The Johan Cruyff Foundation will certainly consider fitting future Cruyff Courts with a water storage and extraction solution. The first two such courts have been gratefully received in South Africa.
South Africa is one of the countries where access to clean drinking water is increasingly under pressure.
The fields are located in Orange Farm, some 40 kilometres south of Johannesburg, and Vredenburg, some 140 kilometres northwest of Cape Town. In 2018, Cape Town only just managed to avert a water crisis after residents were rationed to 50 litres of water per person, per day, for almost two years. Johannesburg is currently heading towards a similar situation.
Until now, Cruyff Courts have been regarded only as small-sided courts where people can play sports safely, and, unknowingly, gain experience with some life skills. Referring to his jersey number, Dutch football legend and founder of the Cruyff Foundation, Johan Cruyff, once listed 14 of them that are now being advertised on each court. On the initiative of a number of Dutch entrepreneurs, the concept of a small-sided court and water treatment and storage has now been merged into one.
Sufficient water
The 42-metre by 28-metre football pitch consists of a synthetic turf carpet with a thin layer of sand. This stabilizes the carpet but also provides the initial purification. Underneath, a shock pad is placed on water storage crates that collect the rainwater that drains through the profile. The collected water is directed to a water purification container that was built in the Netherlands. Three UV filters, two vessels that are filled and emptied under pressure, a carbon filter and a UV lamp ensure that the water is completely pure before it goes to the tap. The unit has a capacity of 2,500 L of water per hour.
Better health
The water purification concept has already been applied by the Dutch consortium Greensource at several synthetic turf football pitches in communities across South Africa. “What has really excited us is that they have the numbers to prove that the health of those communities has very much improved,” says Farid Gamei on behalf of the Johan Cruyff Foundation. “The polluted water they used to drink or use for cooking led to all kinds of complaints. The figures show that in those communities, almost all those complaints have dropped tremendously.”
For the community
Both courts were built in collaboration with Rhiza, a foundation dedicated to sustainable, holistic development of underdeveloped communities. “The water collected here on the Cruyff Court will be used for the vegetable garden and soon also for the clinic that we will establish on this site,” says Robbert Popken of Rhiza. The foundation also plans to fill the place with classrooms to help people from the nearby slum get more job opportunities. “And should the taps in this slum soon dry up, the tankers that will be used to bring them water can come and get the water here.”
The first of many?
Gamei praises the result. “South Africa is special to us because it was the first country outside the Netherlands where we built a Cruyff Court,” he says. That court was built in 2010 in Hillbrow in Johannesburg as part of a campaign to thank the host country for the World Cup. “Every Cruyff Court is built together with a financial partner. This time it was Rhiza. There are 10 Cruyff Courts in South Africa at present but our ambition is to double that number.” The Johan Cruyff Foundation is also active in other countries. “We have offices in the Netherlands, England and Spain, and we focus on South Africa, Spain, the Netherlands, England, Malaysia and China. We have also been active in Ghana and the Caribbean.” Access to clean drinking water is not easy in many of these countries. “The concept we applied here will definitely be considered for other countries. Having that said, everything we do is needs-based and in collaboration with a financial partner.” The fields in South Africa cost about 200,000 euros each. A similar amount was paid for the water treatment plant.