“The most modern”: understand why Palmeiras will have a field closer to the natural one at Allianz Parque | palm trees

See what the lawn at Allianz Parque looked like for the return of Palmeiras

For almost two months, the clock showed 5 am when the first employees arrived at Allianz Parque. They wore their uniforms, carried the machinery and divided themselves into shifts to work on renovating the lawn for almost 24 hours. It was 3 am when the last people left the place.

Between the teams’ relay, they removed 52 tons of thermoplastic and placed another 22 tons of cork on Palmeiras’ synthetic field.

– Putting this new one in is easy. It was difficult to remove the other one – jokes one of the employees, referring to the material, which melted in the high temperatures and stuck to the athletes’ boots.

An operation never carried out before, but carried out due to the urgency of the renovation, after Palmeiras vetoed the stadium due to the lack of condition of the pitch.

After two months, the field is ready and will host the game against Novorizontino, in the semi-final of the Campeonato Paulista, on Thursday. But what changes for Verdão?

– In terms of temperature, it will be a more pleasant field and closer to natural grass. The industry has been seeking this, to equalize. With this organic solution, it manages to overcome the temperature issue, it is much closer to natural grass – summarized Alessandro Oliveira, CEO of Soccer Grass.

The previously used thermoplastic already served as a thermal insulator, in addition to absorbing impact, but it does not have the same capacity as cork. Therefore, it was necessary to irrigate the floor more frequently.

The assessment of those responsible for the pitch is that following the change, the pitch will be more comfortable for the athletes, too.

– With this material in place, we see that the comfort is a little better than it was before, it (cork) is softer. I would say it is a fourth generation system, the most modern we have today and still the closest to a natural lawn – continued Alessandro.

The cork installed resembles the one used on the Engenhão lawn, but it is not the same. The material is the same, except that the one at the Palmeiras arena has a lower density, as recommended by the manufacturer of the grass used at Allianz Parque.

The expectation is that with the change, the problem that worsened at the end of last year will be left behind, and the alviverde synthetic field will return to the level praised at the beginning of Abel Ferreira’s tenure.

During technical studies, it was found that the grass is maintained with 50mm high strands, the factory standard. This means that after more than 140 games and 300 events over four years, the grass itself has not changed.

The under-20 team held three training sessions there: two last week and one this Tuesday. On Wednesday morning it will be the turn of the squad led by Abel Ferreira, to get used to the floor before the game against Novorizontino, this Thursday, at 9:35 pm (Brasília time).

In previous moves, the football department followed up in detail and passed on information that the change made the pitch better.

After Palmeiras’ activity this Wednesday, Soccer Grass will make the final adjustments, such as painting the lines. The color of the lawn, which appears browner thanks to the cork, will become green again after irrigation and brushing.

– If you observe, when brushing the field, the cork rises. How do we download? Another brush comes down and when you turn on the irrigation, they disappear and enter the grass again. Most of it will be green, in a few spots you can see a little cork, but it will always be adjusted to the point where everything disappears – concluded Alessandro.

At the same time as installing the cork, Soccer Grass is in contact with the Dutch supplier of the melted thermoplastic.

A study is being carried out to assess the exact reason that caused the deformation, but pollution in the region and high temperatures at the end of the year are already cited as potential problems.

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– We did some tests, we passed this on to the supplier for their opinion, but what we identified was the amount of pollution there was in the thermoplastic. I can’t say for sure, it’s the laboratories and the supplier who are doing the tests that will say it – added the company’s CEO.

– We had to provide a solution, we removed the material that was sticking and brought the organic system with the cork, to replace it so that it did not affect the lawn. For us, this was the big goal – he concluded.

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