Football Club unveils new, high-tech pitch

The Hong Kong Football Club yesterday opened its new, $2.5 million Olympic-class hockey pitch at Happy Valley.

The pitch, using a surface known as Astroturf System 5, is the same synthetic turf used at the Barcelona Olympics and the Tun Razak Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

Heralded as the most advanced hockey facility in Hong Kong, it will be officially inaugurated today by Governor Chris Patten. There will be four demonstration men's and women's matches featuring former American Olympic captain Manzar Iqbal and British international Colin Cooper.

The Football Club's captain of hockey, Quentin Burrows, said: 'We are delighted to have our own pitch. It is really an excellent surface and it will be a huge boost to our teams as well as to Hong Kong hockey in general.' The facility will be mainly used by the Club's eight men's and six women's teams.

The floodlighting at the ground is powerful enough for TV transmissions and the west stand, running parallel to the Happy Valley race track, can seat 300 spectators.

The American-made Daktronics scoreboard has a clock, digital countdown timer, team names, scores, scorers and penalty card indicators.