Waikato Stadium turf on par with international fields, ready for 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup

FMG Stadium Waikato’s turf is in “fantastic condition” for the FIFA Women’s World Cup playoff tournament despite a run of storms this summer.

The intercontinental playoffs to determine the final qualifiers for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia this July and August kick-started last Saturday in Hamilton and Auckland.

And a key component is the ground under the players’ feet.

Stadium turf manager Karl Johnson takes pride in the state-of-the-art pitch and says the higher level of expectation for the world cup is matched by hardworking staff.

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“FIFA has some very detailed specifications that we need to meet, so every day, every match, we are testing some specifics around the turf – the moisture content, how hard the pitch is, the soil temperature.”

The report is updated daily along with a strict mowing regime.

Following the FIFA specifications, ride-on mowers are out and push mowers are in – it takes more resources and time yet Johnson reckons it’s worth it.

For the qualifiers, FMG Stadium Waikato is hosting seven matches in seven days, and Johnson said it wasn’t normal usage.

“It does add some extra challenges with the maintenance of the pitch. The wear and tear, we have played for four days now and the pitch has held up very well.

“It was only three weeks ago when we hosted 54 rugby games in Sevens on the venue, that is a challenge because we had a small window between those events and FIFA arriving.

“Throw in the mix, a cyclone.”

He said there is a higher level of expectation from FIFA.

“This is kind of the biggest women’s sporting event NZ has ever seen, so the specifications are a lot higher.

“My team has spent some extremely long days … the amount of time they dedicate to this job is amazing.”

Johnson had to bring in extra people for the period of the tournament.

The state-of-the-art Desso Hybrid Turf was installed at FMG Stadium, that included high performance artificial fibres and an up-to-date irrigation technology, in 2019.

The pitch is mostly sand – 2200 tonnes trucked in from Tamahere – and it drained well. However, the downside was it dried out pretty quickly, Johnson said.

“The fields are managed daily, and we have got moisture meters to measure how much water we have lost during the day, and we just replace that much.”

The turf sewing machine arrived from Europe and punched fibres 20cm into the sand leaving 2cm of artificial green sticking above ground.

Ryegrass seeds were sown on top.

FIFA consultants frequented Waikato every two weeks to check whether the field was ticking all the boxes.

FIFA senior pitch management manager Alan Ferguson said the stadium compared favourably to other international fields.

“It has the latest type of technology already installed, it is same as what we use in Qatar.

“The pitch has been in fantastic condition for the playoff tournament despite the storm, and we are pleased that the stadium has that type of pitch already installed and works really well for us.

“It was designed to cope with adverse weather events, and it did that very well.

“Hamilton is well positioned to host future events if required.”

Ferguson said the technology was extensively used across the world.

“It is not a new technology, but it is widely used in Europe for major soccer leagues.”