Artificial Surfaces
“Installing an artificial pitch will, most certainly, change the game to a poorer, non contact version according to many of the world’s leading coaches. It will allow every man and his dog to use the stadium pitch”
i.e. it can be a leisure centre - that will not allow the club to progress to a higher level, as all clubs will have this ‘advantage’. So, how to progress over another? Or, allow clubs to play in arctic conditions when roads are closed, or allow clubs to use the stadium 24/7, as lighting restrictions are in place in most areas of the UK?
The demand is not there; only in a
rose tinted marketing view. Neither will it allow clubs income to increase to such an extent that they move up a league or increase their fan base.
Installing an artificial pitch will, most certainly, change the game to a poorer, non contact version according to many of the world’s leading coaches. It will allow
every man and his dog to use the stadium pitch thereby, most certainly, eliminating an elitist feel.
It will also see the need to pay for security, demountable fencing and specialist maintenance. The carpet will need replacement - if they are going to use it 24/7 - at least once every three or four years if it is going to meet the strict FIFA testing requirements that are in place, and at a cost that will almost certainly negate the previous period’s financial gain!
So, the governing bodies have a choice. They can do the right thing, which is to invest and encourage development in both natural and artificial playing surfaces, both of which
have a purpose in the game. The premise being that artificial is there as a spare parachute, which can be applied where nature truly does not want grass to succeed, which are not very many places at all, and certainly not the UK where it is temperate. Or they can go exactly the route they are taking now, and that is to remove the soul of all stadiums and change the game to a non-contact sport. Of course, a few individuals will get rich, but so could a lot of people by doing the wrong thing, and where would that leave us? In a recession perhaps?!!! Changing stadia into leisure centres seems to be every chairman’s ambition and, if 150 games can be played in one stadium, why have several stadiums in
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