Synthetic turf pitches could be making a shock comeback if some Football League clubs get their way. The debate has begun to heat up following a decision by clubs such as Wycombe and Accrington to investigate reintroducing synthetic turf pitches. A subsequent Sky Sports debate called Turf Wars fuelled the debate and all 72 Football League clubs are now being asked to discuss the issue in three divisional meetings.

SAPCA, the trade body that represents sports and play facility construction in the UK, helps the sector to separate the facts from the myths regarding this contentious subject.

Myth – Artificial turf pitches are hard and plastic
The most significant change over the last decade has been the much greater use of ‘third generation’ or 3G synthetic grass surfaces, using relatively long-pile, and very sophisticated, yarns with rubber and sand in-fills. These surfaces have been developed to replicate the playing performance of high-quality natural turf surfaces and have become very popular for both football and rugby. Needless to say, they perform very much better than the old sand-filled surfaces installed at a number of professional football clubs in the 1980s.

There have been very significant advances in the yarns and fibres used for synthetic turf surfaces. There is now a much wider range of yarns available, with different profiles, shapes and thicknesses, which make it easier to achieve the playing performance needed for individual sports, and with greater consistency. Fibres are now also more durable, enabling surfaces to achieve longer life expectancy.

Myth – Natural turf is always better
The choice of surface is sometimes presented as a battle between natural and synthetic turf, but few would argue that most players would prefer to play on a top quality natural pitch, if they can. FIFA’s Quality Concept (see box out) seeks to promote football turf mainly in regions where the climate makes it impossible to play matches on good natural turf all year round.

A quick look at old footage from Match of the Day will highlight that the quality of natural turf pitches at the top level of the game has improved dramatically over recent years and are a great credit to the groundsmen working on them, but the demand for synthetic turf in the UK will continue to be led by football clubs and other facilities where there is a practical requirement for more intensive usage – for football and other activities – and a need to boost revenue, to help to ensure financial viability. It is inevitable that the argument for synthetic pitches to be used at all levels of football will continue and eventually there will be more regular use of 3G surfaces in the professional game.

Myth – Players get more injuries on synthetic grass pitches
In research undertaken among 290 players from 10 elite European football clubs and more than 200 players from the Swedish Premier League, the incidence of injury during training and match play was no higher on artificial turf than on natural grass!

Myth – Artificial turf pitches don’t need maintaining
If only this were true! In the very early days of synthetic turf surfaces they were often poorly maintained. However, all artificial grass pitches do need some routine maintenance and these costs should be included within the project budget.

Where clients do not have the expertise or willingness to undertake routine turf maintenance, the pitch contractor or other specialist maintenance companies can provide a professional service.

SAPCA represents suppliers of both natural and artificial grass pitches and has further information at www.sapca.org.uk about both options. SAPCA also has Codes of Practice for both the construction and maintenance of both synthetic and natural turf pitches – recommended reads for anyone considering specifying, buying, operating or maintaining such sports facilities.