xtreme-grass-eerbeekse-nl-mdNetherland football club selects Act Global Xtreme Grass for two high performing hybrid turf pitches. The pitches have been built by head contractor partner Sallandse and Hofmeyer.

Eerbeekse Boys, the amateur football club from the Dutch village Eerbeek, will soon be playing on new premium hybrid turf pitches.

The hybrid system, called Xtreme Grass, is an ideal solution to reinforce natural grass with the durability of synthetic turf.

Xtreme Grass features synthetic grass fibers interlocked to a strong, open weave backing. Natural grass will grow upwards between the synthetic fibres, as roots will easily penetrate downward through the woven back. The synthetic and natural components become integrated into the pitch, to result in a high-performing, natural sports surface—which offers significantly more playing hours than unreinforced grass alone. This is due to the fact that synthetic fibres helps stabilize and protect the natural grass to improve root development, promote thicker, healthier growth, and reduce playing damage to the field.

xtreme grass, hybrid turf, synthetic turf, netherlandsAt Eerbeekse Boys, the Sallandse and Hofmeyer construction team removed the existing natural surface in order to create a new, stable sand subbase, as the existing surface contained too many stones. Next, the crew installed a growth medium layer, to provide proper soil and nutrients into which the natural grass roots can develop. The Xtreme Grass synthetic turf rolls were then laid out and sewn together atop the growth medium layer.

[WATCH: Xtreme Grass Construction Timelapse at Eerbeekse Boys]

The crew seeded with two types of native natural grasses, which have varying seasonal growing patterns to maximize natural grass density for a longer playing season. The pitch was then topped with more growth medium top finish construction and begin natural grass growing phase.

After just a short time, the pitches at Eerbeekse began to experience healthy initial natural grass growth. Xtreme Grass creates an ideal micro-climate that facilitates quicker germination and thicker, more uniform grass distribution.

The system will be fully grown in and ready for play in August 2016.

Act Global has worked with leading agronomy research universities and testing labs to validate Xtreme Grass’ impact on natural growth, durability and sport performance. When compared to unreinforced natural grass, Xtreme Grass performed better in shearing and tearing resistance tests. This means that when the players foot a field, their feet will not tear into the natural grasses as severely.

For more information regarding Xtreme Grass, see http://www.actglobal.com/hybrid.php.