7 minute read
World Cup turf suppliers
Scott MacCallum catches up with John Holmes, whose company, Atlas Turf International, provided the turf for the Qatar World Cup
ATLAS:
On top of the world
Jimmy Buffett’s famous song “It’s Five o’Clock Somewhere” has helped many of us out, when looking for an excuse to crack open a bottle of something at an unconventional time.
It may be that John Holmes had the memorable lyrics in mind when at around 1.30pm at his home, in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday, December 18, he was torn between unleashing a magnum of champagne, a nice bottle of Californian chardonnay, a can of Budweiser or a shot of Kentucky bourbon.
And who could have blamed him. Because, while like billions of others across the globe he had just watched the culmination of one of the most fantastic and dramatic sporting events in history, for John his involvement was more than just that of interested sports fan.
John is the Founder of Atlas Turf International, the company which supplied the turf for all eight stadiums which hosted all 64 matches, plus every training facility used during the tournament.
This particular World Cup final was hugely anticipated, as it matched the reigning World Champions, France, against the South American Champions, and many people’s pre-tournament favourites, Argentina. But not only that, it brought together the two respective Number 10s, the top players of the tournament – 23-year-old superstar, Kylian Mbappi and Lionel Messi, who was hoping put the cherry on top of his footballing CV and confirm his position as the GOAT.
Now often when the stars do align in such a fashion the ultimate outcome can be a damp squib, but not this time around. The match was a sensation. Argentina went into a two-goal first-half lead, only for France to galvanise themselves in the second half and draw level, forcing extra time. Again Argentina took the lead with France equalising again, with only minutes remaining, forcing a penalty shootout. Argentina held their nerve the better and ignited remarkable scenes of jubilation not only in the Stadium, but in Buenos Aires and across the rest of South America.
Messi had scored two of the goals, plus his allotted penalty in the shootout, while Mbappi scored all three of France’s goals, plus his additional spot kick.
It will go down as arguably the greatest final ever and will even put itself in the mix as one of the
On top of the world
greatest of all sporting events ever.
“First of all, congratulations to Argentina for such a wonderful match with France,” said John, when we spoke via Zoom the day after the final.
“We are absolutely elated at the quality of the pitches. They looked great throughout the tournament, as did the practice pitches, which get a lot more use than those in the stadiums,” said John, whose regular weekly updates from FIFA on the pitches were universally positive.
John can talk knowledgeably about football, or soccer, in his language, but his background is very much linked with a much smaller ball.
Before Atlas Turf, which he founded in 2011, John’s career included experience as a golf course superintendent at championship courses hosting both PGA and USGA events. He also spent eight years in the golf course construction industry. He was directly responsible for building 19 golf courses in North America and Asia, designed by some of the industry’s top architects.
So how did this experience lead to providing the perfect surface for the greatest show on earth?
“It was quite a journey. Back in 2012 we receive an enquiry from Aspire Zone, in Qatar, who wanted to try some of our Paspalum – our Platinum TE – on one of their training pitches. We sent some over and then, six months later when I was in the region, I visited to see how things were going. They were ecstatic about how well it was performing and coping with the challenges of heat and water quality,” said John, who has seen the company grow from niche to global in the last 10 years..
Around this time the controversial selection process for the 2022 World Cup was reaching its conclusion and when Qatar got the nod, Aspire Sports Turf, working with our own STRI (check out the Nov/Dec 2022 issue of Turf Matters) began trialling to select a turf grass for the Finals.
“It was a really amazing process, narrowing down to what ultimately would be used, not just in the Stadiums but all the }
–JOHN HOLMES
practice pitches, and I was fortunate enough to watch these trials take place over the course of a couple of years. Finally it was decided that what would work best would be our Platinum TE, Paspalum.
“But even after it was selected we didn’t really realise the magnitude of what the World Cup would be like. Eight stadiums and 81 practice facilities later, we knew…”
A curve ball was thrown at everyone, from stadium designers, agronomists, fixture planners and even Santa Claus, when the event was moved from its traditional slot of July and August to November and December, but John had every confidence that his grass variety would cope.
“The interesting thing about Platinum TE is that it does really well in cool months. If temperatures get as cold as eight degrees the roots will still grow and there is still some top growth,” said John, who added that Platinum TE had been available for 16 years and been used predominately in golf, seldom on stadiums or pitches in general.
While the Paspalum provided the bulk of the sward, a FIFA mandate dictates that all pitches are overseeded with Rye grass, but even then Atlas had an influence.
“Our partners, Oregon-based Pure Seed, provided all the overseeding Rye Grass for the tournament.”
Post-World Cup, John is relieved that none of the issues which had concerned him in the lead up came to fruition.
“There is always the concern that a player will be injured as a result of a problem on the pitch but I was also concerned that in early October the weather is still quite warm. So we had the warm season Paspalum competing with the Pure Sport Rye grass. As it turned out I couldn’t really tell on TV and although there
was some very healthy Paspalum in there and some very healthy Rye grass it wasn’t a problem, although it was one of my original concerns.”
As every turf manager in the world will know, when TV pundits and “experts” have airtime to fill, anything can happen and midway through the tournament we heard talk of paint, or dye, being used – a la Augusta National – to colour the pitches.
“I don’t know if it was coloured. I do know that genetically the Rye grass is a dark green and that TV have lenses that can make colours look different. They may also have used pigmented fungicide markers. But who cares?
As much as it is about the turf for us, it really was about the experience for the players and the fans and if they did colour turf it certainly didn’t do any harm.”
With the next World Cup to be played predominately in the USA, one would have thought that Atlas Turf International would be well placed to continue their involvement.
“It is a totally different set of circumstances because of the geographic locations – Canada, Mexico and the USA. All are very different as is which turf will grow. The tournament is going to be back in the summer and some of the stadiums will be enclosed.
“Time will only tell if some of our varieties will be used,” said John, before adding intriguingly: “There is also some new turf technology coming out soon, something which may be used on those pitches in 2026, which was not available for Qatar 2022.”
Having extricated a promise from John to ensure Turf Matters’ readers are first to receive news of any turfrelated developments from Atlas, we talked about the little matter of the second biggest turf-based sporting event on the planet – The Ryder Cup.
“Several years ago, during the renovation of the Marco Simone course, the design team and consultant agronomist came up with a palette of turf grasses for the warm and cool seasons. It is very different from anything played before because Rome is a transitional location. The warm season fairways are Paspalum, there is Fescue rough and the greens are Bent grass and all the turf has come from ourselves and our partners, Pure Seed. We are very excited about the Ryder Cup this September,” revealed John, who is planning to make the Ryder Cup a showcase for more business in Europe going into the future.
“We are planning to be make a bigger footprint in Europe with our cool season grasses,” he said.
With Atlas Turf International business expanding across the globe it would be fair to suggest that it is always going to be “Five o’Clock Somewhere” for John and his team.
