How is Derry City's new pitch 'World Cup standard'?

The first match on the new grass-hybrid pitch at the Brandywell will take place on Friday as Derry City host Drogheda United [Getty Images] In a city renowned for its shirt making past, its seems strangely fitting that the sound of sewing has returned to the home of Derry City. But the colossal sewing machine at work over recent months has not been crafting collars or cuffs – instead it's been stitching together a new playing surface at the club's Brandywell ground The Candystripes have been playing their games at Celtic Park, home of Derry GAA, while the transformation has been taking place. But on Friday it will host its first match on a new grass-hybrid surface as Tiernan Lynch's side host Drogheda United. Richard Hayden, from Hayden Turf Care, said the Brandywell's new hybrid playing surface - a first for any club playing in the League of Ireland - "is a World Cup-standard pitch". Since the end of March, the pitch has been undergoing a transformation. The old synthetic 3G pitch – which has come under fire in recent years - has given way to the new high tech turf pitch. It began with the removal of the old pitch, before it was reinstalled with sand roots, to help with the drainage of the pitch. A state of the art irrigation system, placed into the pitch, followed. All of that, Hayden said, means a game can go on even in "once in a hundred years" type storm. "So effectively we should never have cancellations due to flooding or a wet pitch" he said. Now, with the with the transformation complete, the Brandywell pitch is of a similar quality to that at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, Manchester United's Old Trafford and at the Etihad, home of Manchester City. "This is a World Cup standard pitch," added Hayden. "Professional players want to play on natural turf, they want to play on well-manicured, state of the art turf with high technology – from an injury perspective and a state of the art perspective." How it came together The new hybrid pitch was stitched together by a state of the art machine [BBC] Then enters the giant sewing machine. At its front, 24 reels of yarn are fed in, stretched and pushed into the playing surface via a series of needles. The machine's spinning disk then chop off the yarn and the sewing in of the artificial fibres is complete. Steve Ayomda, from Limonta Sport, had the all-important job of overseeing the Brandywell's stitching. "This machine is stitching every single meter of the pitch," he said. "This installation is better for the club because I think in the future it's a good pitch, good performance for the players and good for maintenance - good for about 10 years". The stitching itself takes place over a twenty four hour period, for seven days. Staff work on a rotating shift pattern. After the stitching is complete, the grass is then cut. The Candystripes will take to the new pitch for the first time on Friday when they face Drogheda United. [BBC]