| Twickenham first to use SGL Concept in rugby stadium |
| SGL/RFU Press Release ©, 30th November 2005 |
Twickenham Stadium, home of the Rugby Football Union will be the first rugby stadium where the SGL Concept, a growth and lighting system for grass pitches, will be used. The system, created by Dutch company SGL (Stadium Grow Lighting), will help assist in controlling and managing all pitch growth factors, such as light, temperature, CO2, water, air and nutrients, making a pitch of summer quality throughout the year a real possibility.
Several European football clubs, like Arsenal, Newcastle United and Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven, are already working with the SGL Concept, but now Twickenham Stadium will also be using the revolutionary technique.
This season, when the South Stand is being redeveloped the RFU will work with two SGL Mobile Units, which will be covering the most worn 750 sq. meters of the pitch. If the SGL Concept proves to be a success at the Twickenham Stadium it is possible that next season, when the South Stand is completed that the project will be extended so that the whole pitch can be treated.
RFU Head Groundsman Keith Kent is delighted with the new project: "Due to our weather pattern in the winter we normally have some problems maintaining the grass sward on the shaded west side of the pitch. I have the confidence that with the SGL Concept our pitch maintenance will complement the excellent work already carried out by the Twickenham Grounds team". The project at Twickenham will start in the second week of December.