The word Astroturf is rather loosely used to mean any kind of synthetic grass. It was however, invented and first used as a sports turf in the U.S.A in the sixties.
Technology has moved on somewhat since then, and the synthetic grass or artificial turf available today uses modern technology and is highly specialised. For instance, there are artificial turf pitches especially designed for each of different kinds of sports such as athletics, football, rugby, cricket, tennis and other outdoor sports.
The need for artificial grass or artificial turf pitches arose due problems associated with natural grass such as the high cost of maintenance especially in long dry summers and difficult playing conditions in winters such as frozen or soggy playing fields.
The first artificial grass pitch for professional sport was laid in the Houston Astrodome (USA), in 1965, for baseball matches.
The idea was to create a surface that mimicked the characteristics of natural grass – so it needed to look like and feel like grass, whilst eliminating the problems associated with natural grass. However, over time problems emerged such as abrasion injuries to players, uneven bounce of the ball and fading of the synthetic turf.
In the 1970s, the technology improved and the new artificial turf had longer fibres with sand used to fill in the fibres making the pitches flatter, thereby improving ball control. The problem of abrasion due to the sand remained, making it unsuitable for sports involving sliding tackles such as football.
In the 1990s, technology made further advances leading to the development of what is known as ‘third generation’ artificial turf pitches. Significant improvements included the use of newer materials such as polymers like polyethylene, which is softer and reduces the risk of ‘burn’ injuries.
Characteristics of sports turf can be altered using fibres of different lengths, and tufted in varying densities. Longer fibres tufted further apart, are suited to games like football, allowing shoes with studs to sink into the surface easily. Shock pads, which are installed under the synthetic surface, provide particular characteristics to the sports pitch. Modern artificial turf pitches may be ‘unfilled’ or water-based, making it fast and suitable for sports such as hockey. ‘Sand dressed’ and ‘sand filled’ pitches vary in the depth of sand used as infill in the carpet pile, where sand dressed pitches are harder and slower. The use of rubber crumb along with sand as infill materials provides better cushioning, thus minimising the risk of injuries to joints. Modern pitches also incorporate a drainage system to eliminate the problem of flooding during wet weather.
Astroturf – Looking Back