SIS PITCHES has landed a multi-million pound contract to supply six new pitches to Championship football club Derby County.

The Maryport-based firm will install its revolutionary SISGRASS ‘reinforced natural grass’ at Derby’s iPro Stadium and Moor Farm training facilities.

However, news of the contract was overshadowed by the club’s decision to part company with head coach Paul Clement on Monday after only eight months in charge.

SISGRASS involves injecting, or stitching, more than 240m lengths of synthetic yarn directly into a pitch – a total of 150 miles – which provide a critical anchor point for natural grass roots to bind onto.

The result is an immaculate surface that is up to seven times as hard-wearing as natural grass alone and yet offers softer, safer and more consistent playing characteristics.

SISGRASS has also been chosen as the bespoke surface for the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow – the first time anything but natural grass has been permitted.

Derby’s board gave the go-ahead after the squad tested the surface during a full training session on SISGRASS at the Football Associations’ centre of excellence at St. George’s Park recently.

Assistant coach and former England striker Kevin Phillips was amazed the surface had been used for the previous two weeks by the Irish and Argentinian rugby world cup squads. He said: “There wasn’t a mark on it. I loved it and the training session went very well. It’s fast and consistent.”

Chelsea, Besiktas and Hull City have already installed the system, which was launched only last summer.

Derby will wait until summer to install SISGRASS at the i-Pro Stadium but work on the five training pitches is scheduled to start in the spring.

George Mullan, chief executive of SIS Pitches, said: “Derby are ambitious and for them to choose this product for six new pitches is a vindication of all our hard work and innovation.”

He forecasts that SISGRASS will eventually dominate football and rugby with further usage in American Football and equestrian events.

SIS Pitches employs 40 people at Glasson Industrial Estate in Maryport. Synthetic pitches are made there while its grass pitches use turf grown in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

It has turfed some of the world’s most iconic football stadia including Real Madrid’s Bernabéu and Barcelona’s Camp Nou.