United Sikkim’s home ground, Paljor Stadium, has been voted the “BEST VENUE” at the Indian Football Awards 2013 in Mumbai, hosted by FPAI (The Football Players’ Association of India) in association with Bombay Gymkhana.
The picturesque 73,000 Sft stadium has been installed with FieldTurf artificial turf by Hyderabad-based company, Great Sports Infra Pvt. Ltd (http://www.greatsportsinfra.com/)., who are the pioneers of sports infrastructure in the SAARC region. The same company has by now installed over 10 FIFA-standard soccer fields in India, including the iconic Salt lake Stadium in Kolkata, having being awarded FIFA’s highest rating (2-star). FieldTurf (http://www.fieldturf.com/) is the world-leader in artificial grass, with more than 7,000 stadium installations worldwide.
United Sikkim co-owner Baichung Bhutia has been all praises for the turf. “You don’t have much time to play in a natural grass pitch as it would require maintenance but you can have football during the whole year on an artificial turf.” Bhaichung said on the field launch.
These awards are based on votes collected from players participating in the I-League. Hence, the votes clearly reflect how highly players think of the turf in various aspects like quality, all-weather playability, grip, injury-reduction and aesthetics.
Earlier called Polo Ground because of its sandy pitch profile, the stadium remodeling in 2011 gave the football lovers in Sikkim much to cheer about as the natural grass pitch at the stadium had been deteriorating over the years. Sikkim was one of the early states to have opted for an artificial grass surface. Fortunately, it has been working really well for them. The team has been extremely happy with the 24/7, all-weather playable field, and so is the administration. The beautiful-yet-resilient turf has been instrumental in allowing the management to hold several non-sports events as well.
Even the Sikkim Sports Secretary Karma P. Bhutia said, “With the artificial turf, which can be extensively used as compared to natural grass and requires zero maintenance for a minimum of eight years, players can practise freely and we hope that a lot of talent will come out in coming years.”
