Contrary to popular belief, artificial turf has been around for a lot longer than people think; dating back to the 60s where it was first called Astro Turf. As time has progressed, we have seen more and more venues across the world and different sports utilising artificial turf for their respective matches.
The topic of artificial turf is very controversial in the professional side of football especially for the top-tier leagues. There have been plenty of instances where managers have complained about the use of artificial turf, most recently Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when United were going to play against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League.
But is artificial turf really all that bad? It is true that the early versions of artificial turf were extremely hard and not suitable for the top level but with the advancement of technology (and with FIFA creating a standard that is acceptable for all professional games), things are just not the same anymore.
When you look around these days, most venues operating utilise artificial turf as well. So should we still be fearful of it?
Why is it used?
Especially for tropical climates like in Singapore and in Asia, the weather makes it very difficult (and expensive) to maintain good grass pitches. Although there have been numerous differing studies about which is actually more expensive to implement and maintain, it is more likely the case for artificial turf to be cheaper in the long run for warmer, tropical climates.
Artificial turf these days utilise ‘crumb rubber’ which is made up of millions of small rubber particles rather than a soft bed of soil, reducing some of the stress that players used to experience in their joints as opposed to grass pitches that need to be watered constantly (making it more expensive). In some cases, the environmental impact of a grass field also comes into questions when the use of fertiliser is necessary to maintain it which can be harmful to the environment.
When is it used?
Artificial turf is rarely used at the top level of the game. In certain countries, there have been clubs who have resorted to utilising the surface for their home grounds as it is cheaper to maintain. However, as mentioned previously, they are still not widely accepted. In 2007, there was the infamous incident where David Beckham refused to play for LA Galaxy against Toronto FC due to the surface.
Due to weather, however, some venues use artificial turf as grass can get very icy and slippery when cold or very dry and brittle in the heat if not maintained properly.
Injuries
Whatever the surface may feel like when playing, the real reason that most clubs still do not use artificial turf is due to the notion that the likelihood of injury on them is higher.
There have been numerous studies done to ascertain whether artificial turf truly increases the risk of injury. In previous versions of the pitch, torn ACLs and sprained ankles were touted as likely scenarios as the pitches were extremely hard and unforgiving on the joints. Turf burns were also a possibility, something which remains today despite the introduction of ‘crumb rubber’.
Early studies showed that playing on artificial turf definitely did increase the risk of injury as opposed to playing on grass but these numbers have been steadily declining over the years with the advent of new technology for the surface.
The fact that FIFA has an approved standard of artificial turf would evince that artificial turf is not that bad anymore.
Playability
Artificial turf fields are naturally harder than grass fields (which makes playing on them a bit awkward at times) and players can expect a larger bounce from balls as they hit the ground. Most venues try to mitigate this by utilising smaller size balls to reduce the bounce but such a measure cannot be used on the bigger pitches.
This drawback, however, is easily overlooked when one considers that artificial turf will always provide you with an even and flat field, something that natural grass fields cannot guarantee every single time. The wear and tear on grass fields can be experienced much quicker, something that you will not find on the other side of the coin.
Conclusion
Well maintained grass will always be the pinnacle of football surfaces as far as the near future holds because, simply put, nothing comes close to it. However, having such a pitch maintained is difficult, slave to the weather and is potentially extremely expensive to maintain. The usage of artificial turf is necessary in certain instances and the footballing world should start to dismiss any of the old stereotypes surrounding the surface.