Hockey Turf Factories & Factory in Spain

The Catalonian Epistemic Core & The Water Crisis Paradox

Field hockey in Spain is not merely a collegiate pastime; it represents an elite sporting legacy concentrated heavily within Catalonia (principally Terrassa and Barcelona), the Comunidad de Madrid, the Basque Country, and the Valencian Community. Terrassa alone—host to the 1992 Olympic Hockey competitions and the 2022 FIH Women's World Cup at the Estadi Olímpic—operates as the operational nucleus for the Real Federación Española de Hockey (RFEH). However, this historical sporting infrastructure currently faces its most severe operational crisis since synthetic grass surfaces became mandatory in the late 1970s.

Under recent Catalan Water Agency (Agència Catalana de l'Aigua - ACA) Special Drought Plans and Decrees (specifically emergency stages enforced across the Ter-Llobregat system), the irrigation of sports turf surfaces using potable water has been severely curtailed or outright banned. Standard FIH Global Category 1 water-based pitches require approximately 18,000 to 30,000 liters of water per official match cycle (pre-game drenching and half-time refresh) to suppress surface friction, prevent player skin abrading, and eliminate directional ball deviation. With sports complexes across Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Levant facing municipal closures due to non-compliance with regional water restrictions, the Spanish procurement ecosystem is experiencing an unprecedented structural pivot away from legacy hydraulic fields toward next-generation dry hockey turf systems.

Municipal Tenders & The RFEH Alignment

Spanish municipal procurement authorities (Ayuntamientos) and regional athletic directorates now mandate that every euro allocated via public tenders (Pliegos de Prescripciones Técnicas) satisfies both the UNE-EN 15330-1 standard and strict ecological criteria under Ley 9/2017 de Contratos del Sector Público. Historic clubs such as Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Real Club de Polo de Barcelona, Atlètic Terrassa, and Junior FC require elite surface stability without exposing their facility managers to local ecological sanctions.

Consequently, European suppliers and localized converters who historically dominated Spanish turf installations are failing to meet delivery schedules and raw material price points, given escalating energy overheads in EU yarn extrusion plants. Procurement officers are now directly auditing Tier-1 synthetic turf manufacturing facilities capable of vertical monofilament chemistry, verifiable compliance with EU microplastic directives, and high-volume consistency to guarantee field replacements before official league seasons commence.

A world-class hockey field functions as a synchronized tri-layer dynamic system. Beneath our carpet lies a high-precision sub-base of open-graded asphalt or dynamic porous aggregate engineered to strict longitudinal and transversal flatness tolerances (≤ 3mm under a 3-meter straightedge, per UNE 41951).

Directly above the base, we integrate prefabricated, crosslinked closed-cell polyolefin (XLPE) shock pads or in-situ polyurethane-bound SBR elastic layers (15mm to 20mm). This provides tailored force reduction (55% to 65% shock absorption) and critical vertical deformation (6.0mm to 8.5mm), guaranteeing joint longevity for athletes while preventing hollow dead spots beneath the turf carpet.

On September 25, 2023, the European Commission adopted Regulation (EU) 2023/2055, banning the sale of synthetic polymer microparticles (polymeric crumb rubber infill such as SBR, EPDM, and TPE <5mm) across European playing fields after an 8-year transition period ending in 2031.

Unlike modern 3G long-pile football surfaces that rely heavily on elastomeric performance infill, elite hockey fields utilize non-infill or clean sub-surface rounded silica sand dressing (non-respirable round quartz sand, purity >98%, 0.2–0.8mm) anchored deeply within the dense root zone. Investing in specialized hockey manufacturing matrices ensures complete municipal exemption from EU environmental sanction exposure.

The Iberian Mediterranean coast is frequently subject to the intense autumn weather phenomenon known as "DANA" (Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos), delivering torrential cloudbursts that overwhelm civil drainage grids.

Our turf carpet backings are custom-perforated or manufactured with proprietary multi-hole drainage matrices delivering infiltration rates in excess of 1,800 mm/hour—vastly exceeding the UNE-EN 12616 baseline of 500 mm/hour. This ensures that even during violent storms in Valencia or Barcelona, surface water clears instantly without ponding, floating the turf, or causing hazardous hydroplaning during high-speed play.

Vertical Extrusion Lineage

With roots stemming from parent company RiThai International's nylon monofilament operations since 1977, our masterbatch mixing, draw ratio calibration, and molecular annealing prevent blade splitting and fibrillation under aggressive stick impact.

Cobble 5/16" & 3/16" Machine Beds

Our facility deploys computerized high-speed tufting lines operating at sub-millimeter tolerances. By maintaining continuous loop-pile tension, we achieve the dense 70,000+ stitches/m² required for non-directional FIH play without secondary manual trimming.

Polyurethane & Latex Coating

Equipped with 90-meter drying stenter ovens, our backing line locks turf fibers with premium cross-linking polyurethane (PU) or carboxylated styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), delivering tuft withdrawal forces exceeding 45 N (far surpassing the 30 N EN baseline).

ISO 9001, 14001, 45001

Every master roll undergoes digital spectrophotometer color matching, tensile yield analysis, and Lisport XL mechanical wear simulation before release, backed by lot-specific test certificates provided for Spanish tender audits.