
Alan Thomson
SIS Grass UK/USA Sales Manager at SIS Pitches, a sports-turf company supplying natural, artificial, and hybrid playing surfaces.
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Sep 28, 2026
339: Can a Playing Surface Change How an Athlete Moves?
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Richard GravesHOST
Given what John's just said there about the challenges posed 30 years ago, what were the challenges this time around in converting those stadia to being World Cup-ready venues?

Alan ThomsonGUEST
Yeah, I think even when you go that little bit further back, for us at SIS Pitches, our first pitch was in 2015.

Alan ThomsonGUEST
So we're technically only 11 years old when it comes to the system and technology that we've developed.

Alan ThomsonGUEST
And I think that's a testament to these conversations that we've had with John and with others to say, okay, well, how can we be more adaptable? Now, I think that was a big testament to that adaptability when it came to the Club World Cup last year.

Alan ThomsonGUEST
We knew that Some of these stadiums, and John was right at the forefront of this with the research over the past two or three years prior to that, was they're probably not going to have time to put a root zone structured system in fully.

Alan ThomsonGUEST
The options at that point were to test and look into the appointments of permavoid systems and laying sod on plastic.

Alan ThomsonGUEST
We stitch the sod on plastic in the farm and ship it out, or how many ways we could adapt to that.
11 MINS LATER

Richard GravesHOST
And with that in mind, then, Alan, given the way technology is advancing forward at a rapid rate of knots, what's next for you in terms of where you see playing surfaces going, what's been developed, the sports, the markets that perhaps might be on the agenda?