Following the assignment of the new world cup for 2026 to both the Netherlands and Belgium, the FIH decided this event would be the first for non-irrigated fields. Much to the surprise (again) of most involved. When we talked to players, coaches, high performance directors and other relevant experts most were and are very sceptical. I think all of us agree it is the way forward. Water is a scarce resource and we need to find a solution. But if the timeline for this is a unilateral decision made by administrators, without involving relevant stakeholders, we imagine it could be problematic. So we invited some experts for an open and transparent panel talk about the move towards dry artificial grass for hockey.

In February of 2023 these experts joined me in a panel talk about the move towards a non-irrigated surface for hockey. Listen to the podcast here or watch it on Spotify or Youtube where you’ll find the full and unedited video of this panel talk. Our panel featured the following experts:

• Jeroen Hertzberger 🇳🇱, international player


• Adam Commens 🇦🇺 🇧🇪, former international player & coach – now high performance director for Hockey Belgium


• Stephen Butler 🇮🇪, former international player & co-founder Osaka (stick & shoe brand)


• Colin Young 🇬🇧, global R&D director for Tencate Grass


• Alastair Cox 🇬🇧, Facilities & Quality Programme Manager for the FIH

Listen (or watch) it here and judge for yourself...

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