2 wins in 2 days for NSC Olimpiyskiy

The last days of June saw NSC Olimpiyskiy – Kiev’s Olympic stadium – benefit significantly from their terratile ® and terratrak plus ® Turf Protection systems from world-leader, Linebacker UK Ltd t/a Terraplas, as the venue played host to two events in two days.

An army of Ukrainian fans had waited 3½ years to gather at the Olympic stadium to wonder at the outstanding performance of the legendary band, Depeche Mode. The hordes of fans arrived early on June 29, 2013, to secure the best positions and 12,000 of them danced relentlessly on the protected field throughout the 2½ hour concert.

The advantage of choosing the Terraplas pitch protection system was highlighted as the Stadium’s crew removed the concert setup that same evening and, at 21:00 hours the next day, the FC Dynamo Kyiv v FC Zenith St. Petersburg 2nd round match of the United Tournament kicked off in front of 28,300 fans. Dynamo were the eventual 2:1 winners, just as NSC Olimpiyskiy was the ultimate 2 out of 2 winner, having successfully hosted two major events in two days.

Speaking afterwards, Victor Yaromenko, the Head of the Agronomist Department at NSC Olympiyskiy stadium confirmed:

“I am very happy with the results of the usage of Тerraplas' [turf] protection cover. For the two years since reconstruction of the Stadium, we have held 5 events using full cover of the field and several events with partial field cover. Because of its unique design, the protection system not only protects the turf from mechanical damage, but also allows the grass to 'breathe', letting water and sunlight into it. This year, we faced a challenge to stage a Depeche Mode concert and conduct a football match the next day. The pitch sustained no damage due to the protective cover and following small treatment of the grass, no trace of the 12,000 people was noticed. Everybody was impressed by the condition of the turf after the concert.”