Artificial Excuses

Refreshing to note Steve McClaren not making excuses about Russia's Artificial pitch after England's defeat at the Luznikhi Stadium in Moscow.

UEFA allowed the use of"plastic pitches" from the beginning of the 2005-06 season mainly for clubs from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe who would possibly be playing in the Champions League in the middle of a severe winter.

I remember visiting a very cold Loftus Road (home of QPR) way back in 1984 and leaning over the advertising boards to steal a piece of Astroturf which the London club had installed in 1981.

This wasn't artificial grass, this was like a piece of matting you could get at B&Q.

QPR were the first British club to install a plastic pitch and were followed by Luton, Oldham and Preston but the pitches were much maligned and were heavily criticised for shortening players careers.

Twenty years on though and Modern science has improved the Artificial pitch no end and Legendary footballers Jean Pierre Papin,Karl Heinz Riedle and Ian Rush were present when Scottish Club Dunfermline unveiled their new plastic pitch in 2003. Rush was quoted as saying (about the pitch) "It is the way forward for Europe. It has give in it like grass and always gives a true bounce."

Unfortunately this didn't hold much sway with the SPL who banned Artificial pitches in 2005 after complaints from visiting clubs(particularly Rangers and Celtic).

In sporting terms plastic grass first made its debut in the Houston Astrodome in Texas in 1966 and has earned a bad reputation ever since but as we edge ever further from the 20th Century and into the 21st, could Artificial pitches become commonplace in sport.

Grass costs money and is difficult to maintain in extreme weather, many sports have already approved the use of artificial pitches including Rugby Union, Rugby League and Tennis and as many lower league football clubs look to maximise their assets and cut their costs, the appeal of plastic is becoming undeniable.

Their will always be critics but in an age when we can clone sheep and graft ears on to peoples arms then surely we can make a man made surface as good as grass.

It may not be a plastic revolution but it will be worth watching developments over the next few years.