Astroturf anyone?

let's not forget at milanello the guys train on a daily basis on artificial fields, so they experience it every day and if they consider this option they must have talked with experts and maked tests

Well I saw my first competitive match on artificial turf today.I dont really thunk it made too much of a difference.Killie were awfull and the home team Dunfermline were worthy winners.It really was not at all like the old astro.the ball bounced evenly without bouncing too high and the ball held up well on the "grass".All players wore shorts and the usual burns from the pitch seem to be a thing of the past.I also understand that this pitch is not the best in the UEFA experiment so by the time we see them in regular use they will be much better.

Guys, the human being has gone on the Moon
now the same human genre is supposed to make an artificial pitch successfully..it doesn't seem MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE if you ask me

Oul Beckham will have to come up with a new excuse, he wont be able to use the "ground went from under me" line anymore if astro goes ahead!!!

But as I said in an earlier post, ive played on teh one currently ranked top by uefa and its amazing, wear yoru normal boots, drains great in rain, actually makes for a cracking game when slightly slicked up br rain, no more astro burns, it actually hurts less that a grass pitch does!!! but also, our keeper reckons that because the base is rubber its a lot easier diving on it so he is much happier with it.

Originally Posted by iregk

Oul Beckham will have to come up with a new excuse, he wont be able to use the "ground went from under me" line anymore if astro goes ahead!!!

But as I said in an earlier post, ive played on teh one currently ranked top by uefa and its amazing, wear yoru normal boots, drains great in rain, actually makes for a cracking game when slightly slicked up br rain, no more astro burns, it actually hurts less that a grass pitch does!!! but also, our keeper reckons that because the base is rubber its a lot easier diving on it so he is much happier with it.

it sounds amazing! finally the technical teams will be paid off

indeed, the only thing, will this see an end to the likes of Messina, Lecce etc... getting a result against the bigger teams due to woeful playing conditions? (please ignore lecce's recent result against juve while reading)

but agreed, derby day in jan will never be the same.

up

i will try astroturf next weeks cause i'm about to wear my footie boots again..

The heir of Kakà is coming back

Originally Posted by Giovanni

up

i will try astroturf next weeks cause i'm about to wear my footie boots again..

:

when was your last footiec match gio?? do not tell me august

Originally Posted by Franco6

when was your last footiec match gio?? do not tell me august

august

but my sheer class is always there

Ahahahahaaaahahahaahahaahah

Yes Yes I Know

As they say, Class never dies....

Pittodrie Stadium, home to Scotland's Aberdeen Football Club, sits on the edge of the North Sea. During the winter — the middle of the Scottish Premier League season — a bitter wind whips up off the water, giving a biting edge to the snow and rain that often accompany Aberdeen's matches. The climate's tough on away fans, but it's even harder on the boggy pitch: last season, Aberdeen spent about €45,000 to maintain its field — a big sum for a declining club in a peripheral league.

Little wonder, then, that when UEFA, European football's governing body, said last year that it was looking for volunteer clubs to test artificial football surfaces, Aberdeen leaped at the chance. The club not only stands to get a €204,000 subsidy from UEFA for the new surface if its application is accepted, but it will also be part of a wider trend sweeping the sports world — one that uses new technology to create faux fields that are player-friendly, and can take a beating.

For more than two decades, AstroTurf dominated the synthetic-field market. Many athletes, particularly American football players, disliked the stuff. The fields were laid over concrete and had a texture like sandpaper. Players blamed the carpet for causing knee and toe injuries because the surface had no "give," although studies on injury rates were inconclusive.

But in 1999 FieldTurf, based in Montreal, began mass-producing a new surface whose composition better imitates the real thing, with more resistance to wear and tear. The longer, grasslike fibers, made of a polyethylene blend, give it a more natural look and feel, while the blend of sand and rubber particles — recycled from old running shoes — that form its base are loosely packed around the blades of "grass," providing a softer cushion than real dirt.

The new surfaces are growing fast in the U.S., where demand on municipal fields is almost unceasing. American football teams are also enthusiastic. Four NFL stadiums — in Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia and Seattle — use synthetic turf, and several others, including Giants Stadium, outside New York City and home to two NFL teams, are considering it. Almost 200 synthetic fields will be laid in the U.S. this year, compared with fewer than 50 in 1999. And more than 20 U.S. companies are selling the new surface, under brand names such as AstroPlay and NeXturf. European companies such as Germany's Tarkett Sommer have also joined the turf wars.

More critically FIFA, global football's governing body, could create a worldwide industry for these companies. FIFA has approved 30 facilities with synthetic turf, including the training pitch at Clairefontaine, France's famed football academy, and Luzhniki Olympic Stadium in Moscow, home to the Spartak and Torpedo Moscow clubs. Should FIFA approve the surface for all competitions, annual industry sales, now about j300 million, could explode.

The European market seems ripe as cash-strapped clubs look for cost-effective ways to keep their pitches playable through the European winter. In the '80s, some clubs tried plastic pitches, but abandoned the idea because of the rock-hard surface and the sky-high bounce of the ball. However, things could turn again. Early this month, English Premiership clubs Chelsea and Charlton Athletic played a match on a pitch that was so heavily sanded that commentators referred to the game as "beach football." The incident fueled speculation that in England at least, faux pitches would become commonplace. For its part, the English Football Association Premier League — which currently forbids artificial surfaces — is waiting on research that rules out any link between the new pitches and player injuries.

Despite initial installation costing upwards of €375,000 for a synthetic field, compared with €140,000 for grass, the increased usage and much-reduced maintenance costs can make the switch a bargain. In U.S. high schools, teams that have the new synthetic grass say it's safer than real grass, which can become dangerously uneven if it's overused. Steve Lowe, groundkeeper at Claremont High School in California, which switched to FieldTurf last year, says players have had fewer injuries on the synthetic field.

FieldTurf has become so popular that other companies, including Southwest, the producer of AstroTurf, have brought out similar products. Many of the new synthetic surfaces surround the grass blades with an all-rubber base, which, some companies say, makes a field even cushier than the sand-and-rubber mix of FieldTurf. For players used to the hard knocks of competition, the future could have a soft landing.

I say bring on the Artificial turf. I want 1989 and a 5-0 thrashing like yesteryear!

The artificial turfs are state of the art nowadays. I have played on one for a whole year and it is excellent! If it wasn't right then the Milan squad wouldn't have artificial turfs at Milanello.

Our team's level will be increased with this and the San Siro will look complete and beautiful with it as well. It will do more good than harm. A technically gifted squad like ours will be frightening on a smooth surface!

I agree with you Haroon, and i want to ask you an advice: as long as you have played on the newest astroturf, which are the best pair of shoes to play on it?

The futsal or the normal ones with 13 studs ?

Gio,

You can play with either. The futsal ones are pretty decent but when it is raining it slips a bit for my liking.

The best ones IMO are the FIRM GROUND football cleats. That is the rubber stud ones. The SOFT GROUND ones have either got screw on metal studs or the detachable metal studs but I don't think they are necessary as the studs are longer and will work efficiently on muddy pitches where extra traction is required.

I use the Adidas Predator Pulse TRX FM (Rossonero). Nothing beats an Adidas football shoe.