The Council that oversees the quality of sports infrastructure in the Netherlands has approved mineral-filled synthetic turf for football for use on the main field at clubs.

Until recently, non-filled and mineral-filled synthetic turf systems were not allowed to be installed on the main field of a club, as these developments haven’t succeeded yet in convincing the sports authorities that they are safe and comfortable in use.

The approval comes with two conditions:

• The system to be applied must be listed on the national database with approved (synthetic turf) products for sports infrastructure. At present, this only applies to two systems of Tarkett Sports.
• The field will be certified twice for 1 year and then will switch to the usual recertification periods for synthetic turf football fields in the Netherlands. To extend the certificate in the first 2 years, it is necessary to demonstrate that the field has complied with the KNVB2-15 regulation twice in that year. The KNVB2-15 regulation stipulates the quality criteria a synthetic turf football field must meet when it is handed over to the client after installation.

Task Force

A special task force will be set up to examine how to deal with the condition of changing from “test” status to “approved” status on the sports product list.

This task force must look at the new condition but also at the handling of ongoing mineral-filled projects with test status. This task force must submit an advisory opinion to the Programme Council by 11 July.