Oosterhout Nijmegen, The
Netherlands
June 17, 2008
Oranje on familiar ground on
its way to the finals
The pitch of the Stade de Suisse in Berne is made up
predominantly of Dutch grass produced by the Dutch grass seed
company Barenbrug,
headquartered in Oosterhout, Province of Gelderland. In Basel
too, the playing surface is made up of Barenbrug grass, while
the finals in Vienna will also be fought out on grass from the
Dutch global leader in grass development.
Five of the eight stadiums
In fact, five of the eight stadiums of EURO 2008 in Austria and
Switzerland have pitches made of grass supplied by Barenbrug.
Initially there were four, but a new pitch from the Netherlands
will be laid in the St Jacob Park Stadium in Basle for the
quarter-finals by the Dutch national squad. A new pitch was
needed in Basle after play during excessive rain caused severe
damage to the turf. The UEFA wants a new playing surface in
order to rule out latter complaints about the quality of the
field. The new grass will be supplied by the firm Hendriks
Graszoden from Heythuysen. This turf company worked together
with Barenbrug in supplying the pitches for the 12 stadiums of
the 2006 World Championship in Germany.
Proud
Barenbrug is proud of again making a contribution to the success
of a major tournament. For most people grass is just green, but
the actual testing and cultivation of new grass types for sports
fields is a drawnout process. “Developing a new type that has
even better impact resistance or a more uniform appearance can
take about 15 years”, explains product manager Arthur
Wolleswinkel of Barenbrug. “Additionally, we also look at grass
strength under shaded conditions especially for use in stadiums.
Our R&D is focused on developing the best turf for sports
fields, whereby we make no distinction between professional and
amateur football”, adds Wolleswinkel.
Worldwide presence
The Royal Barenbrug Group is a globally operating grass seed
company with its head offices in the Netherlands. Core
activities of Barenbrug, an independent family-owned business,
are plant breeding, grass seed production and the global
marketing of grass and crop seed. Research & development in the
main climatic regions of the world form the foundation of the
unique quality products produced by Barenbrug.
100 years' experience
With an annual turnover of 150 million euro, Barenbrug is among
the global leaders in many of its activities. The Royal
Barenbrug Group has 20 offices in 12 countries on five
continents. With experience stretching back over 100 years,
Barenbrug has developed a strong international reputation based
on the corporate values of innovation, quality, marketing and
partnership. |
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