Artificial turf for rugby will not be installed at Olympos after all

In May 2023, the University Council students revived two projects that had been shelved due to budget cuts. One of them was a rugby-proof artificial turf pitch at Olympos.

It turns out that the 800,000 euros budgeted for this purpose are nowhere near enough. The university's vice-president, Margot van der Starre, announced this in a meeting of the University Council's committee.

Economics student Kim Brandsen (21), from PvdUS, is disappointed. ‘We really value student sports, and that pitch really needs to be replaced! So it's a shame that it's not going ahead.’

Disappointing
‘It was definitely a good idea to install artificial turf,’ says the Earth Sciences student Toine Braat, chair of the Sports Council. ‘After a few weeks of playing on the grass, the field really deteriorates.’

The field is used intensively. Rugby is played on it six days a week, and on the seventh day, footballers run around on it.‘ That means that the first drop of rain renders the field unusable,’ says Psychology student Clair Lea (25), chair of the women's and non-binary rugby club RUS. ‘It's a real shame. We want to grow! And that's impossible.’

RUS – which competes at the highest level in the Netherlands – had already taken the arrival of artificial turf into account. ‘In 2023, we received written confirmation of a new, hopefully more resilient field. The fact that this is no longer going ahead affects more than just the field. It affects the entire club and student sports.’

‘We'll sort it out ourselves’
Hidde Post (21), president of USRS – the male counterpart of RUS – has mixed feelings about it. ‘Rugby on natural grass is better, and as it stands now, just after the summer, that's certainly the case. But in three months' time, it will be a completely different story.’

The medical student had already considered a different scenario. ‘We'll fix it ourselves. Sure, it would be nice to have artificial turf, but we've already arranged an alternative ourselves.’ He is referring to the agreement with SRFC Stichtse Rugby in De Bilt, where they will move to if the pitch at Olympos is rejected. RUS often trains at RC Nieuwegein. ‘It's great that we can go there, but it takes more effort than necessary and it also costs money,’ says Clair.

New destination
The University Council is authorised to reallocate the 800,000 euros, provided that it benefits the well-being of students. Toine has a suggestion. ‘That money should go to student sports! It would be good to invest it in Olympi, especially in light of all the austerity measures and the sports covenant that was signed just before the summer.’

Kim (PvdUS), who will ultimately have a say in the decision, agrees: ‘As far as we're concerned, the money should go to student sports.’ But she doesn't want to give up on the artificial turf just yet. They only received the announcement verbally. ‘We are still waiting for documents and, based on those, we may ask questions or work with the University to see if it is possible to get artificial turf on that field after all.’

Toine agrees: ‘We don't know exactly what the plans entailed, but perhaps there are still possibilities for installing artificial turf. For example, could we install artificial turf only on the playing field and keep the small training field grass? We just want to be involved and contribute our ideas.’