Better. Bluer. Greener. Poligras World Cup Turf in the Netherlands is back
1980s era Poligras magazine advert featuring Wagener Stadium. Click to see detail.
Wagener Stadium hostS its second Women’s World Cup on Poligras
Wagener Stadium in the city of Amstelveen is no stranger to Women’s World Cups. The 9,000-capacity stadium built just before the Second World War hosted the 6th ever version of the tournament in 1986. The hosts emerged World Cup winners for the 4th time, battling out their games on one of the early Poligras synthetic turfs. Today, the Netherland’s Women’s team maintain their dominance with the top spot in the FIH World Rankings. And the Poligras turf is back but with some major transformations.
Better. Bluer.
The first thing that hits you as you walk into the Wagener stadium is the electrifying blue - you know something special is about to happen. Blue turf is a Poligras innovation first seen at the London 2012. Blue turf lifted the veil of grass and enabled hockey to be seen and broadcast in a striking new light.
Greener.
Delve below the surface and the pitch is also greener. Made using 20% sugar cane and renewable energy at the manufacturing stage, the turf’s green technology, first developed for Tokyo2020, gives it an environmental performance that was unimaginable in 1986.
Hockey’s transformation from 1986-2022.
In the period between these two World Cups, sustainability is one important way amongst many in which the game has transformed. By 1986, a decade had passed since the first Olympics was played on an AstroTurf synthetic turf in Montreal but the transition from grass to synthetic turf was gradual and the game’s turf natives were yet to emerge. By the turn of the century a new generation of players who had been raised on turfs arrived on the scene and the skills and speed they brought to the game were phenomenal. There was a skills explosion, led by players like Luciana Aymar and Jamie Dwyer, who made the modern game became more dynamic, non-stop, 3D and faster - the skills explosion step change was enabled by Poligras’s new multidirectional turf technology, new equipment and smart rule changes.
Blue turfs were the culmination of this thrilling period of the game. At London 2012 they were a bold expression of sport with no limits, a sport which could star in the middle of the Olympic Park and attract 600,000 fans. In 2012 blue turfs completed hockey’s grass-to-turf transformation once and for all. In 2022 blue turfs are hockey’s beacon to young players, promising them a world of excitement unlike any other sport. Blue turfs are now hockey’s unique identity.
The World Cup stage is set for a masterclass in the modern game
In 1986 the Wagener Stadium played host to the best 12 Women’s teams in the world who scored 151 goals between them on a pioneering green Poligras turf. It gave the world a glimmer of what was to come. With the explosion of skills and advances in turf technology that followed, the 2022 Women’s World Cup promises to showcase the Women’s game on another level. Better. Bluer. Greener.
