"Soccer is skeptical of many things... most notably artificial turf fields"
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Graham Ruthven, The Guardian
Baseball:
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Artificial grass has its roots in baseball, when the Major League Baseball outfit, Houston Astros unveiled their AstroTurf in the 1960s. This came about as the team favoured a move to the new indoors arena, the Astrodome. However, this caused problems in that there was no way to sustain a real grass pitch. After several failed experiments, AstroTurf was found to be the solution, leading to the name by which many refer to artificial grass.
Since first being installed in the Astrodome, for a Major League Baseball side in the 1960s, the usage of synthetic playing surfaces in sports has expanded exponentially with 99% of a survey of 100 young people under 25 saying that they had played on an artificial surface of some description. This survey will also be used to show the popularity of artificial grass in different sports.
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Whilst having been largely accepted in some sports, such as field hockey where it is now rare to see natural grass being played on, in sports such as football, although popular at youth level, the stigma remains around the professional male game.
However since then, the use of synthetic surfaces hasn't had as much success. Synthetic grass was installed in Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, Philadelphia's Veteran Stadium and Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. However, issues arose with the higher and faster bounce of the ball. The concrete underlay also meant that the surface was a lot more harmful to players diving on it. This led to a decrease from half of MLB teams using artificial grass to only 2 now, which are the Tampa Bay Ray's Tropicana Field and Toronto's Rogers Centre, yet even this venue plans to convert to natural grass by 2018. It seems that in baseball, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits, and that artificial turf is not a viable solution.
In the survey of 100 young people, 15% had played baseball on an artificial surface, however this value may be higher specifically in the U.S. or other baseball playing nations.
Field Hockey:
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The first instance of a synthetic hockey pitch being used was in the 1970s, and the first usage in an Olympic Games being in Montreal in 1976. The use of artificial grass is now mandatory in all international and national tournaments, largely due to the predictability of artificial surfaces and their smooth nature. This has resulted in the sport evolving exponentially, with new techniques created to adapt to the playing surface, such as the Indian dribble. 18% of the survey had played field hockey on artificial grass.
Football:
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The first football team to use artificial turf was QPR, in 1981. They were soon followed by Luton Town, Oldham Athletic and Preston North End. However, all of these artificial surfaces had been removed by 1994. The main reason for these pitches to be removed was the fact that early generations of synthetic turf were very unforgiving, causing many injuries.
FIFA and UEFA then proceeded to ban all artificial turfs, before their wider use and improvements in the structure led to their reinstatement, providing that the surface was FIFA recommended. 1 Star fields are used for lower level teams, whilst 2 Star fields are suitable for international level games. Games in the U-17 World Cup in Peru in 2007 and in the European Championships in Austria in 2008 were played on synthetic turf, with UEFA stating that artificial fields should only be used in poor climates. In February 2015, Arsenal FC ordered 1400 square metres of artificial grass for their training ground.
In a 2008 study on the latest generation of artificial turf, Swedish and Danish researchers investigated the impact of playing football on artificial turf compared to natural fields over 52 individual observations. The results opposite show a similarity in headers, standing tackles, sprints and distance covered on both surfaces, however there were half the number of sliding tackles on artificial turf, suggesting fear of injury by the players. Yet on the artificial pitch, more midfield-midfield passes and short passes were completed, showing that they are more reliable and encourage a short passing game, which is a possible effect on the game as we use more and more artificial pitches.
American Football:
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The Houston Oilers were the first users of artificial turf in American football, sharing their home with the MLB team Houston Astros in the Astrodome. Franklin Field was the next venue to make the switch to artificial turf, and the first NFL outfit to do so. The Seattle Seahawks made the switch in 2002, when their players enjoyed their experience at the Husky Stadium in 2000 and 2001. Poor weather and the hosting of many musical events then forced the Gillette Stadium into using artificial turf in 2006.
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Artificial grass was even more popular across the border in the Canadian Football League, where 8 of the 9 teams currently use the synthetic grass, due to its colder climate than the U.S. Yet although its apparent popularity, 90% of players said in a survey in 2010, that artificial grass makes it more likely to sustain a career-ending injury. 15% of the survey of young people had played American football on an artificial surface.
The most well-known use of artificial grass is the 2015 Women's World Cup held in Canada, which was played exclusively on artificial turf, with 50 players protesting against the use of synthetic turf. However, the Australian team, after their game in Winnipeg, said they felt no difference in post-match recovery, leading to a positive response. The same World Cup led to allegations of sexism within FIFA with women having to play on artificial grass at a much higher level than the mens game. According to the survey of young people, football was by far the most popular sport to have been played on artificial grass, with 93%.
Tennis:
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The use of synthetic turf in tennis stretches back a long way, with the surface more similar to a carpet than the turf we see today. Few tennis courts use the current generation of artificial turf, with the pile height deemed too high and are considered to be medium-fast to fast surfaces. However, at an amateur level, synthetic surfaces are more popular, due to being softer on the joints and last longer than natural grass. Tennis was in fact the second most popular sport in the survey, with 22% having played on artificial grass.