Football is probably a sport that everyone in the world knows about.
Most of the time, football matches are held in stadiums with big, flat grassy pitches. But did you know that the type of grass also plays an important factor in the game?
Some of the factors that are affected are the cushioning it provides to players and the behaviour of the ball when moving on the grass, as stated in the Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry.
For illustration purposes only.
Stadium Bukit Jalil uses cow grass which is the grass that normally grows at the side of the road. However, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh believes that the right type of grass is essential for the national team’s development, so Stadium Bukit Jalil will be changing the type of grass used in their pitch.
As they will be changing to a variety of grass named zeon zoysia, they have allowed the public to go to the stadium and get a piece of the cow grass on 31 March.
Many people did not miss this chance and went to collect the grass as you can see in this video by BERNAMA. Some came equipped with wheelbarrows while some just with big plastic bags.
Orang ramai tidak melepaskan peluang membawa balik rumput dari padang Stadium National Bukit Jalil sebagai kenangan.@StadiumMalaysia membenarkan orang ramai membawa pulang rumput jenis 'cow grass' berkenaan, sempena kerja-kerja penggantian rumput ke jenis 'zeon zoysia' nanti. pic.twitter.com/jf4uIffctK
— BERNAMA (@bernamadotcom) March 31, 2023
A fan by the name of Erik Tan, 47, said he will be treasuring the grass he got by replanting it in his yard.
“Our team played on this grass in various tournaments and qualified for the Asia Cup, besides the SEA Games (the opening ceremony and athletics events) was also held here.”
“I will bring it back, break it into pieces and plant it in the yard, then I can tell the children that this is the grass that our players used to play on at the National Stadium,” he said to BERNAMA.
This is certainly a good effort! We hope to see more of this when other state stadiums make the change.
Also read: Fans of M’sia & HK National Football Teams Condemned For Insensitive Comments Towards Each Other
