Fulham trained on the much-discussed plastic pitch in Perm yesterday. You can see the photos for yourself over on the offal. Presumably, the surface must pass some set of UEFA regulations for the game to be played there. The pitch itself looks a lot like those astroturf ones I’ve played on in the past – and I think Fulham have one at Motspur Park that’s similar.
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True “astro turf” was much harder with no give, like playing on concrete. The style you see here was the first in a set of alternative turfs used in the United States. Its made of ground up tire rubber and painted green. The ball actually plays a bit slower on this type of surface than it does on Astro Turf or “Field Turf”. What we call “Field Turf” here in the U.S. is a synthetic grass, which would be the other type of artificial turf used.
Its funny how most people treat turf or “plastic pitches” like playing on mars or something. the photoalbum on the offal is a perfect example.
within 20 years, most fields in the usa will be fieldturf or astroturf..
I can understand it in the US – where quite a lot of the stadia are American football stadiums as I understand it – and maybe in places where weather is an issue but I think UEFA/FIFA need to reduce the number of plastic pitches where possible. Salzburg in Austria played their Champions’ League tie against Maccabi Haifa on an artificial surface when there was no real reason for it. Where possible we should be playing on grass.
Dan:
Don’t forget that there are many months of winter in Salzburg which surely justifies the use of platsic. We have several top flight grounds in Sweden with similar turf and most of them are approved by UEFA for international games as far as I know.
Lazio will play Elfsborg tonight in the Europa League on the same kind of turf as Perm has.
Not that I like it, but I think we just have to get used to it in the future.
Maybe so, Nick, but in the summer heat it’s a bit silly as I see it.
UEFA/FIFA have approved more plastic pitches so I think we will be seeing more of it.
Not too many teams that can afford laying down grass for the summer months and then remove it when the bad weather comes 😉
Yeah, fair point 😉