Hereford will play on a 'watered' plastic pitch when they travel to Bromley in the FA Cup on October 15th.
This information on their pitch comes from 'pitchcare.com'
Bromley FC is currently plying its trade in the Vanarama National League and plays its home games at Hayes Lane Stadium - which, over recent years, has undergone a significant transformation.
The stadium investment saw the construction of a new South Stand which has allowed for an additional 1,450 seats, and four years ago an all new FIFA certified synthetic pitch was installed.
Bromley FC's First Team Coach Alan Dunne provided the reasoning behind the club's switch from natural to synthetic turf.
"In winter, our natural pitch would often be in a bad condition and games would have to be called off, which would have a huge impact on revenue," he said. "Even when the games were on, the pitch could be waterlogged, it would slow down our play which would then cause further damage. It is for this reason that we decided to have a synthetic surface installed because it offers all-year round play as well as providing the club a constant stream of revenue by renting it out for the local community.
"We are a hugely ambitious club and we are doing everything possible to make sure that we continue to progress up the football leagues."
"It's a great pitch," said Bromley FC's Director Jerry Dolke. "However we had an increasing amount of comments from players who were claiming that the rubber crumb, which is used as the infill in the synthetic surface, was uncomfortable to play on. During hot weather we were not playing at the same fast tempo we like to play, so we identified that we urgently needed to start getting water on to the pitch."
"Ultimately, we want to give this group of players all of the tools and equipment to be successful and therefore after a consultation with Ian Jordan from Jordan Sports Ground Solutions who look after our pitch, an irrigation system became a priority."
"It's made a huge difference to the way we play - we like to
play quick football and when the pitch is watered we have that
effect," said Alan. "We now water before the game and at half-time
and it sees us through nicely. The system is so quick and simple
and it takes just eight minutes to have the whole pitch
watered."