Level playing field lets turf company compete

The Life: Billions of dollars are up for grabs in the global sports turf market, where companies roll out fields for football, field hockey, cricket and rugby. George Mullan talks about his gameplay for getting a piece of the action.

"The synthetic market is going to be very large," says George Mullan, the chairman and chief executive of Support in Sport. Courtesy SIS Group

Billions of dollars are up for grabs in the global sports turf market, where companies compete to roll out and maintain artificial as well as natural fields for football, field hockey, cricket and rugby.

George Mullan, the chairman and chief executive of Support in Sport, talks about trying to push the company's presence from the UK into the Middle East.

Q: How much synthetic turf as opposed to natural has your company rolled out?

A: We've certainly done over 1 million square metres of synthetic field. In terms of natural field, we've done over 140 pitches in stadium fields, from Real Madrid to Manchester United.

Q: How are you trying to get in on the football action in the Gulf?

A: Our first step was to open the office in Dubai about six months ago. We brought on board a [managing director] who has been working here for about 20 years in the natural grass business. We focused, first of all, on Iraq because [of a] project in Basra: Basra Sports City. They were building football fields and growing a nursery to provide new grass for pitches. That's our first entry into this market.

Q: How did your entry into Dubai play into the Basra Sports City deal?

A: We had the introduction [before the Dubai office opened], but certainly hadn't had the contract signed. I think making the commitment to open the office, and putting experienced staff here, made a huge difference.

Q: So opening here was a strategic move for the region, and not just the Emirates?

A: Yes, and we also moved an office into Turkey last year because of a similar expansion into Eastern Europe. We're working in places like Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

Q: Any projects in the UAE?

A: Not at the moment. We're very focused on the Basra project. We want to do an extremely good job there, and hopefully open the market.

Q: Do you have any plans to make a bid for the World Cup in Qatar?

A: It's probably too early for bids. Our intention is: absolutely. We did the World Cup in Germany and we've done [some] Champions League finals.

Q: How competitive is bidding?

A: It's very competitive. In terms of artificial [turf], this region is very strong because you've got two major yarn producers: one is in Dubai, the other is in Abu Dhabi. What they do is produce yarn, which we take and turn into a carpet.

Q: What is your success rate when trying to win a new contract?

A: Realistically, in western Europe, synthetic is probably less than 10 per cent. On natural grass, because it's very much the top-end [and] specialised, our success rate would be very high: nearly 1 in 2.

Q: Which kind of turf is more popular here?

A: We see the synthetic market is going to be a very large market. All the tournaments are still natural, but synthetic is growing rapidly over the world. The benefit is you can play on it 24 hours a day pretty much.