Imphal turf pitch tested for Fifa certification

IMPHAL, Sept 9 – FIFA artificial-turf consultant from France Anthony Apparially who arrived for a 3-day visit here on Saturday evening conducted field test of the artificial turf laid within the Khuman Lampak Sports complex area on Sunday.

FIFA artificial-turf consultant Anthony Apparially undergoing shock absorption test.

The artificial turf had been prepared to lay in the State under the FIFA's ‘Win in India with India project” for infrastructure development. The laying of the turf was done by an Indian firm which is authorized by Lemonta Sports, Italy.

The field testing lasted for five hours. Anthony underwent the field test as per Fifa recommended. Shock Absorption, vertical deformation, rotating resistance, Slip resistance, skin abrasion or skin friction and ball and surface interaction test were undergone during Anthony's duty for five hours long. Besides Vertical and Angled Ball bouncing and Ball Roll testing were also conducted.

Work on the artificial turf laying started on July 2010, though the State Government had submitted the proposal for the project in 2009. FIFA had altogether picked four stadiums in the country including the one at the Khuman Lampak for the project. The opportunity was given to Manipur as AFC Vision India Project State .The other three stadiums in Shillong, Bangalore and in Maharashtra except Imphal are already in use.

However, even though the laying of the artificial turf has already been completed, the State authorities are yet to take up the other aspects of the stadium including the spectators gallery, players’ changing rooms, etc.

“We’ll begin to use the stadium once the construction of other necessary infrastructure are completed,” says secretary L Ranjit Roy of All Manipur Football Association when contacted. The government should consider the completion of the other stadium infrastructure at the earliest so that players of the State could play in artificial turfs like in other parts of the world.

Playing on such ground will help the State players while playing outside the State, football lovers in the State observed. India has just 12 such grounds with Maharashtra having the maximum numbers while the NE States have just two.

According to the norms of Fifa to certify the installed turf pitch, whether the football turf pitch passes all the laboratory and field tests, it will qualify for one of the two FIFA Recommended marks. The marks will only be given to an installed pitch and not simply to the turf carpet. This is because the underlying base surface is just as important to the playability of the pitch as the turf itself.