Turf QLD Industry Alert |NATURAL TURFGRASS – V – ARTIFICIAL. The Argument Continues.

NATURAL TURFGRASS – V – ARTIFICIAL. The Argument Continues.

It is interesting in the attached article that artificial turf is referred to as “TURF” with natural turfgrass referred to as “GRASS”.

Turf versus grass is habitually presented as a binary opposition when the reality is more nuanced. According to a poll, most of the league’s players are put off by a surface that can put strain on joints.

I have copied some interesting comments below from the major article.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/04/artificial-turf-mls-zlatan-ibrahimovic-soccer

•  David Beckham, usually so emollient in interviews, was an anti-turf absolutist: “Every game, every team should have grass, without a doubt,”

•  The Galaxy have four MLS fixtures on artificial turf scheduled between June and October. Fearing injury, some veteran stars have skipped games on artificial surfaces over the years, dealing blows to MLS’s reputation.

•  Turf wars are commonplace in North America. Earlier this month the cost of laying temporary grass at BC Place was reportedly among the factors that caused Vancouver to withdraw from contention as a host city for the 2026 World Cup bid, while the use of artificial fields at the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada was the subject of failed legal action.

•  True or not, artificial fields are perceived to increase injury risk and enhance home advantage in a league in which road results are notoriously poor.

•  The branding glances towards England where, as the Premier League’s rules tersely state: “No League Match shall be played on an Artificial Surface”.

•  “Pounding on [an artificial] surface it’s gonna get you more tired, the muscles are going to suffer a little bit more and the joints, but we don’t make any kind of excuses.”

•  No stranger to the treatment room, Philippe Senderos would have felt wary about joining Houston if their pitch was plastic. “I think knowing that the Houston Dynamo play on grass was definitely a factor [in me joining the club]. If it would had been on turf I would have had to think about it a little bit more,” he said.