the lawn.

- After this operation, the field already requires less effort on the part of the agronomist?

Why ?! Of course, the field will require close attention. Repair and maintenance works are carried out regularly and are pre-written in the schedule. Moreover, we have a need to play “off-season”.

"GRASS SHOULD BE CUT EVERY DAY"

- How often is the lawn mowed on the football field?

So it turns out you need to start the lawn mower every day. True, sometimes agronomists let the grass grow up to 4-5 cm in height in order to strengthen the root system. Then you have to mow in several stages with a break.

Football players often scold Russian fields, calling them vegetable gardens, for bald spots and puddles. Why do these problems appear?

The problem here is not even rainfall and excessive watering. If everything is in order with the water permeability of the lawn, then the water will quickly go away. Most often, this means that compaction has occurred in the soil, that is, for some reason, the water has stopped leaving.

This is a regular problem in fields that are not sand-based, but soil-based. Such a field requires surgery, the scale of which can only be judged by an agronomist.

- How to deal with frost?

Sometimes the fields are covered, but, as a rule, there is enough heating. Working with temperatures is a complex science based primarily on the experience of an agronomist. Describing all the subtleties at once will not work, so let this be our agronomic magic. Each profession should have its own secrets.

PROFESSION

Greenkeeper is a profession that came to football from golf. In a game with a club, the most important part of the field is the “green” - a flat round area with short-cut grass, where, in fact, the hole is located.

The outcome of the game often depends on the condition of the lawn on this site, so a specialist is required who will monitor the quality of the grass on the “green”. This is how the greenkeepers appeared - the keepers of the green area.

Subsequently, all agronomists who are engaged in sports facilities, became known as greenkeepers.

Today it is an extremely difficult profession that requires not only broad agronomic knowledge and engineering skills, but also developed intuition. The term of training for a good specialist in this field can be up to eight to ten years.

There are very few of their own craftsmen in the Russian Federation, which sounds especially sad in the context of the upcoming 2018 World Cup. After all, a simple extract of the "Varangian" will not help the business: a foreign specialist can be a real ace in his homeland, but it will take him too much time to acclimatize, to understand the conditions and specifics.

PARAMETERS

One roll of lawn with an area of ​​0.8 m2, weighs up to 20 kilograms. According to the FIFA technical guidelines, the recommended size of the football field should be 105 meters long and 68 meters wide. That is, the area of ​​the meadow is 7140 m2, or 0.71 hectares.

Around the playing field there must be an auxiliary zone at least 10 meters wide behind the goal and at least 8.5 meters on the sides. It is designed for the movement of referees, children throwing balls, medical staff and the press, as well as security services.

Alexander Efremov: "The field is like a child, you need to take care of it 24 hours a day"

Bad fields are a perennial problem Russian football... Clubs are forced to play in reserve stadiums every fall and spring, artificial turf, in arenas or even at their own bases. And instead of football, spectators sometimes have to watch water polo, as in 2011 in Samara, when Krylia Sovetov hosted Dynamo Moscow, or fighting in the mud, as in September 2013 in the CSKA - Anji match on a potato field stadium on East Street. However, according to Alexander EFREMOV, a football lawn specialist and expert of the RFU commission, there is nothing impossible in having a good pitch now. He also told how to do this.

It seems that there is not a single football stadium in Russia whose lawn has never been in trouble. Is it only "Luzhniki" with their artificial turf... In fact, there is nothing difficult in maintaining the normal state of the field, says football lawn specialist Alexander Efremov: “Now there is enough technology to have a good field both in spring and autumn. You just need to have a desire to look after him. If the club does not have its own specialists, then you can contact specialized firms that will provide both agronomists and technologies. By the time the season resumes, by about March 15th, you can make the field normal! Of course, the March fields in terms of the density of grass, in terms of the level of grass stand will not be the same as those in May or June. But we must strive for this. All mechanisms are in place to make the field strong ”.

Alexander Yuryevich does not deny that there are regions in Russia where it is more difficult to do this. For example, Tomsk, where night frosts of 10-15 degrees may remain in March. But even there you can handle it.

“There were a lot of complaints about the football club Tom's lawn last year. But then they sent me a photo dated April 1st. No questions asked! It's just that people are investing, - says Alexander Yuryevich. - There were many problems in St. Petersburg, there were questions to Lokomotiv at the time. Now, there, and there everything is fine. "

According to Efremov, the main task of the specialists is to send the field dry in winter so that the root system does not freeze. Then she will simply fall asleep in winter, and will not die out. If the field is not dry, you will have to keep it heated all winter, and this is, firstly, costly, and secondly, under the film that covers the fields in winter, mold can form when heated, and then the field can be simply eaten. He will have to reseed and change the sod.

“It is wrong to compare us with Europe and our fields with their evergreen lawns. In Russia six months of the year are winter. There is not enough sun and warmth. At the same time, matches are sometimes played until mid-December, and as a rule, at this time, the fields are heated. Because in a natural situation, the grass falls asleep in October - early November. And this is also a problem. Those fields that are not heated are usually in good condition in spring, ”the specialist explains. In any case, before leaving for a break, you need to prepare the field for the spring.

Heated, as it turns out, is also not so simple. For example, the long-suffering Arsenal stadium in Tula. It turns out that the problem is that the heating under the field is at a depth of 40-45 cm, which means that at the level of the root system the temperature in the cold is somewhere around 10-12 degrees. “At this temperature, the grass grows for two to three months,” explains Efremov. - We usually do heating at a depth of 18-20 cm, including it in the autumn-winter

the period when the root system lies at a depth of 6-7 cm at best. Care must be taken to ensure that the temperature is not too high, because then you can burn the root system. "

An air supply is required to dry the field. According to Alexander Efremov, fields dry out best in open stadiums such as Petrovsky or Arena Khimki. And on "Spartak" or "Locomotive" there is an artificial air supply system, but according to the expert, such a system can also be treated in two ways. It dries the root system well, and the problem of our fields is just the surface of the grass. Best of all, according to Alexander Yuryevich, are the fields at Schalke (Germany) and at the new Zenit Arena. They are retractable. “The match has been played, the pitch has been moved forward, it is well ventilated and illuminated by the sun,” he explains. - Because there are always problems with lighting. In closed stadiums, there will always be some part of the field that will be deficient in sun, even in summer. This is solved by special lighting. Yes, the retractable field is a very expensive project, but it is the best one. "

In Russia, according to Efremov, you cannot use the grass seeds that are used in Europe. They most often die off in our country. There are special adapted seeds for Russian lawns.

The turf is also adapted to withstand winter well. Only such a turf has its own drawback: it is highly prone to trampling. “Therefore, we must immediately add more resistant seeds,” Alexander Yuryevich explains how to solve the problem.

According to him, the sod must be constantly changed. And how often depends on the finances of the club. “At the Ajax stadium, for example, it is changed 7-8 times a year,” says the specialist. - Change the sod - not like that a big problem... It doesn't cost fantastic money and can be done in a week. "

It is also possible to restore a field that has lost its appearance in two or three days. “In the spring, the main principle should work: today we played, the field was beaten. But to next game it shouldn't be any worse. It should be better! Because the weather is improving, - says Efremov. - If you know before the game that it will rain, then you need to do a set of work in advance, so that even after the field is placed, it will become better for the next game. You can tighten it with a film, add fertilizers, growth stimulants. "

As Alexander Yuryevich explained, the field should rest after the game, and how much time it takes depends on the time of year. In the summer, it will be ready in a day or two. All potholes, all torn-out places can be repaired within 24 hours. In the spring, it will be necessary to sow seeds in bald places, add soil so that the field is even. In the spring, you need to leave it alone for at least a week.

“You see, different seeds have different germination times. Some emerge only after 14 days. To shorten this time, we prepare a special mixture a week before the game. When you put seeds together with this mixture in the field, the grass starts to appear in two or three days, ”explains Efremov.

But how to make the field rest for seven days in the spring? For example, in April we have two rounds a week, and in some stadiums there are two clubs. “Okay games! - Efremov is indignant. - We have some clubs like to practice playing fields! And this cannot be done in the spring. The game kills the field less than training. And if it also snowed and rained? The lawn has swam, and in this case it will be difficult to restore it within three or four days. "

How much does a turnkey soccer field cost? And how long does it take to do it? According to Alexander Yuryevich, if the weather conditions allow, then in a month and a half you can cope, and completely, that is, with the drainage system, with crushed stone, heating, irrigation system, and with the creation of a vegetation layer. And it will cost less than a million dollars.

A complex of works to restore the lawn will cost about 10 thousand dollars.

“The field is like a child,” says Alexander Efremov, “you need to take care of it every day, 24 hours a day. Feed, trim. It is a living organism. And in order to understand the field, all its sores and problems, it takes about a season. "

NUMBER

Football. Russian championship. 23rd round

Krasnodar - Kuban (Krasnodar) - 3: 2.

Zenit (St. Petersburg) - Rubin (Kazan) - 1: 1. Ufa - Arsenal (Tula) - 0: 1.

The rest of the round will be played on Monday.

The green lawn is the same obligatory and familiar part of the stadium as the stands and lighting. Few people know that maintaining it is the daily work of a large number of employees. The Village visited the Petrovsky arena shortly before the match, talked to the chief agronomist Natalia Belikova and learned how to make the lawn evergreen.

With the onset of autumn, a stressful time begins for the agronomist team. To keep the grass green, the weather has to be resisted daily. “We are deceiving nature, think for yourself, grass is not a Christmas tree, it is not supposed to be green in winter, but we have summer all year round,” says Natalya. In fact, the most common plants make you believe that the warm season is not over. This is done with the help of light and heat: the sun is replaced with special lamps, which always illuminate the lawn 12 hours a day. And special pipes located under the football field keep the soil temperature at the level of 10-15 degrees. But when it is -25 ° C outside, no super-modern technology helps, the grass has to be warmed almost by hand: to melt the ice on the field and prevent the formation of snowdrifts. In cross-section, the football lawn resembles a layer cake: grass, below it - sand and gravel, even below it - heating pipes, at the base - a drainage system. Excess water so that there are no puddles, they are taken out through special drains outside the stadium.

Enemies of the agronomist

“Do you hear the birdcries? Every day we have such a zoo here, ”- when there are no games or concerts at the stadium, the cries of birds of prey are heard from the speakers. Such sounds should drive away pigeons from the field, which flock to the lawn in flocks after sowing new grass. True, now this measure has ceased to work: before, pigeons were afraid of frightening signals, but over time they got used to it, they realized that they would not become prey for a hawk. The stadium workers themselves have to run around the field, shouting and clapping. Agronomists joke that such physical activity saves from frost.

Abroad, people who are engaged in sports lawns are called greenkeepers (from the English greenkeeper - literally "the keeper of the grass"). They are taught to care for golf, rugby and football courses in highly specialized colleges. There are no such educational institutions in Russia, and landscape designers usually go to work at stadiums. True, they rarely have to show their basic skills: the type of lawn and the height of the grass are strictly regulated by FIFA, no more than three and a half centimeters. On "Petrovsky", at the request of Spaletti, the height of the lawn is two and a half. The football lawn is mowed three times a week.

The stripes on the field are traces of special lawn mowers. It is customary to crush the grass in different directions. It is not only about visual variety - this pattern helps the referees to more accurately determine the position of the ball on the field.

Natalia Belikova Chief agronomist of the stadium "Petrovsky"

A football turf is no easier to care for than a rose garden. We manage somehow, what to do ... it is not possible for a football player to score a penalty, to refer to a case, in our work this is not permissible: ice, frost - everything is against you, and the grass must be green. Well, imagine, you worked day and night, you grew almost every blade of grass with your own hands, and they go out onto the lawn with iron spikes on the soles, and all your work is down the drain!

Games and concerts

The field requires special attention before the game. Sometimes employees even have to spend the night at Petrovsky in order to water the grass and apply fertilizers a few hours before the match. The agronomists prefer not to watch the game itself: it is too nervous for them. After football matches, the lawn resembles a plowed field, and it takes about two weeks to rebuild the lawn. Employees manually sow the bald spots left over from the boots. Agronomists remember the Red Hot Chili Peppers' performance last summer with horror. After several thousand people jumped on the lawn, the field had to be rebuilt practically from scratch.

Natalia Belikova: “A few days after this concert there was a match. The footballers then came up and complained - they say, on such a field only goats graze. This offended us very much. How do you explain to them that we did our best? Sometimes you want to give up everything and go to grow roses for your pleasure ... well, who will be engaged in the field then? "

Photos: Egor Rogalev