Last week, I took time out to visit a pitch CCGrass installed in 2021 and watch the semi-final of the Staffordshire Cup, between Leek Town FC and Stone Old Alleynians. This was my first chance to see the new TriPlex 45 turf from CCGrass in a competitive fixture.
The welcome I received from the club chairman Jon Eeles and his staff was enthusiastic. The new pitch has transformed the club, which is now open every day, up until 10 at night. Most usage is from club teams, but local players have a chance to hire the pitch or play in the Tuesday night Leisure Leagues competition.
Leek Town is a real community club, with the senior men’s team playing in the Northern Premier League West and Leek Town Ladies playing in Division One Midlands. Along with senior reserve teams, there are boys and girls age group teams from U-9 upwards.
But more: football supporters came in their droves, with over 400 attending the mid-week match, showing the importance a football club has in the local community.
When the match started, the pitch was irrelevant, as the ball seemed to be constantly kicked upwards. But after 10 minutes the game settled down with some great passing play and goal mouth incident. The TriPlex surface certainly allowed for a positive passing game, with both teams stringing several passes together and able to keep possession of the ball.
I certainly wasn’t expecting this quality of play, having recently watched a similar level game, played on natural turf. On a quality artificial pitch players can use their skills and raise their performance, without fear of a bad bounce, and this was clear as excitement in the game grew.
Early in the second half, both sides scored good goals, before the game finished 1-1. Stone Old Alleynians won the penalty shoot-out 8-7 to progress to the County final. Whilst Jon and his staff at Leek were disappointed in the result, the game of football was the real winner.
The TriPlex artificial grass system was the perfect surface for football, and showed that the addition of a shock pad (Revosport 10) added to the experience and safety of the players. Artificial turf may not be popular at the top level of the game, but in Leek, it is definitely the way forward.
