Games at the FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 in Canada will be played on artificial pitches
A World Cup on artificial turf - step in the right direction? Eric O'Donnell – managing director of Sports Labs
T
he FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held in Canada next year. The plan is to host
games on artificial turf – a decision that has angered many of the world’s leading female players. The players have accused FIFA of treating them as guinea pigs and using the tournament as a testing ground to see whether all future competitions could be played on synthetic surfaces. There has been a lively debate in the US press on this subject, fuelled by the players. There’s even been a tacit threat to take legal action against FIFA for alleged ‘discrimination’ against women if the games aren’t switched to natural grass. What makes the timing of
the furore odd, however, is that the use of artificial turf should come as no surprise. The
use of synthetic surfaces was part of Canada’s original bid to host the tournament. Also, it is inaccurate to claim that the tournament next year would act as some sort of experiment. Many tournaments at the highest level have already been held – or partially held – on artificial turf. Out of the 50 Scottish League clubs, 14 now use artificial pitches each week. The reason why
artificial turf is gaining leverage is because it opens up many possibilities for clubs to make use of a playing surface for competition, certainty in playing performance and revenue security. That said, it's unlikely natural
grass will be completely replaced as the preferred stadium surface anytime soon. This is because natural surfaces at major stadiums can be
The true legacy of the Brazilian sporting dream Dr Aileen Ionescu-Somers – director of IMD Global Center for Sustainability
A
t the start of the new millennium, it looked as if there was no
stopping Brazil's trajectory towards prosperity. Hosting the World Cup this year and the Olympics in 2016 was meant to be a reflection of Brazil's role in a new world order increasingly shaped by the BRICs. Seven years after the decision to hold the event in Brazil, however, optimism has waned. The country's 6 per cent GDP growth in 2007 is a distant memory. In 2013,
of investment in public services while Brazil's World Cup is the most expensive in history. There have been
hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets, demonstrating their ire against rising costs, corruption and lack
sportsmanagement.co.uk issue 3 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
construction worker deaths, threats of strikes and increasing social discontent. The dream is not becoming reality because the benefits of these events are almost certainly overstated. Brazil's GDP is still the seventh largest in the world, but while the country produced 19 new millionaires every day since 2007 according to Forbes, inequality is at its highest ever. A full 21.4 per cent of
the population lives below the poverty line, with 4.2 per cent in extreme poverty. The experiences of Athens,
Beijing and South Africa in hosting large sporting events suggest they may be right. Can Brazil do better?
Probably not, given the location and restricted future of the stadiums built at an estimated cost of US$3.6bn. So far – in Brazil – the case has not been convincing and there is little proof that tourism and investment benefits materialise when the crowds disperse.
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maintained in good condition and the amount of use can be controlled. What shouldn’t be overlooked in this debate is that humans are adaptable. Whether they play on mud, sand or artificial turf, players will modify their approach to the interaction with the surface. Hosting the games on artificial surfaces next year is not a game changer – but an evolutionary step in the right direction.
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