Feb. 17, 2023 — The FIH does the equivalent of a punt

February 17, 2023 at 5:41 am · Filed under Uncategorized and tagged: Field hockey

I wrote this three weeks ago.

This story came out two days ago.

The outright ban of water-based turf in international field hockey — but only after the 2024 Olympics — is going to have a major impact on the sport in places where there is top infrastructure, such as Holland and the United States.

The U.S. is definitely going to have to make adjustments at places where international matches are likely to take place in the near future — Bessant Field in Charlotte, Shelton Field in Chapel Hill, and the U.S. training centers in Chula Vista, Calif. and Virginia Beach, Va.

But the question is, will the U.S. colleges that have already spent millions of dollars on wet turf and a watering system fork over even more money for waterless turf? I think there are some long-term plans when it comes to the replacement of existing turfs, but I’ll be interested to see if elite players used to water-based turf will have trouble on the waterless brand.

I guess we’ll see when the first waterless pitches are installed.

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