January friendly on Heracles' artificial pitch confirmed
05 December: Ajax has added an, in its own modest way,
unique friendly to its agenda: on Wednesday 07 January
2004 (kick-off 20:00 CET) the team will play an
away at First Division side Heracles Almelo. What
makes the game particularly noteworthy is the fact that it will
be the first ever Ajax-1 game to be played on artificial turf.
Heracles Almelo is one of UEFA's "pilot clubs" to test an
artificial pitch at its home ground, Polman Stadium, this
season.
The company responsible for Polman Stadium's artificial
pitch is Royal Ten Cate Thiolon. The same company also
co-operates closely with Ajax. The Amsterdam club has been very
interested in the developments of artificial turf from the
outset. In co-operation with Ajax and the Amsterdam ArenA,
Royal Ten Cate Thiolon created three artificial pitches
made out of LSR® fibre at Ajax's youth complex of De
Toekomst: two outdoors and one indoors. The pitch at Polman
Stadium is a so-called LSR ® Xtreme pitch, specially
designed for football games under wintery circumstances.
Royal Ten Cate Thiolon's LSR ® fibre is globally known
as the fourth generation of artificial fibre. The third
generation had to be combined with sand, Thiolon LSR ®
fibre with rubber. Thiolon LSR ® is more
'sliding-friendly' (due to its low 'sliding
friction') than any previous generation, so that it has
become the worldwide standard in sports such as European
football (Soccer), American football and rugby. It's also
the most durable, environment-friendly and natural-looking
generation of artificial turf.
Heracles Almelo and Ajax will play each other for the Royal
Ten Cate Winter Challenge 2004. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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