Sports Equipment & Infrastructure Blog | Sport Systems - Building A Better Game

New Netting Barriers for FIFA-Approved Soccer Facility

Written by Ryan Wilby | Dec 20, 2022 9:00:00 AM

In what is being touted as the “Field of Dreams”, this $2.5 million project was put into motion at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As we were forced to find open-air activities to participate in, the lack of quality locations and facilities quickly became apparent.

In search of more quality soccer pitches in the Ottawa area, Ron Palaczka, a coach and active member of the soccer community, reached out to the Maple Leaf Almrausch German Club. This non-profit club was founded in 1964 and is strictly managed by its members, operating as the only German Clubhouse in the National Capital Region.

The conversation between Palaczka and the club would eventually lead to the Field of Dreams project, bringing the second-largest turf field to the National Capital Region. The project includes  a state-of-the-art turf installation with premium lighting fixtures to keep the new FIFA-sized pitch lit up for evening play.

As part of the project, we were commissioned to design, manufacture and install two new netting barriers to surround both the artificial and grass pitches to keep balls in play. Using hydro poles, these large netting installations are built to last and are among the best options for netting barriers on the market today.

In addition to the large poles, our team designed the netting structure to be strung around the pitch. Once completed, our installation team was on-site and working high-in-the-sky to install the new netting.

With much anticipation, the project went off without a hitch, creating  two new pitches on which to develop local talent, Both pitches are now filled with soccer players of all ages, proving true the old adage, “if you build it, they [sic] will come.”