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Turf in Calgary


Vic

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quote:Originally posted by Vic

Anyone from Calgary out there? Hope you get all four...

http://tinyurl.com/bqmu74

Thanks for posting. We don't hear much until they've already decided. Relying on the clubs to circulate info to the membership has resulted in poor communication about this to say the least. They had originally wanted 7 so now they are looking at 4. Hmmm. Budget cuts hitting already.

Getting any info as to what type of model & manufacturer they are planning on installing is very difficult. I have asked several times but been told very little. Strange that they ask for support from the soccer community but refuse to provide details as to exactly what it is they are asking support for. The good old "trust us" attitude doesn't go down well. Given the number of botched artificial turf installations on the continent the concerns are very real.

What I have found out so far is good. First it will be in a fenced off area and locked up at night. This is important because vandalism and animal excrement are problems when the fields aren't controlled. Insurance costs go up and fields end up closed by health officials.

Second they are not going to use crumb rubber for infill. That is very good because it is the worst for health, heat and other issues. The problem is they haven't said what infill they will be using. Is it the silica? Some advocates say it is just like the sand at a beach but they end up using the sand blasting stuff that comes with a "don't breathe the dust" warning label. It would be nice if they used the cork & coconut shell infill (InfillPro Geo by Limonta Sport,Italy). That seems to be the best all round health, drainage and heat wise.

"However, the number of hours an artificial turf field could be used is about 1,320 a year, compared to 550 hours for a natural field."

That is also an interesting part. They had originally said 2000 hours a year use. Even at 1320 hours a year that is a lot. We have about 8 month outdoor season so they are planning on using it 6-7 hours a day? Most of the players are kids who are in school.

We'll see as they go forward hopefully they will make more info on what type of infill, underlay and fibres they plan to use.

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quote:Originally posted by Vic

No doubt early into the water for the $500 million recreation infrastructure pool.

Another one on Calgary turf:

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2009/02/03/8243466-sun.html

Damn you're good at finding things :)

"they await $375,000 worth of replacement turf from England. "

Okay this is making Futsal look better all the time! No boards, no "turf" and the surface can be outdoor type that would handle a soaking because the water would run off. Not like the carpet they used to have in there.

So $375k for 70k square feet of "turf" (the last stuff was a greenish carpet) comes out to $5 sq ft.

I sometimes think we here in a wealthy area (north america) just take the wrong angle at problems compared to the rest of the world that doesn't have buckets of money to throw at problems:

Example: How do you play soccer indoors?

NA: Bring the grass indoors! Cost mucho denairo.

World: Change the ball to bounce less. Cost $30.00

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quote:Originally posted by futsal

lol thank you for that last post. When will they realize that futsal is the future of indoor? I havn't seen a FIFA 7v7 indoor on turf/carpet World Cup lol

Yea as much as I like to watch arena soccer (I pay to go watch) I have to admit that Futsal is the future especially for the younger kids. It does develop more soccer skills, less injuries and much less cost than arena soccer.

Like everything else soccer wise, Canada will be a couple of decades behind, sigh :(

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  • 3 weeks later...
quote:Originally posted by Ed

The field turf for soccer centre deal was just voted down by City council.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Council+rejects+artificial+soccer+turf+Calgary/1323244/story.html

Yea I heard the mayor on the radio talking about it and it was a funding issue. Not enough $$ to go around this year. He still hopes to get it done but they will have to work on the financing.

We'll see if they can get any of the infrastructure money from the stimulus cash cow.

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