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FieldTurf

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The wide plain of FieldTurf used at Toronto's Rogers Centre was installed after the 2004 baseball season.

FieldTurf Tarkett, a division of Tarkett Inc., is a Montreal-based company that manufactures and installs artificial turf playing surfaces identified by the FieldTurf trademark.

Product

FieldTurf is an artificial turf composed of monofilament polyethylene blend fibres tufted into a polypropylene backing with a mixture of silica sand and cryogenic rubber infill. FieldTurf was first patented in 1982.

Notable installations

(see List of FieldTurf installations for more installations.)

In 1999, the Metropolitan Oval, a soccer complex in New York City, was one of the first to install FieldTurf in the U.S.

In March 2000, FieldTurf replaced the original AstroTurf field at Tropicana Field, making the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball the first professional sports team to play on the FieldTurf surface.

In 2000, FieldTurf was installed in the University of Washington's Husky Stadium, replacing the AstroTurf surface, originally installed in 1968. Husky Stadium was used as the Seattle Seahawks home field from 2000-2001, following the demolition of the Kingdome in March 2000. This would be the first FieldTurf used in the NFL.

In 2005, Saprissa Stadium in San José, Costa Rica became the first stadium to host a FIFA World Cup qualifying match on FieldTurf.

In 2007, the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada had almost 50% of its games played on FieldTurf [1].

As of 2007, seven of the eight Canadian Football League teams have installed either FieldTurf or a similar surface.

The University of Saskatchewan installed it in 2006 when the hosted the Vanier Cup.

Currently all but three National Football League venues have either FieldTurf or natural grass surfaces.

Super Bowl XL, featuring the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers, was the first time that the Super Bowl has been played on FieldTurf. The Ford Field installation differs slightly from the standard installation as the recycled rubber used is made from Firestone tires.[2]

Criticism

In September 2006, several top Canadian soccer players appealed to the Canadian Soccer Association to install a natural grass surface at BMO Field in Toronto.[3] The Association has, however, decided to install FieldTurf despite the players' request.

In addition, following David Beckham's move to Major League Soccer in 2007, in which he arrived carrying an ankle injury,[4] he voiced his opinion that the league should convert to grass for all pitches, specifically singling out the FieldTurf brand[5][6] (which he later partially recanted[7]), while outsiders suggested that the FieldTurf pitch at Toronto had been a factor in his decision to instead sign with another team (he signed with the LA Galaxy).

During a telephone interview on David Beckham's Soccer USA (UK version), former Aston Villa and current Red Bull New York striker Juan Pablo Ángel criticized the surface, saying, "I find it really hard to adjust to the [Giants Stadium] turf field... it takes me two or three days just to recover [after a match]."[8]

New England Revolution manager Steve Nicol is quoted as saying "there is no give in [FieldTurf]. Grass is still the best surface," [9] in regards to professional soccer matches.

Gary O'Connor, current Birmingham City and Scotland striker, has recently spoken out against the FieldTurf surface at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, which hosted the England-Russia Euro 2008 qualifier on 17 October 2007. After a short summer term at Lokomotiv Moscow, O'Connor described playing on the FieldTurf surface as "a nightmare" and a "misfortune".[10] He noted the effects of the artificial surface during the run of play, saying, "The ball skids off the surface, so it becomes extremely hard to read where it is going to go."

In 2007, a Connecticut non-profit organization Environmental and Human Health Inc. (EHHI), released a report about the safety of recycled tire crumb rubber in artificial turf.[11] EHHI funded a study by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, a state agency, which independently reported[12] that under laboratory conditions when the crumb rubber infill was heated to 60 °C (140 °F), four components of crumb rubber volatilize into the vapor phase (outgas) in contact with the crumbs: benzothiazole (an irritant), butylated hydroxyanisole (a carcinogen and toxicant), n-hexadecane (an irritant) and 4-(t-octyl) phenol (corrosive to mucus membranes, a suspected endocrine disruptor[13]). FieldTurf, ALIAPUR (a French consortium founded by tire makers Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop Goodyear, Kléber, Michelin and Pirelli)[14], and ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency) released their own joint report concluding that there was no cause for concern to human health by inhalation of volatile organic compounds and aldehydes released by recycled tire crumb rubber surfaces.[15]

The safety of the rubber granules in artificial turf has been defended in other studies, such as the INTRON rubber study.[16].

See also

References

  1. ^ FieldTurf at FIFA U20 2007 FieldTurf at FIFA
  2. ^ "Ford Field, Detroit Lions". Sportsvenue Technology. 2002-08-24. Retrieved 2007-01-28. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ "Don't use artificial grass in Toronto FC stadium: players". globeandmail.com. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  4. ^ "Beckham hopes to play against DC". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  5. ^ "Beckham apologizes for turf remarks". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  6. ^ "Beckham Speaks". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  7. ^ "Beckham sorry for grass gaffe". 24 Sport. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  8. ^ "David Beckham's Soccer USA (UK version), Week 7". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  9. ^ "Artificial turf not to Beckham's liking". ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  10. ^ "O'connor warns England over plastic pitch". ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  11. ^ Dr. David R. Brown (2007). "Artificial Turf: Exposures To Ground-Up Rubber Tires: Athletic Fields, Playgrounds, Gardening Mulch" (pdf). Environment & Human Health, Inc. Retrieved 2007-10-26. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ Mattina, MaryJane Incorvia; Isleyen, M.; Berger, W.; Ozdemir, S. (8/2007), Examination of Crumb Rubber Produced from Recycled Tires (pdf), The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, AC006, retrieved 2007-10-26 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Commission of the European Communities (2001), Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the implementation of the Community Strategy for Endocrine Disrupters - a range of substances suspected of interfering with the hormone systems of humans and wildlife (pdf), COM(2001) 262 final, retrieved 2007-10-27
  14. ^ "Qui est Aliapur?". Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  15. ^ Dr. Robert Moretto (2007), Environmental and health assessment of the use of elastomer granulates (virgin and from used tyres) as filling in third-generation artificial turf (pdf), ADME / ALIAPUR / FieldTurf Tarkett, retrieved 2007-10-26
  16. ^ INTRON rubber study
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