A hockey turf is the playing surface for the game of field hockey. Historically, the game was played on natural turf (grass) but nowadays it is predominantly played on an artificial turf. The transition onto artificial pitches came during the 1970s and was made mandatory for major competitions in 1976. All the lines, markings and goal specifications are outlined by the International Hockey Federation in “The Rules of Hockey”.
The 2018/19 season saw Bern’s BSC Young Boys – also known as BY or BSC BY – celebrate winning the Swiss Raiffeisen Super League Championship for the thirteenth time in the club’s history. The team succeeded in securing the title with a phenomenal 91 points as early as 13 April, a full eight rounds before the championship’s conclusion – at the earliest stage and with the most points in the Swiss league’s history.
FROM THE LEGENDARY WANKDORF STADIUM INTO THE MODERN STADE DE SUISSE
Since 2005 the long-established club, which dates all the way back to 1898, has played its home games at the Stade de Suisse in Wankdorf, Bern; with around 31,000 covered seats and standing spots, the stadium is Switzerland’s second-largest – right behind St. Jakob Park in Basel.
The Stade de Suisse was erected between 2001 and 2005 on what, for German football fans at least, is truly historic ground: it was in the stadium that previously occupied this site that the “Miracle of Bern” took place in 1954 when Germany became football world champions for the first time.
This same former stadium was also home at the time to the BC Young Boys, who, with almost 22,000 members, are the biggest sports club in Switzerland. The present-day stadium development in Bern also includes one of Switzerland’s largest shopping centers, a school, a number of apartments, and a solar power plant integrated into the stadium roof. The stadium has been awarded Category 4 status by UEFA, meaning that it meets the European football association’s highest standards.
A top consideration when designing an artificial field hockey turf surface is its planarity. The ball rolls true only when the surface is flat and smooth. Equally important is the texture of the surface, which determines the speed of the ball’s roll. Surekha exports Sports Construction produces high-quality, top-performance synthetic field hockey turf surfaces simulate the response of living grass in both speed and distance.
