Benefits of Artificial Sports Turf

Artificial sports turf also known as Astroturf was co-invented in 1965 by James M. Faria and Robert T. Wright, employees of Monsanto (good details, what is Monsanto?). The original artificial sports turf was a short pile synthetic turf, while current products incorporate modern features, such as antimicrobial protection, rubber infill, backing systems, and nylon yarn fibers.

Synthetic sports pitches offer many advantages over natural grass sports pitches. These advantages are as follows:

• Synthetic sports turf is a safe playing surface, as it offers cushioning to players through its shock absorbent layer.


• It has low maintenance costs. A natural grass pitch has a playing capacity of approximately 300 hours per season. On the other hand, artificial sports turf can easily treble that. There is also less playing damage to the synthetic grass, even when used extensively. In fact, despite more frequent use, it does not need any more maintenance than a standard natural grass pitch.


• It is an all weather pitch. So, it can be used all year round.

Artificial turf can be modified to suit the exact requirements of different games. For instance, artificial sports turf manufactured for football usually compromises a long pile carpet filled with sand and rubber granules to give the same performance and feel as natural grass turf. While, a hockey playing surface requires a shorter pile carpet dressed with sand only and no rubber.