This season sees a double celebration at ‘de Kuip’ stadium: firstly, of course, to mark Feyenoord topping the league rankings recently, but also because the club won the title of the best pitch in the Dutch Premier League for the fourth successive time! Two reasons to hang out the flag, and another motivation for product manager Jan van den Boom to send them an extra large cake.
It’s not surprising that the pitch at ‘de Kuip’ was honoured again with this award. Erwin Beltman, chief groundsman at ‘de Kuip’, certainly places the bar high for himself, his team and the grass seed in achieving the perfect playing surface. He praises RPR (Regenerating Perennial Ryegrass) for its strength and speed. This seed has been used for years at the stadium to create the strongest possible turf. Has he ever thought about using other grass? “Other companies regularly visit us promising grass that performs better. We do trials to compare that grass with RPR and RPR has never failed by letting us down. We have also done some trials with an innovation from Barenbrug. It’s a product we are really enthusiastic about, so we can’t wait until it actually comes onto the market”, explains Beltman.
Beltman and his team are not planning to rest on their laurels. There are enough challenges ahead in the coming period. “We are in the process of building a new training complex. And on the pitches planned there we obviously want the same quality we are accustomed to in the main stadium. And next year we aim to prolong our title of the best pitch in the Dutch Premier League”.
Other companies regularly visit us promising grass that performs better. We do trials to compare that grass with RPR and RPR has never failed by letting us down.
At the end of each season the Vereniging voor Contractspelers (Association for Contract Players) (VVCS) awards a prize for the best football pitch in the Dutch Premier League and Jupiler League. The union asks the captains of all Premier League clubs to assess the quality of the playing surfaces. The pitch at ‘de Kuip’ ultimately merited the highest ranking, with a score this year of 4.8 on a scale of five.
The determinate stolons in RPR create a natural network like a kind of horizontal netting in the sward, so that RPR offers outstandingly high wear tolerance and an incredibly strong turf. These traits limit damage to the pitch and should any damage occur, the regenerating capacity of RPR comes into play.
The Royal Barenbrug Group is a family-owned business, the core activities of which are plant breeding, grass seed production and the international marketing of seed for turf and forage grasses and legumes. Barenbrug has been the leading grass seed business in the world for over 100 years.
The Royal Barenbrug Group is a family-owned business, the core activities of which are plant breeding, grass seed production and the international marketing of seed for turf and forage grasses and legumes. Barenbrug has been the leading grass seed business in the world for over...
The Royal Barenbrug Group is a family-owned business, the core activities of which are plant breeding, grass seed production and the international marketing of seed for turf and forage grasses and legumes. Barenbrug has been the leading grass seed business in the world for over 100 years.
