Should artificial pitches be used in Non-League football?

In the lower levels of football, the debate around the use of artificial pitches has grown, with more of them popping up over the country as clubs decide to move away from a traditional grass pitch and favour their teams to play on artificial grass made out of plastic and rubber.

Why would clubs want to do this? Are they jeopardising the core and simplicity of football or are they visualising a more sustainable business model? Below are some of the factors that clubs are likely to take into account when thinking about installing an artificial pitch.

Guarantee of games being played

Whether you like them or not, artificial pitches do guarantee that games will go ahead. It’s only in the unlikely event that temperatures would drop to well below freezing which would lead to it being called off.

The guarantee of games being played also prevents a backlog of fixtures taking place at the back end of the season, which is the last thing a team needs when they’re fighting for a certain position. Just look at the situation with Taunton Town. Their pitch is struggling after attempting to accommodate both themselves and a groundshare with Truro City, but the pitch constantly falls foul to the weather and the part-time squad are now left to play twice per week until the end of the season.

Lots of people can use it

As well as the guarantee of games being played, there’s a likelihood that more games will be played with several teams able to play on it, developed by the same club, such as youth, pathway, ladies and more. It could, if availability allows, be hired out to members of the public for an additional revenue stream. That all comes without any damage being done to the pitch.

Chasetown, a club in the Midlands in the eighth tier of football, or Step 4 of non-league, recently installed an artificial pitch that hosts over 40 teams within their youth section alone, excluding the first team or development programme.

While these teams had existed before, it wore the grass down, whereas artificial pitches can withstand roughly eight years worth of football before being replaced.

Community spirit grows

With clubs having the opportunity to hire their pitch out to members of the public, this would naturally create a closer bond between the club and the people using the facilities.

There are many clubs that are aware of how social media works and are good at promoting their brands. While there doesn’t seem to be many offers from clubs to the general public, it does seem to be the case that, particularly if clubs have an artificial pitch, they offer it on social media for clubs seeking a groundshare opportunity. Again, this could improve relations between clubs.

However, it isn’t as simple as has been made out so far. There are plenty of drawbacks that are likely to put clubs off.

There is a high price for these pitches

Artificial pitch prices can vary, but they generally aren’t far from seven figures. In some cases, clubs can apply for grants from Sport England and the FA to cover some of their costs, however the clubs must source the remaining amount, which in some cases, could be far beyond justifiable.

Therefore, some clubs decide to stick with their grass pitches despite the regularity of postponed matches.

You have to remove artificial pitches in the Football League

An artificial pitch may also not be viable depending on the objectives of the various clubs and their position in the pyramid. For example, Sutton United rose up through the leagues and were required to rip up their turf in exchange for grass. This is because Football League rules state that matches must be played on grass.

It seems more viable in the lower levels of non-league, around the seventh or eighth tier, but for those in the National Leagues, the majority of them have long term objectives to advance up into the division above or maybe even into the Football League, which would mean the Return on Investment would not seem justifiable.

Quality of football and injuries

Some players seem to be against the installation of artificial pitches for an understandable reason. The ball generally tends to bounce a lot differently and the nature of the pitch means that the players can get knee injuries.

Is there a solution rather than having a mixture of teams in one league with different styles of pitches?

One of the main arguments seems to be weather related. A lot of the games get called off in the winter due to the rain or frost, and as has been mentioned, teams end up having to rearrange a fixture multiple times and/or end up playing three or even four times a week towards the business end of the season.

If the season was frontloaded with fixtures whereby there were matches every Saturday and every Tuesday for the first six weeks of the season when the weather is generally better, then it would likely solve a lot of problems. That’s already eleven games gone and it’s only the beginning of September.

However, football is a popular sport. As the demand grows and people join, pitches get worn down with all the regular use. So until the demand slows and/or the fixtures are frontloaded, this seems to be the way forward for non-league football.