SIS Pitches’ Advanced Pitch Technology at nine World Cup Stadiums

SIS Pitches’ Advanced Pitch Technology at nine World Cup Stadiums

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SIS Pitches’ Advanced Pitch Technology at nine World Cup Stadiums

SIS Pitches’ advanced sports pitch technology is in action on football’s biggest global stage this summer, contributing to high-performance playing surfaces across nine of the 16 host stadiums at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, including the venue for the final.

SIS Pitches’ Advanced Pitch Technology at nine World Cup Stadiums

SIS Pitches’ Advanced Pitch Technology at nine World Cup Stadiums

This summer’s tournament sees 48 teams compete across a diverse range of climates and venues in the three host nations. SIS Pitches’ technology will play a crucial role in maintaining consistent, world-class playing conditions throughout the tournament, despite the potential for extreme weather and the demands of an expanded fixture schedule.

The UK-headquartered sports pitches specialist has contributed different combinations of its SIS Grass Hybrid reinforced turf system, and subsurface drainage and aeration systems to nine of the host venues, one of which had its full pitch constructed by the company last summer. This builds on two decades of involvement in the World Cup which first saw SIS Pitches’ technology used at the 2006 tournament in Germany and has been featured more recently in both Russia and Qatar.

SIS Grass Hybrid is in action at stadiums in San Francisco, Miami, Kansas City, Toronto, Monterrey and host for the final, the New York New Jersey Stadium. The hybrid system sees synthetic fibres stitched into the surface across the entire field to provide increased durability enhanced root growth. This will help each hybrid pitch recover and perform consistently across different climates and grass types, from bluegrass to Bermuda grass.

SIS Pitches’ DrainTalent system is being used in Guadalajara, Seattle and Vancouver. Importantly for the world’s biggest football tournament, the system provides vacuum drainage to quickly extract excess water from the pitch in storm conditions to avoid delays or disruption to play. Where required, DrainTalent also has the ability to offer a subsurface irrigation function, delivering water directly to the rootzone from below. This promotes deeper root development and improves water efficiency, ensuring irrigation and drainage management can be delivered from a single platform.

The pitch in Monterrey was designed and constructed in full by SIS Pitches’ expert team in 2025 and then also maintained in peak condition during CF Monterrey’s regular season. It features SIS Grass Hybrid alongside the company’s SIS Heat Core undersoil heating and SIS Air Core subsurface aeration systems, with the latter promoting healthy growing conditions for the grass while also deploying powerful vacuum drainage to minimise disruption in the event of extreme rain.

With each venue presenting unique challenges ranging from high temperatures to the expectation of extreme rainfall, SIS Pitches’ technologies will play a crucial role in ensuring playing surfaces remain consistent for the duration of the 39-day tournament.

SIS Pitches’ sports surface expertise and technology have been combined with the capabilities of other specialist companies to deliver elite-level playing surfaces, including some built over stadiums’ existing synthetic pitches. This transition was made possible thanks to the knowledge and commitment of the American, Canadian and Mexican grounds teams who have worked tirelessly to ensure every stadium was fully prepared ahead of the tournament start.

Ivo Lamot, CEO at SIS Pitches said: “Seeing our technology present at nine of the 16 stadiums being used this summer is a huge moment for SIS Pitches and a reflection of the reputation it has around the globe.

“Having been involved in the previous two tournaments in Russia and Qatar, we understand how important it is that our technology works alongside that of other partners to ensure each pitch system performs as intended. For this tournament in particular, expert grounds teams and the best companies in the industry have come together across the stadium network to transform multi-use NFL and MLS venues into high-quality hybrid surfaces for the world’s best players.”

For more information on SIS Pitches, visit www.sispitches.com

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Johnsons Sports Seed delivers performance under pressure

Johnsons Sports Seed delivers performance under pressure

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Johnsons Sports Seed delivers performance under pressure

As a busy multi-sport facility, resilience of surfaces at Bristol University isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity. Helping Grounds Manager Matt Carroll deliver consistent, high-quality pitches for winter and summer sports are mixtures from the Johnsons Sports Seed range, producing performance he and his team of four can rely on season after season.

Johnsons Sports Seed delivers performance under pressure

Johnsons Sports Seed delivers performance under pressure

Matt has been with the University for over 20 years, stepping into the Grounds Manager role three years ago which sees him in charge of 38 acres of grounds, natural and artificial surfaces used heavily by university teams and the local community. “We accommodate a lot of sport – demand is through the roof!” exclaims Matt. “We don’t get much in the way of renovation or turnaround windows so the surfaces need to be resilient, recover quickly and, of course, look good.”

For close to a decade, delivering all of those qualities have been mixtures from the Johnsons Sports Seed range. “We’ve used various mixes over the years but have recently found a combination of J Premier Pitch on our winter sports pitches and two of the cricket outfields, and J Premier Wicket on the squares delivers the reliability we need.”

“We rely heavily on overseeding, often only having a matter of a few weeks when the sporting season changes and with Johnsons, the establishment and uptake we’ve had has been outstanding. Knowing you can get those results in a short timeframe makes a huge difference.” He adds, “Not only that but the colour is vivid year-round and they can stand up to the challenge of back-to back play.”

Reinforcing the quality of Bristol’s pitches, the venue was proudly chosen as a training venue for 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. “We were delighted to host the Canadian national team. It was full on but really showcased the best of our surfaces and the products we’re using.”

“Our Regional Technical Manager Ian Barnett has also always been a great help, providing technical advice to help us make the very best selection.” Together with the team, Matt was recently fortunate enough to visit the DLF Living Catalogue and trials centre. “This just shows you’re getting the best product, that’s thoroughly tested and delivers results in every bag and on every surface.”

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STIGA Hits the Ground Running with RFU Partnership

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STIGA Hits the Ground Running with RFU Partnership: The STIGA team have been hard at work delivering innovative ground-care solutions to rugby clubs across England, following its appointment as Official Groundskeeping Partner of England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU).

The multi-year partnership with the RFU underlines STIGA’s commitment to taking the pressure off volunteers and grounds teams, while helping to create world-class playing surfaces at every level of the game, from grassroots to the elite.

STIGA Hits the Ground Running with RFU Partnership

STIGA Hits the Ground Running with RFU Partnership

As part of the agreement, STIGA has already begun rolling out equipment to clubs and sports facilities nationwide. From England Rugby training centres to local community pitches, the garden care brand is supporting the upkeep of green spaces across the country.

Clubs have welcomed STIGA’s cutting-edge autonomous robot mowers and battery-powered equipment, designed to help deliver professional-quality results with minimal effort. Early feedback from clubs has been overwhelmingly positive:

“We are really excited to be part of this initiative.”

“Thank you for giving us the opportunity to use your robot mowers.”

“We’re looking forward to seeing what this super kit can do.”

Further demonstrating its commitment to the wider rugby community, STIGA has also launched an exclusive discount programme for all England Rugby clubs, players and members, available via stiga.com. A portion of proceeds from these purchases will be reinvested directly back into the RFU community, reinforcing STIGA’s mission to support rugby from the ground up.

This landmark partnership strengthens STIGA’s growing presence in the sports sector and builds on existing collaborations with leading clubs across Europe, including Stade Toulousain in France, Bayer 04 Leverkusen in Germany, Benetton Rugby in Italy and Lech Poznań in Poland. With more than 90 years of lawn-care expertise, STIGA continues to expand its footprint in the professional sports market, helping pitches perform at their very best, match after match.

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Determination, teamwork and Johnsons overcomes destruction

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Determination, teamwork and Johnsons overcomes destruction: It’s every greenkeeper’s worst nightmare – to receive a call informing them of vandalism on the course. That nightmare was the unfortunate reality for David Byron of Thorndon Park who returned from BTME 2025 to discover the ‘destruction’ of six greens, three tees and numerous fairways.

With sheer determination, a concerted team effort and the outstanding recovery demonstrated by mixtures from across the Johnsons Sports Seed range, the surfaces were fit and ready for club championships just a few short months later.

Determination, teamwork and Johnsons overcomes destruction

Determination, teamwork and Johnsons overcomes destruction

The only club in Essex to make the England Top 100 list, David has been at Thorndon Park since 2008 and has held the position of Course Manager for the last five. “Being in Harrogate when the news broke of our misfortune was both good and bad” he explains. “While I was not in a position to personally assess the damage the quadbikes had caused, I was completely overwhelmed by the support and offers of assistance I received from the greenkeeping community. I decided to take advantage of as many extra pairs of hands as I could when I returned to clear the greens and managed to get hold of a lot of materials on overnight shipments – the club, our members and the whole industry went above and beyond in our hour of need, and we’re incredibly grateful.”

David and his team of nine set about re-levelling and restoring the affected greens one at a time, sacrificing the club’s putting green to bring the surfaces back into play as swiftly as possible. “We took our time to blend the turfed areas in with micro-coring, topdressing and overseeding with Johnsons J All Bent and J Ultrafine Rye Green.”

“We’ve used Johnsons seed here for many years and it just works for us on all areas of the course” says David. “I consulted with DLF’s Craig Spooner in the wake of the vandalism and we agreed on an overseeding strategy combining the two mixtures – using the quick-establishing ryegrass as a nursery plant, then going back to favouring the bent grasses. The photos and reaction we’ve had from the players at our recent club championship speak volumes for how successful the programme has performed.”

Johnsons J All Bent sets the industry standard for density, sustainability and visual quality. With the inclusion of three top-rated browntop bent cultivars, the mixture delivers a sward tolerant of high wear and close mowing, while the class leading disease resistance also reduces requirements for chemical inputs.

The recovery on the greens has been matched by the performance of Johnsons J Tee and a bespoke dwarf ryegrass mixture, from DLF, on the fairways. “Most of the other damaged areas have bounced back with some regular overseeding and a good dose of TLC!” he adds. “We have to praise the Johnsons mixtures and support from Craig in getting us to where we are today – it’s all part of, what has been, a momentous team effort.”

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Manchester Rugby Club Welcomes New Signings

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Manchester Rugby Club Welcomes New Signings: The team at STIGA is discovering just how remarkable their robot mowers are when it comes to maintaining sports grounds — and rugby pitches are no exception. When the latest recruits, Mow Marler and Cutney Lawns, joined the ranks at Manchester Rugby Club, it was a clean-cut conversion straight between the posts.

Tim Holmes of Manchester Rugby Club shared:

“Mow Marler and Cutney Lawns joined the Manchester Rugby Club Grounds team back in October 2024, having signed from STIGA. As part of the partnership, STIGA provided full training on how to get the most from the mowers — and they made an immediate impact. Their work ethic has been incredible! They operate day and night, seven days a week, and we saw an instant improvement in the quality of the pitches.”

Manchester Rugby Club Welcomes New Signings

Manchester Rugby Club Welcomes New Signings

As a volunteer-run organisation, Manchester Rugby Club relies on a dedicated team of individuals who give their time freely. With four full-size rugby pitches and additional training areas to maintain — serving over 400 members every week — pitch upkeep is a huge task.

“The arrival of Mow Marler and Cutney Lawns has been a game-changer,” added Holmes. “They now manage two of our pitches, including the main stadium and a floodlit training pitch. This has significantly lightened the load on our volunteers while massively improving the quality of the turf. The grass never gets too long, there’s no unsightly clippings, and the lines they mow are incredibly sharp — the pitches look and play better than ever.”

The improvements haven’t gone unnoticed. A recent visit from the local Grounds Management Association advisor brought high praise:
“They told us our stadium pitch is one of the best in the North West — and the condition of the grass is excellent,” said Holmes.

The club couldn’t be happier with the STIGA partnership.
“We can’t thank STIGA enough. Their mowers are outstanding, and the STIGA app is so easy to use — we can always see what the boys are up to. Mow Marler and Cutney Lawns are now firmly part of the Manchester Rugby Club family — and long may that continue.”

In true rugby fashion, Mow Marler and Cutney Lawns even celebrated their arrival at the club with matching tattoos. The STIGA team was delighted — and agreed they’ve never looked more handsome.

You can read more about STIGA’s autonomous robot mowers and other STIGA products here: www.stiga.com/uk/

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