Astroturf

-Sandy    

The Artificial Turf used in field hockey, (its trademark is ‘Astroturf’) was first installed and used in 1964.

Let us see how this new technological innovation came about. In the early 1960’s, the Ford Foundation in the U.S., conducted an enquiry as to why rural children were fitter than urban children. They discovered that rural children had better playing surfaces than the urban ones. So they thought that they should discover some way to cover playing surfaces in the urban environments with grass. Since real grass hardly ever grew properly in the cities, and was tough to maintain too, it decided that there should be some way they could substitute it with an artificial grass.

Many manufacturers took up the challenge. Thus, in 1964, the first field made of plastic was installed at the Moses Brown School in the town of Providence.

Soon, the concept of artificial turf caught on, and many playing fields were laid with it. A company called Monsanto took up Astroturf as the trade name for this artificial grass, and the name stuck.

Since then, Astroturf has been the subject of many controversies. Many argue that it has a harder surface than real grass, since it is mostly laid on concrete or gravel, or asphalt. This causes many injuries to players. Also, the blades of artificial grass are stiff, since they are made of plastic. A fall would thus cause more injuries than usual.

A recent survey by an athletic association in the U.S., has shown that most athletes think that artificial grass gives rise to more injuries than natural turf. Players will have to learn to fall in such a way as to minimize injuries. Players scrub themselves with iodine soap after playing games on artificial turf to prevent infection from germs present on it. Unlike natural turf, artificial grass does not absorb dirt, spit, etc.

Manufacturing companies have now come up with methods to make artificial grass better than it was. Monsanto, the leading manufacturer of this turf now lays it in this way. It glues a polyurethane pad on top of a gravel base. Above this, a rubber carpet is laid, which has plastic blades of grass.

The advantages of Astroturf are that it need not be maintained as natural grass has to be, and thus is less expensive. Its surface also remains smooth for a long time, and rough weather does not affect it.

The disadvantage is that balls tend to bounce faster and farther on artificial turf. Artificial turf also becomes very hot in warm weather. Sometimes, Astroturf pitches are watered to rule out continuous dribbling and short passes.

There are other types of artificial turf too. One type has a flat surface. This is used to pave horse tracks in race courses, running tracks for athletics, and tennis courts.

(Gokulam/January 1993)