Jerome
Valcke, the FIFA secretary general, has claimed that he believes the men’s World Cup could be played on artificial grass “sooner rather than later”. This
is a huge step in the direction of which football could be heading, with many
fans, and most likely feeling that football should be played on natural grass.
However with the most influential figures in the FIFA board realising that
playing on natural grass is not always possible in certain countries – such as
Canada.
Women’s
football is taking the first step towards using artificial grass for high
profile tournaments on the world stage, with the women’s world cup being played
on artificial grass in Canada for the first time – due to the poor conditions
for natural grass. Despite the amount of negative press it has received, it
remains a spectacle to football fans across the globe to see if the artificial
pitch works as it is supposed too.
Artificial
grass is a synthetic turf that is made up from synthetic fibres with the aim of
making it look like real grass. It can be used in most places, often for
residential uses such as having artificial grass from companies like Forever Green Lawns in your garden instead of real grass – now however, many sports
that usually play on natural grass are integrating the idea of playing on
artificial grass as an alternate playing surface if conditions aren’t good
enough for natural grass to be used. This is why the women’s world cup held in
Canada will be played on artificial grass, because the governing body (FIFA) has
ruled that artificial grass will be more practical than natural grass in
Canada’s climate.
The
obvious positives to using artificial grass are that you can use it in most
conditions, it is low maintenance, it wont get patchy as you often seen in the mouth
of the goal, and it also doesn’t need a good climate to survive well. We have
all see the pitch quality of Europa League game in Eastern Europe that look
like Sunday league pitches. All of this means that for football teams with a
lower budget, it will cut costs of maintenance on their pitches. For some of
the bigger clubs this may not be a problem, however it could pay some of the
players wages at smaller clubs with the money saved on maintenance. Artificial
grass could also take away any variable for ball control on the pitch, with a
smooth even playing surface there would be no bobble, no water log, just a flat
and consistent playing surface.
Negatives
though, are that it is new to football completely – since football began it has
been played on natural grass, the switch to artificial grass is sure to change
the game some how. Not necessarily a bad thing, however a lot of fans will
complain about the gradual progression in the sport – despite it being good for
certain circumstances. Another question that has been raised is will it change
the behaviour of the ball on the pitch, similarly this happens with other
sports depending on the surface at which they play. For example, tennis is
played on grass and on clay courts, with the ball reacting differently on each
different surface. Same with golf, if the grass is too short or too long it
effects how the golf ball will bounce or roll, posing the question to whether
or not artificial grass would have the same effect with football. To most
people this might seem like a minor thing to worry about, however at the top
levels of football the smallest changes will make big effects – so could
artificial grass provide the home team advantages due to being used to the
surface?
With
all this in mind, the FIFA board has said that they believe artificial grass
will be necessary at some point in the future. With the woman’s world cup
approaching fast, there is no doubt that it will play a major part in how much
we start to see artificial grass within football in the near future.
No comments