Are artificial pitches a problem for the home team?

[DA Baracus]

I think 60% of pitches in League 1 last year were artificial. If anything our injury rate was much better than the previous season in the Championship where most pitches were grass.

Also didn't stop us winning the league despite not playing on an artificial pitch at home.

Many of the silly myths were, once more, disproven.

Edited July 26, 2023 by DA Baracus

[Sergeant Wilson]

I've  never had any injuries and have played on grass, ash, astro, concrete, concrete with a rubber coating etc.

This because I never went fast enough that falling or turning was much of an issue. 

[Lancashirearab]

The responses seem to confirm my thoughts about a culture of negativity at Tannadice regarding playing on artificial pitches.  This has been happening for a few seasons now and has seen United have a lot of poor results on them. On the other hand, we have also had a lot of poor results on grass.

[Dunning1874]

As covered already, the injury thing is a myth peddled by people who've decided they don't like them and are inventing reasons to support this stance.

In terms of general quality of pitches:

Good grass > good artificial > bad artificial > bad grass

[Rob1885]

I think we should have got one laid rather than this nonsense with the new training ground.

 

The first plastic pitch we had in 2003 was some laugh though.

[Sergeant Wilson]

9 minutes ago, Dunning1874 said:

As covered already, the injury thing is a myth peddled by people who've decided they don't like them and are inventing reasons to support this stance.

In terms of general quality of pitches:

Good grass > good artificial > bad artificial > bad grass

I can just about understand players and coaches having an opinion. But I suspect a lot of opinion voiced comes from people who have never set foot on an artificial pitch and have no idea of the economics of having one.

They look shite on the telly, maybe that's the issue.

[cb_diamond]

3 hours ago, Dunning1874 said:

As covered already, the injury thing is a myth peddled by people who've decided they don't like them and are inventing reasons to support this stance.

In terms of general quality of pitches:

Good grass > good artificial > bad artificial > bad grass

That's a spot on assessment at the end there.

[mugen_power]

I remember the local 5's pitches at Shoot Super Soccer in Ayr being the carpet with sand on them...fucking hell those were brutal

[Shandon Par]

Did my ankle ligaments on a grass pitch, falling down a rabbit hole. Definitely wouldn’t have happened on a plastic pitch.

[Richey Edwards]

I fear artificial pitches because everyone slides babe

I've got shinpads in the back of my car

 

[Skyline Drifter]

On 26/07/2023 at 10:02, HoBNob said:

Neither of my ACL injuries were due to a plastic pitch, so I'm not linking things.

I'm talking purely how I feel playing on them now, I feel there's a "slip" when playing on plastic that I don't get on grass, where when your foot is planted it can slide or slip for a bit which just causes havock with my knees. And while you do have very good plastic pitches, the standard ones seem to be lacking in shock absorbtion which is a shiter on the hips/knees. 

Are you playing on actual licenced SPFL pitches? Because if you are shock absorbtion has to be within a set variance or the pitch fails and can't be played on. As much as people talk about poor pitches and newer ones (newer ones will always be a little better than older ones, there's a natural drop off in quality with age), the difference again between a professional football pitch and a community use one is massive. The ones my son plays on week in week out are nowhere near as good as the old Palmerston was (which was ripped up in the summer for being done).

And if you're not playing on SPFL pitches then really your personal experiences are as irrelevant as if you don't feel comfortable on your kitchen floor.

[HoBNob]

19 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Are you playing on actual licenced SPFL pitches? Because if you are shock absorbtion has to be within a set variance or the pitch fails and can't be played on. As much as people talk about poor pitches and newer ones (newer ones will always be a little better than older ones, there's a natural drop off in quality with age), the difference again between a professional football pitch and a community use one is massive. The ones my son plays on week in week out are nowhere near as good as the old Palmerston was (which was ripped up in the summer for being done).

And if you're not playing on SPFL pitches then really your personal experiences are as irrelevant as if you don't feel comfortable on your kitchen floor.

I don't want to give too much away, but I am not an SPFL player. 

[SandyCromarty]

Aren't artificial pitches banned in england?

Plus there are environmental issues becoming more to the fore regarding these pitches due to the polypropylene particles used in the construction.

[wellwoodpar]

To quote John Yorkston, "Bobo Balde causes more injuries than a plastic pitch"

[The Toun Clock]

On 26/07/2023 at 10:45, DA Baracus said:

I think 60% of pitches in League 1 last year were artificial. If anything our injury rate was much better than the previous season in the Championship where most pitches were grass.

Also didn't stop us winning the league despite not playing on an artificial pitch at home.

Many of the silly myths were, once more, disproven.

8/10 L1 clubs had a plastic pitch last season. Only ourselves and Peterhead had real grass. 

[DA Baracus]

7 minutes ago, The Toun Clock said:

8/10 L1 clubs had a plastic pitch last season. Only ourselves and Peterhead had real grass. 

I couldn't recall how many there were. So 80% of our away games were on artificial pitches. Our only league defeat came on one, so the data is quite clear here....

[Skyline Drifter]

On 27/07/2023 at 20:39, HoBNob said:

I don't want to give too much away, but I am not an SPFL player. 

Well then, with respect, your experiences of what you play on have no relevance.

8 hours ago, The Toun Clock said:

8/10 L1 clubs had a plastic pitch last season. Only ourselves and Peterhead had real grass. 

90% this year. Only Stirling Albion dont.

[itzdrk]

On 27/07/2023 at 08:35, Rob1885 said:

The first plastic pitch we had in 2003 was some laugh though.

Literally football heritage 

[Jacky1990]

10 hours ago, SandyCromarty said:

Aren't artificial pitches banned in england?

Plus there are environmental issues becoming more to the fore regarding these pitches due to the polypropylene particles used in the construction.

Who gives a f**k what England do or dont do?

As for your main point. Yes, pitches are made from plastic. But there has been development in using recycled plastic in their construction instead.

Add in the reduction in life cycle maintenance requirements then there could be a long term enviornmental benefit to using artificial pitches.

Our climate is only going to get worse. If we want to minimise disruption to the football calendar, and help clubs reduce costs, we need to get off the high horse on plastic pitches.

[SandyCromarty]

6 hours ago, Jacky1990 said:

Who gives a f**k what England do or dont do?

As for your main point. Yes, pitches are made from plastic. But there has been development in using recycled plastic in their construction instead.

Add in the reduction in life cycle maintenance requirements then there could be a long term enviornmental benefit to using artificial pitches.

Our climate is only going to get worse. If we want to minimise disruption to the football calendar, and help clubs reduce costs, we need to get off the high horse on plastic pitches.

No need to get hysterical over what is going on at the moment re artificial pitches and the environmental issues being raised as I was just bringing that issue into the thread.

And there is major discussions ongoing regarding their future, I don't care one way or the other, as you say there are developments in their construction and if that development is on the positive side so be it.

But to try to ignore what these environmental wallahs are saying won't go away as they are fanatics as you know and they now have the EU parliament paying attention to their bleatings.

But, always a but, there is issues with older artificial pitches some of which were manufactured using old tyres and that strengthens the do gooders? argument.

Oh and f**k the EU parliament.

Edited July 30, 2023 by SandyCromarty