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Modern artificial grass

Artificial turf, or synthetic turf, is a man-made surface manufactured from synthetic materials, made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commercial applications as well. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2240x1680, 1797 KB) [edit] Summary Artificial turf, Alfheim stadium, Tromsø, Norway. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2240x1680, 1797 KB) [edit] Summary Artificial turf, Alfheim stadium, Tromsø, Norway. ... In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions in order to get a product, or several products. ... For other uses, see Grass (disambiguation). ...

Background

David Chaney -- who moved to Raleigh in 1960 and later served as dean of the North Carolina State University College of Textiles -- headed the team of RTP researchers who created the famous artificial turf. That accomplishment led Sports Illustrated to declare Chaney as the man "responsible for indoor major league baseball and millions of welcome mats." Artificial turf first came to prominence in 1965, when AstroTurf was installed in the newly-built Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The use of AstroTurf and similar surfaces became widespread in the 1970s and was installed in both indoor and outdoor stadiums used for baseball and gridiron football in the United States and Canada. Maintaining a grass playing surface indoors, while technically possible, is prohibitively expensive, while teams who chose to play on artificial surfaces outdoors did so because of the reduced maintenance cost, especially in colder climates with urban multi-purpose "cookie cutter" stadiums such as Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium and Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium. North Carolina State University is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. ... The first issue of Sports Illustrated, August 16, 1954, showing Milwaukee Braves star Eddie Mathews at bat in Milwaukee County Stadium. ... This article is about artificial grass. ... The Reliant Astrodome, formerly just the Astrodome, is a domed sports stadium in Houston, Texas, and is part of the Reliant Park complex. ... Houston redirects here. ... This article is about the sport. ... Gridiron football (or more commonly, just gridiron) is a term used in some countries outside the United States and Canada that refers to both American football and Canadian football. ... RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., a typical cookie-cutter stadium. ... Cinergy Field, formerly known as Riverfront Stadium (1970 - 2002) was the home of the Cincinnati Reds Major League Baseball team and the Cincinnati Bengals National Football League team. ... Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose sports stadium and event facility located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1970 through 2000. ... For the stadium in New Britain, Connecticut, see Veterans Stadium. ...

Applications

Football (Soccer)

Tropicana Field equipped with artificial turf

Some football (soccer) clubs in Europe installed artificial surfaces in the 1980s, which were called plastic pitches (often derisively) in countries such as England. In England several professional club venues had adopted the pitches, QPR's Loftus Road, Luton Town's Kenilworth Road, Oldham Athletic's Boundary Park and Preston's Deepdale until the English FA banned them in 1988. Artificial turf gained a bad reputation on both sides of the Atlantic with fans and especially with players. The first artificial turfs were a far harder surface than grass, and soon became known as an unforgiving playing surface which was prone to cause more injuries, and in particular, more serious joint injuries, than would comparatively be suffered on a grass surface. Artificial turf was also regarded as aesthetically unappealing to many fans. Image File history File links Tropicana_field. ... Image File history File links Tropicana_field. ... Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. ... Soccer redirects here. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English football club, based at Shepherds Bush in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London. ... Loftus Road is a side-street in Shepherds Bush London W12. ... Luton Town Football Club are an English football team based in the town of Luton in Bedfordshire. ... Kenilworth Road is a stadium in Luton, England which is home to Luton Town F.C., a professional football team in the English League One. ... Oldham Athletic Association Football Club are an English football team currently playing in Football League One. ... Boundary Park is the main sports stadium of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, located partly within Chadderton, and partly within Royton, hence the name Boundary Park Oldham Athletic Association Football Club play their home games there. ... Preston North End Football Club are an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the second tier of English league football, The Championship. ... Deepdale is a stadium in Preston, England, the home of Preston North End F.C. and Englands National Football Museum. ... The Football Association (The FA) is the governing body of football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. ... Atlantic and North Atlantic redirect here. ... For an alternate meaning, see Fan (implement). ... Injury is damage or harm caused to the structure or function of the body caused by an outside agent or force, which may be physical or chemical. ...

In 1981, London football club Queens Park Rangers dug up its grass pitch and installed an artificial one. Others followed, and by the mid-1980s there were four plastic grass pitches in operation in the English league. They soon became a national joke: the ball pinged round like it was made of rubber, the players kept losing their footing, and anyone who fell over risked carpet burns. Unsurprisingly, fans complained that the football was awful to watch and, one by one, the clubs returned to natural grass.^[1] This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English football club, based at Shepherds Bush in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London. ... The Football League is a league competition featuring professional football clubs from England and Wales. ... Abrasion on the palm of a right hand, shortly after falling Abrasions on elbow and lower arm, still healing. ... Soccer redirects here. ...

In the 1990s many North American football clubs also removed their artificial surfaces and re-installed grass, while others moved to new stadiums with state-of-the-art grass surfaces that were designed to withstand cold temperatures where the climate demanded it. The use of artificial turf was later banned by FIFA, UEFA and by many domestic football associations, though, in recent years, both governing bodies have expressed an interest in resurrecting the use of artificial surfaces as the related technologies continue to evolve. UEFA has now been heavily involved in programs to test artificial turf with tests made in several grounds meeting with FIFA approval. A team of UEFA, FIFA and German company Polytan conducted tests in the Stadion Salzburg Wals-Siezenheim in Salzburg, Austria which is due to have matches played on it in the UEFA EURO 2008. It is the second FIFA 2 Star approved football turf pitch in a European domestic top flight, after Dutch club Heracles Almelo received the FIFA certificate in August last year.^[2] The tests were approved.^[3] This article is about the international association football organization. ... The Union Européenne de Football Association or Union of European Football Associations in English, almost always referred to by the acronym UEFA (pronounced (you-AY-fuh) or (oo-Ay-fuh) or ), is the administrative and controlling body for European football. ...

Soccer field developments

Modern artificial grass

In the early 21st century, new artificial playing surfaces using sand and/or rubber infill were developed. These "next generation", or Artificial Grass, surfaces are often virtually indistinguishable from grass when viewed from any distance, and are generally regarded as being about as safe to play on as a typical grass surface — perhaps even safer in cold conditions. There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

Many clubs have installed the new synthetic turf surfaces, most commonly as part of an all-weather training capability, while some clubs which have maintained grass surfaces are now re-considering artificial turf. With football clubs in Europe looking to reduce both maintenance costs and the number of winter matches that are cancelled due to frozen pitches, the issue has also been re-visited by that sport's governing bodies.

The Scottish Premier League banned synthetic pitches for competition matches in 2005, following a two year experiment by Dunfermline Athletic who installed XL Turf, made by the Swiss firm, XL Generation. The management of Dunfermline were happy with the surface, but the league banned the use of the artificial pitch due to complaints by visiting clubs such as Rangers and Celtic). The Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League commonly known as the Scottish Premier League, Premier League or SPL is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top level of the Scottish football league system - above the Scottish Football League. ... Dunfermline Athletic F.C. is a Scottish football team currently playing in the Scottish Premier League. ... For other uses, see Rangers F.C. (disambiguation). ... Current season Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football team based in Glasgow, who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. ...

"The most common type uses polypropylene "grass" about 5 centimetres long, which is lubricated with silicone and tufted into a primary cloth and then latex is applied to the back of the cloth to give it stability by anchoring in the tufts. The whole thing is then "infilled" with a 4-centimetre layer of sand and rubber granules, which keeps the fibres upright and provides the right level of shock absorbency and deformability. The majority of the 15 or so turf manufacturers approved by FIFA use this technology. The other sort, typified by Dunfermline's pitch, has a base of expanded polyethylene, a foamy material originally developed as a shock absorber for the car industry (see diagram). The grass is also made of lubricated polyethylene fibres, but they are shorter and more densely packed than on an infilled pitch, and are also interspersed with short, curly, spring-like fibres that keep the blades upright. The finishing touch is an 8-millimetre filling of rubber granules." ^[1] Polypropylene lid of a Tic Tacs box, with a living hinge and the resin identification code under its flap Micrograph of polypropylene Polypropylene or polypropene (PP) is a thermoplastic polymer, made by the chemical industry and used in a wide variety of applications, including food packaging, ropes, textiles, stationery, plastic...

UEFA later announced that starting from the 2005-06 season, approved artificial surfaces were to be permitted in their competitions.

Regardless of the views of the governing bodies, criticism of artificial surfaces in soccer continues, notably in reference to the FieldTurf surface at Toronto F.C.'s BMO Field and the Giants Stadium home of Red Bull New York. Current and former players have recently criticised the surface, expressing concerns that, among other things, it may exacerbate injuries. The wide plain of FieldTurf used at Torontos Rogers Centre was installed after the 2004 baseball season. ... Year founded 2006 League Major League Soccer Nickname TBD Stadium BMO Field Coach Mo Johnston Owner MLSE First Game TBD Largest Win TBD Worst Defeat TBD All-time Top Scorer TBD Supporter Groups Red Patch Boys, U-Sector MLS Cup none Supporters Shield none Toronto FC is the name of... BMO Field is a soccer-specific stadium under-construction located in Exhibition Place in the city of Toronto. ... Giants Stadium, frequently referred to as The Meadowlands, is the home stadium for the New York Giants and New York Jets football teams of the NFL, and the Red Bull New York soccer team of MLS. It is located in East Rutherford, New Jersey in the Meadowlands Sports Complex, which... Red Bull New York is an American professional soccer organization based in New Jersey, who currently fields a team in Major League Soccer. ... The wide plain of FieldTurf used at Torontos Rogers Centre was installed after the 2004 baseball season. ...

A full international fixture for the 2008 European Championships was played on 17 October 2007 between England and Russia on an artificial surface, which was installed to counteract adverse weather conditions, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.^[4][5] It was one of the first full international games to be played on such a surface approved by both FIFA and UEFA. However UEFA have ordered that the 2008 European Champions League final which is due to be hosted in the same stadium in May 2008 must take place on grass and stressed that artificial turf should only be considered an option where climatic conditions necessitate.^[6] Standings and results for Group E of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying tournament. ... First international Scotland 0 - 0 England (Partick, Scotland; 30 November 1872) Biggest win Ireland 0 - 13 England (Belfast, Ireland; 18 February 1882) Biggest defeat Hungary 7 - 1 England (Budapest, Hungary; 23 May 1954) World Cup Appearances 12 (First in 1950) Best result Winners, 1966 European Championship Appearances 7 (First in... For the geological process, see Weathering or Erosion. ... The Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex (Большая спортивная арена Олимпийского комплекса Лужники) in Moscow, or briefly Luzhniki Stadium (Стадион Лужники), is the biggest sports stadium in Russia. ... For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ... The 2007–08 UEFA Champions League is the 16th season of UEFAs premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded in 1992, and the 53rd tournament overall. ...

Ski & Snowboard

Some ski and snowboard clubs and resorts in Europe installed artificial surfaces in the 1960s and 1970s. Often called pista del sole, after its ability to be used in warm, sunny, conditions, these installations have now, largely, fallen from favour and are increasingly uncommon.

Field hockey

For more details on this topic, see field hockey history.

The introduction of synthetic surfaces has significantly changed the sport of field hockey. Since being introduced in the 1970s, competitions in western countries are now mostly played on artificial surfaces. This has increased the speed of the game considerably, and changed the shape of hockey sticks to allow for different techniques, such as reverse stick trapping and hitting. Due to the cost of synthetic pitch installation, India and Pakistan have lost their once dominant position in international competition. This page is about the history of the field hockey game. ... A game of field hockey in progress Field hockey is a popular sport for men, women and children in many countries around the world. ...

Field hockey artificial turf differs from soccer and football artificial turf in the way that it does not try to reproduce a grass 'feel', being made of shorter fibres similar to the ones used on Dunfermline's pitch. This shorter fibre structure allows the improvement in speed brought by earlier artificial turfs to be retained. This development in the game is however problematic for many local communities who often cannot afford to build two artificial pitches: one for field hockey and one for other sports. The FIH and manufacturers are driving research in order to produce new pitches that will be suitable for a variety of sports. The International Hockey Federation (Fédération Internationale de Hockey sur Gazon, or FIH) is the global body governing the sport of field hockey, which is known simply as hockey in most countries. ...

Pitch categories

• Unfilled: Often called "water-based", the pile is unfilled. The pitches require wetting, hence the name "water-based", often via prolonged showering with pitch-side water cannon prior to their use and occasionally during half-time intervals depending on the prevailing atmospherics. They are favoured by most sports since they offer more protection for players by minimising the abrasive effect created by the sand. These pitches form the majority of the elite level field hockey pitches in use today.
• Sand-dressed: The pile of the carpet is filled to within 5-8 mm of the tips of the fibre with fine sand. The sand cannot be seen. It can be confused with unfilled pitches.
• Sand filled: The pile of the carpet is filled almost to the top with sand. The sand makes the pitch rough and harder. In comparison to water-based pitches or minimal sand-dressed pitches, ball speed across the surface is often noticeably slower.

Abrasion on the palm of a right hand, shortly after falling Abrasions on elbow and lower arm, still healing. ...

Landscaping

Since the late 1990s, the use of synthetic grass has moved rapidly beyond athletic fields to residential and commercial landscaping artificial lawns. This trend has been driven primarily by two functions: the quality and variety of synthetic grasses that are available has improved dramatically, and cities and water conservation organizations have begun realizing the value of artificial grass as a conservation measure.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

• Artificial turf can be a better solution when the environment is particularly hostile to natural grass. An arid environment or one where there is little natural light are examples.
• Ideal for holiday homes when maintenance of lawns is not practical. It is also a solution for elderly homeowners who find the upkeep of lawns too much hard work.
• Suitable for roof gardens and swimming pool surrounds.
• Artificial turf pitches can last up to ten years.
• Some artificial turf systems allow for the integration of fiber-optic fibers into the turf. This would allow for lighting or advertisements to be directly embedded in a playing surface, or runway lighting to be embedded in artificial landing surfaces for aircraft.^[7]

Disadvantages

• The abrasions caused by artificial turf have been linked to a higher incidence of MRSA infections ^[8].
• Some artificial turf requires infill such as silicon sand and/or granulated rubber made from recycled car tires. This material may carry heavy metals which can leach into the water table.^[9]
• Periodic disinfection is required as pathogens are not broken down by natural processes in the same manner as natural turf. This notwithstanding, recent studies suggest certain microbial life is less active.^[10]
• Turf toe is a medical condition which is often associated with playing on artificial turf pitches.
• Friction between skin and artificial turf causes abrasions and/or burns to a much greater extent than natural grass.^[10] This is an issue for some sports: for example, football in which sliding maneuvers are common and clothing does not fully cover the limbs.
• Artificial turf tends to be much hotter than natural grass when exposed to the sun.^[11]
• Many players claim that the lack of "give" in artificial turf leads to strain and injury in the legs, especially amongst players used to playing on natural grass. Some players refuse to play on artificial turf, and there have been cases of players not signing with a particular team for fear of damaging their legs by playing on artificial turf.^{[citation needed]}

Abrasion on the palm of a right hand, shortly after falling Abrasions on elbow and lower arm, still healing. ... MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a bacterium that has developed antibiotic resistance, first to penicillin in 1947, and later to methicillin. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Turf toe, more properly known as a metatarsalphalangeal joint sprain, is an injury to the joint and connective tissue between the foot and one of the toes, usually the great toe. ... Look up Football in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

See also

• List of brands of artificial turf
• AstroTurf
• FieldTurf
• Artificial ski slopes

. ... This article is about artificial grass. ... The wide plain of FieldTurf used at Torontos Rogers Centre was installed after the 2004 baseball season. ... Warmwell artificial ski slope in Dorset, U.K. (Snowflex) Artificial ski slopes or dry ski slopes are ski slopes that mimic the attributes of snow using materials that are stable at room temperature, to enable people to ski on them. ...

References

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External links

• [1] This site is for artificial turf contractors
• Turf toe, a general introduction
• Use of rubber and environmental considerations. This article discusses new technology which is planned to mitigate some of the problems of using recycled car tyres (tires). It also quantifies the amount of rubber on a typical pitch as 100 tons or 22,000 old car tyres.
• Rubber pollution in a domestic environment. This article looks at the impact of rubber crumb on a domestic environment.
• Artificial Turf for Football : a technical overview 2007
• Artificial Turf for Football : Testing and Requirements FIFA-EN-DIN; an Overview 2007
• FIFA Football Turf
• English Football Association guidelines for choosing artificial grass pitches
• List of the major synthetic turf benefitsArtificial ski turf
• Artificial turf for ski