By Bryn Lee
This year’s venue for the Grass Yarn & Tufters Forum was the World Trade Centre, Barcelona and saw key companies and individuals gather for a two day conference, once again hosted by AMI International. Of the 18 sessions, covering a wide range of topics, 15 were in person, and only 3 online.
There were two common themes running through many of the sessions; both relating in one way or another to the environment.
Stefan Diderich on End of Life turf disposal
Matthias Eiles from the DFB (German Football Association) kicked off the first day with his take on the impact of microplastic infills in the German pitch market, where public money can no longer be used for traditional 3G rubber filled surfaces. Eric O’Donnell, from Sportslabs, added to the gloom with a warning session on microplastics coming from worn out fibres. Thanks to Dan Sawyer from BrockFILL the first day ended positively, with a clear and enlightening presentation on natural infills.
Day 2 saw a switch to concerns over recycling old turf, which was covered in 4 presentations. The good news is that there is now successful activity, especially in Europe, and 3 companies are already converting old turf into materials that can be used, either back in sports fields or in associated products. Stefan Diderich, from ESTC covered the industry view, and it was a shame that there were not more football associations, in particular, to hear his views.
The landscape turf panel discussed the challenges and opportunities in that sector of the artificial grass market.
Landscape turf had some focus, albeit not enough considering the growth in this sector of the market. An expert panel featuring representatives from RealTurf, Safina and Fun Grass, were grilled by chairman, Jon Nash, with further insights coming from Anthony Gallagher of Easigrass.
Other sessions looked at the reasons for recovery of a UK football facility owner, developments in dry hockey surfaces from the FIH and a discussion on who should lead the next stage in artificial sport turf developments from CCGrass.
As usual, everyone was riveted to Jon Nash’s update on the global industry, especially the impact of Covid in the last two years. He shared market news and, as always, was inciteful with his summary.
This year the attendance was lower than at previous conferences, which allowed for more debate and discussion. Credit to AMI for organising the event, especially to the helpful and organised Lorna Grey. A final thank you to Sylvia Tabero for all her hard work over the years for the artificial grass industry. She now steps aside and will be missed when we next meet up.
