Thanks to a joint work involving the French Hockey Federation (FFH), the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, the National Agency for Sports (ANS) the Hauts-de-Seine Department and with the support of the International Hockey Federation, three clubs in France will receive the turf that was used at the Yves-du Manoir stadium for the Paris 2024 Olympics hockey tournaments.
The French Hockey Federation says it is “proud to benefit from the legacy of material from Paris 2024”.
The three Olympic pitches were bequeathed to three French clubs – namely, T.A.C. le Touquet, FC Lyon (based in the nearby city of Caluire), as well as the Segré en-Anjou-Bleu – with the aim of continuing the development of hockey within their geographical scope. These three clubs were selected following a call for tenders launched by the FFH on 4 November 2022, with the support of Paris 2024 and monitored by the legacy grounds commission.
In addition to the technical criteria referred to in the guidelines established by Paris 2024 and the FIH, the selection criteria were:
- The current structure of the candidate
- The candidate club’s development project, including the educational hockey component
- A commitment to actions to promote hockey, including the management and hosting of a national or international event, once a year, at least for the following 5 years
- A commitment from the owner of the land (city, school, etc.) to have exclusively hockey played on this facility
- The commitment by the same owner to maintain the use for a minimum period
- The impact on the local hockey scope of the allocation of these 3 pitches
At the end of the call for applications, the FFH submitted to Paris 2024 and the ANS for validation the 3 clubs selected to receive these pitches, acquired with the financial support of the ANS.
All three French clubs are delighted to be the recipients of these Olympic pitches. FC Lyon and Le Touquet will install them in the coming weeks. On the Segré-en-Anjou Bleu side, the land will be laid in 2025.
FIH President Tayyab Ikram said: “Legacy is a major objective for sports event organisers, and even more so with events of such a high magnitude as the Olympics.
I would like to congratulate the French hockey community for having put the legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympic hockey tournaments very high on their agenda. I’m convinced that the three clubs recipients of the world-class turf used for the Games, produced by our Global Supplier Polytan, are overwhelmed and will promptly see the benefits of this for their own development.
And of course, legacy goes beyond the equipment. The resounding success of the Olympic tournaments have paved the way for a bright future and growth of hockey in France.”
FFH President Isabelle Jouin said: “This material legacy is a great success, based on cooperation with our strategic stakeholders: Paris 2024, FIH, the ANS and the Hauts-de-Seine Department. I am very proud of this mutual understanding of the challenges of the growth of hockey in our country.”
These pitches are from the latest generation of Polytan pitches, Poligras Paris GT zero, the first climate-neutral synthetic hockey turf.
