Gressbanen

Historie

Gressbanen is a stadium located at Holmen in Oslo, Norway. During summer it has artificial turf and is used for association football, while during winter it has artificial ice and fields bandy. The complex also contains a smaller training field with gravel during summer and natural ice during winter. Gressbanen is the home venue of IF Ready, whose bandy team plays in the Norwegian Bandy Premier League and who fields 35 recreational football teams.The stadium was built as a response to the need for a grass pitch for the Norway national football team, as well as to serve as a home to Ready and Mercantile SFK. It opened on 1 September 1918 as the second grass pitch in Norway and the first in Oslo. As such it replaced Frogner Stadion as the home of the national team, for which it was home to seventeen matches. The national team moved to Ullevaal Stadion in 1927. Gressbanen also featured two Norwegian Football Cup Final, in 1920 and 1921. The pitch has been iced and used for bandy since 1935. Mercantile remained a tenant until 1947, when it merged with SFK Trygg. Gressbanen received artificial turf in 2001 and artificial ice in 2004.