The official "I hate artificial turf" thread

[StartingEleven]

Yankee reports and comments all claim Leathers was malicious and broke Ferreira's ankle.....erm, what game were they watching? Yes, the turf is part of the reason DF's ankle was broke.

You'll have to excuse our southern brethren, although they are much better at this game than we are, the sports media down there are still very "green" when it comes to calling and having opinions on games and events in games.

The opinion of the general media in the US is that Mullan's hit was aggressive but a common occurrence and Leathers' was malicious and with intent.

Leather's tackle was a football tackle plain and simple, and what happened to David is more a direct result of the unforgiving pitch than the actual hit. A "real grass" pitch may have just given up a big divet and Ferriera's ankle may have been spared.

Just my opinion.

[RS]

I played on BMO's turf. It was shockingly bad. I am sure it didn't start out that way, but that facility was used 10+ hours a day 7 days a week.

I played on it all three years, and I could literally feel it getting worse every time I stepped on the surface.

In '07, it was the best artificial surface I'd ever set foot on. By October '09 (the last time I played there), it ranked just above a concrete futsal pitch IMO.

[Canuck in Boston]

Here's a FieldTurf horror story told to me by a local coach. A Massachusetts high school kid was barefoot on a relatively new surface. He and friends were kicking the ball around. This one kid runs up to the ball and strikes it. On the follow through his big toe gets caught in a loop of the "grass". The end result was that his big toe is torn off and is attached only by some tissue. Major surgery later he is ok.

Obviously playing barefoot is not a common practice, but I doubt that would have happened on grass.

[jpoma]

I played on it all three years, and I could literally feel it getting worse every time I stepped on the surface.

In '07, it was the best artificial surface I'd ever set foot on. By October '09 (the last time I played there), it ranked just above a concrete futsal pitch IMO.

I played on it in 08. It was garbage then.

[adrenaline11]

The best that they can do in Vancouver would be to play soccer and football on two different sets of turfs. That way the soccer turf is not damanged as quickly and you also save time by not having to repaint the lines after every conversion.

[Danny Boy]

The best that they can do in Vancouver would be to play soccer and football on two different sets of turfs. That way the soccer turf is not damanged as quickly and you also save time by not having to repaint the lines after every conversion.

would be nice, but impractical. I don't think picking up and rolling out field turf is all that easy plus where in tempire would you even store it? Even at BC place it would be tough. The old school turf just went over concrete in smaller rolls like carpet. I don't believe you can do that with field turf.

Isn't there a stadium where the grass pitch just rolls in? Is it n Arizona? Now that would be cool. Maybe the BC Place renos should have included that piece of technology (wishful thinking).

[adrenaline11]

would be nice, but impractical. I don't think picking up and rolling out field turf is all that easy plus where in tempire would you even store it? Even at BC place it would be tough. The old school turf just went over concrete in smaller rolls like carpet. I don't believe you can do that with field turf.

Isn't there a stadium where the grass pitch just rolls in? Is it n Arizona? Now that would be cool. Maybe the BC Place renos should have included that piece of technology (wishful thinking).

Yeah I'm talking about BC Place. The Fieldturf is exactly the same ones that we use to have in Toronto at the Rogers Centre. That's the one I'm most familiar with. I would think though that BC Place being a multi purpose facility that also hosts concerts would have room to store an extra set of turf. We used to also have the same kind where they come in thousands of little trays (1398 to be exact) about 6' x 12'.

Cowboys Stadium is an example of what I'm talking about where they've got a set of turf for NFL, amateur football and soccer. Each set has about 5 rolls. Even the Rogers Centre now has ditched the thousands of trays of Fieldturf for longer rolls about 200 ft long. If that's what BC Place does go with, it'll look better on TV (no seams), the ball will take a more consistent bounce, it takes less time to convert cause the pieces are bigger, less wear and tear...etc.

Yeah University of Phoenix Stadium is what you're referring to in that second part. Problem is that logistically, I think you need to have the rails, the gears and the retractable tray installed on the ground before you build the rest of the stadium. The field level has to also be the same as the street level where you're going to be rolling the field out to. Schalke's stadium also has one of those.

[Franciscowhite]

Hey why u hate artificial grass it is very good im using it in my house lawn and besides the swimming pool it is quite good for me always fresh and looks like real unless u touch it just like a one time payment no need for more maintenance like watering cutting or fertilizing.......

[alberta white]

Isn't there a stadium where the grass pitch just rolls in? Is it n Arizona? Now that would be cool. Maybe the BC Place renos should have included that piece of technology (wishful thinking).

The Sapporo Dome in Japan, where Beckham's rehabilitation as an England player was complete.

(He scored the winning penalty against Agentina to make up for getting sent off against them, for kicking simone in 1998.)

Let wiki be your freind

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapporo_Dome#Retractable_surface