News
Propane research to begin
PERC to partner Audobon Society in propane powered machinery research
Legal action over Canada pitches?
Women’s soccer stars threaten to sue over Canada’s World Cup artificial turf pitches
A group of international women’s football stars is threatening legal action in an effort to have the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada played on natural grass rather than artificial turf.
Interesting news coming out of the States where the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) has announced that they will be partnering with Audubon International, the USA’s leading environmental education and sustainable resource management organisation. Audobon has approved a major investment to get more propane-fueled mowers on golf courses around the nation.
The council approved a $929,976 funding request titled “Propane Powered Golf and Turf Equipment Demonstration Program.” R&R Products is the principal contractor, with Audubon International, Marriott Golf and Billy Casper Golf as project partners.
The project aims to:
• Demonstrate propane equipment capability and reliability at eight highly recognisable golf courses nationwide
• Develop a business case model for economics and reduced emissions
• Capitalise on well-known brands to further the propane messaging across golf, hospitality and commercial mowing markets
R&R will place four pieces of its propane-fuelled mowing equipment at each golf site for twelve months. The sites are:
• Marriott Golf’s Desert Springs Golf Club in Palm Springs, California and Falcon’s Fire Golf Club in Kissimmee, Florida
• Billy Casper Golf’s Reston National in Reston, Virginia and George W. Dunne National in Oak Forest, Illinois
• Omni International’s Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina
• Willows Run Golf Course in Redmond, Washington
• City of Columbus, Ohio, and City of Overland Park, Kansas, Missouri
With the equipment, the selected courses will see reduced fuel costs, reduced emissions and an improved environmental image, according to PERC. $814,975 of the allocated funds will go towards equipment, whilst $115,000 is earmarked for communications and public relations.
4 I PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014
The players, including the last two FIFA women’s players of the year - Abby Wambach of the United States and Nadine Angerer of Germany - have retained legal firms in the USA and Canada to press their case.
B.C. Place stadium - one of the worst surfaces
In a letter sent to FIFA and Canada Soccer in late July, the firms say that using an “inferior, second-class surface” when the men’s World Cup is played only on grass is gender discrimination and violates Canadian law, including human rights codes and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“Relegating women to a second-class surface, while simultaneously ensuring that men will play on premier grass fields for years go come, degrades the women’s game and all involved with it,” says the letter.
It also repeats a wide-spread claim that the risk of injury is higher on a turf field. Players often complain that repeated games on turf fields are harder on their joints.
Both FIFA and Canada Soccer declined to comment on the letter, which asks both governing bodies to join in a “meaningful dialogue” on a plan to ensure World Cup games are played on grass.
In the past, Peter Montopoli, CEO of the World Cup organising committee has said Canada’s bid adhered to FIFA specifications. He expects all pitches to meet FIFA’s Star II standard and that there are no plans to revert to grass.
The lawyers say they are prepared to pursue legal action, although they concede the players it represents are committed to participating regardless of the outcome.
The six Canadian venues hosting the World Cup next year, including Vancouver’s B.C. Place, are scheduled to have artificial turf fields. B.C. Place, which will host the final in addition to some group stage games, was singled out in the letter as having one of the worst surfaces, with some international players comparing that turf field to “playing on concrete”.
The Polytan turf surface was installed at B.C. Place in 2011. There has been some talk it might be replaced with a new artificial field before the World Cup begins.
The players, through their lawyers, say that their own consultations with athletic field experts indicate that there are “several affordable ways” to host World Cup games next summer on grass surfaces.
Faye White
Meanwhile, former England and Arsenal captain Faye White has urged FIFA to reconsider the decision to play the Women’s 2015 World Cup matches on artificial pitches.
Forty top players have signed a petition and threatened legal proceedings if the matches are not played on grass.
White told BBC Sport; “FIFA would never dream of hosting a men’s World Cup on artificial pitches, so why the women’s? This is a very strange decision.”
“Singling out this women’s tournament for substandard treatment is a mistake that can and must be corrected.”
White, who quit football in 2012 after playing ninety times for England, added; “I’ve retired from playing now, but I would be really annoyed if I was expected to play on this. These pitches slow the game down, the ball bounces differently and there are more injury consequences.”
“The installation of natural grass would cost but a fraction of your organisation’s budgets, thus defeating any defence of undue hardship.”
Interestingly, seven of the nine teams in the second-year National Women’s Soccer League in the USA play on artificial turf. Angerer, Wambach and several other top international players are currently on teams in that league.
Wambach has been one of the most consistently vociferous critics of playing the World Cup on artificial turf; “When you’re talking about the biggest, most important tournament of your life, we feel, I feel, that we deserve for it to be played in the right way.” she said.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164