May 19, 05:58 PM 
514 Chai Chee Lane 03-16, Singapore 469029 Update May 19, 2015, 10:51pm: Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong posted a video showing how the turf is being laid out.
After the s***storm it suffered for its sandy pitch, the Singapore Sports Hub is certainly not letting the grass grow under its feet.
Lo and behold: the green, green grass of home!
Members of the media (achievement unlocked) were today (May 19, 2015) acquainted with the spanking new turf that will be used in next month's SEA Games.
Combining natural and artificial grass in a roll of turf, the Eclipse Stabilised Turf by Australia-based HG Sports Turf is another fancy proprietary name for a lay and play pitch and is the long-term turf solution to end all turf solutions. Sports Hub has engaged HG Sports Turf in a three-year contract.
The company's portfolio includes the 2000 Sydney Olympics, 2011 Rugby World Cup and 2014 AFC Football Cup in Australia. It also laid the pitch for Etihad Stadium (Manchester City's home ground).
800 rolls of turf are needed to fill the entire pitch with each roll weighing approximately 750kgs. The grass will be grown in an off-site nursery and will be transported to the stadium. It will take 48 hours to transport 600,000kg of turf from nursery to stadium.
The turf will then be laid on top of the problematic pitch of old - the Desso GrassMaster surface - immediately after the SEA Games opening ceremony on June 5.
To inject some common sense into the pitch issue, Managing Director Hamish Sutherland said: "Turfs are affected when you use it; it’s inherent. When you use the turf, there's wear and tear. What you have here is a durable turf system that can withstand that wear and tear. What will determine if the turf is replaced in the future is the number of events."
Sounds legit.
Giving us a live demonstration...
Okay. Snooze fest.
Fret not. Footballers to the rescue!
SEA Games Under-23 footballers Adam Swandi, Ho Wai Loon and Irfan Fandi.
The Under-23 footballers kicking the ball gently. You know, just in case.
And Bernd Stange looked pretty happy playing "monkey" on the pitch.
He said last month that no top teams will play in Singapore until the National Stadium pitch is ready. He was quoted saying:
"All my promises I gave, to bring teams over with my personal contacts - to speak with (Carlos) Queiroz, with Fabio Capello and others, are dependant on a ready Sports Hub."
And he was so delighted that he forgot that he wasn't the star of the day.
Mr Stange, can you contact Carlos Queiroz (former Manchester United assistant manager) and Fabio Capello (former England manager) already?
Here's a better demonstration:
How can we have an Opening Ceremony for the SEA GAMES 2015 at the National Stadium, and still maintain a quality pitch for the subsequent competitive events? In most countries, they solve this problem with two different stadiums. We don't have such a luxury of space in Singapore. So the Singapore Sports Hub has introduced a "lay and play" solution, where the grass is grown elsewhere, and then transported and laid onto the Stadium right after the Opening Ceremony. They tested this out today to make sure everything will go well for the Games. Here's a video of how it works!
Posted by Lawrence Wong on Tuesday, 19 May 2015
All photos and gifs by Mothership.sg
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