Artificial Grass in World Football

Artificial Grass in World Football

A blog written for footbal agents: The Women’s FIFA world cup is set to be held in Canada 2015, on artificial grass. Yes, Artificial grass. This is a type of surface that is made up from synthetic fibres to give the very same apparel that natural grass gives, along with a similar feel. Artificial turf is been popularised by companies like Forever Green Lawns who sell and fit artificial grass in residential and public areas but it has recently become more common on sports fields. The difference between this and using artificial grass for a sport is that with a sport, the artificial surface will need to feel and act how the natural (commonly used) surface usually would do. Posing questions on how it will affect players performance and so on. Despite these questions, it would be interesting to see how viable artificial grass is in the game, as it would offer a lot of new positives too those countries with poor climates for sustaining high quality football pitches.

The Canada 2015 Women’s world cup is scheduled to take course on artificial grass, meaning that for the first time ever in football – artificial grass will play a part in a major world tournament. Much to the disappointment of a certain group of footballers, it is most likely to be the most used surface in Canada due to the climate making it difficult to sustain a high quality playing surface. Despite negative press surrounding the subject, it is clear that what FIFA have said will stand – Jerome Valcke, the FIFA secretary general has commented saying that  he believes that the men’s world cup will be played on artificial grass “sooner rather than later”. With the World cup being the largest competition that football hosts globally, this is a huge step forward for football in regards to playing surfaces and how it allows various countries to host competitions.

Obviously, as there are positives and negatives with natural grass – there are also pros and cons with artificial turf. The positives are fairly obvious – with low maintenance levels also comes low maintenance prices, so artificial grass offers clubs that have lower finance levels the chance to have top quality pitches at a more economical price. Another reason clubs might have artificial grass as their main pitch or even as their training pitch, is that it is durable and doesn’t leave patches where the grass has worn or died, it is able to withstand far more football than natural grass would be able to. On top of this, with the right configuration artificial grass could take away any variables for ball control such as bumps that make the ball bobble, water logging or patchiness. This leaves the club with a playing surface that is flat and consistent.

On the other hand, you are bound to hear the negatives that football enthusiasts are likely to bring up. With the progression of football over the years it has been about, the game is often seen as being an ever-evolving sport, with goal line technology recently introduced to stop wavering decisions that could alter crucial games. However, as with goal-line technology, you hear people saying that football doesn’t need to be changed and ‘if its not broke don’t fix it’ tends to be a common argument. As with natural grass we have all become accustomed to the negatives, new ones will prevail with a new playing surface.
As a fan I’m undecided, although I can see the benefits that fake grass could bring to the sport I’m a traditionalist and do think it should be played on grass pitches rather than something synethic.  I like most other people haven’t seen how artificial grass  

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