-Jason Kries, ACL... Southlake, 2003 -Josh Wolff, ACL... Naperville, 2002 -Nick Rimando, ACL... Meadowlands, 2003 -numerous instances of burnt, blistered feet... Southlake, Naperville, Meadowlands -players passing out (Galaxy and Metro player, 2003)... Meadowlands others?
one of the crew guys (maybe Paule) twisted something a couple weeks back while training on turf prior to (edit) some game that was on turf.
Artificial grass is getting closer and closer to become as real as real grass. Although never seen it myslef, I have heard field turf is almost there. I would imagine in the very near future, artificial grass will be better than real grass.
Oh, come on... I personally think that soccer should be played on real grass if at all possible, but sometimes this crap gets a little carried away. If a player suffers an injury on fake turf, then it automatically is blamed on the stuff. If a player suffers an injury on real grass, then it's just dismissed as an accident? The Denver Broncos have gone through running backs' knees like water and they play on (supposedly) the best possible real turf. There's no fake turf in the EPL, La Liga, or Serie A and every team has an injury list which includes knee injuries. The day may come when every MLS team has its own stadium with real green stuff growing in it, but until then, can we attempt to be a little more objective about the causes of injuries?
Seriously, maybe there ought to be more research into making cleats that perform better on the new artificial surfaces.
I don't remember a Galaxy player, but there was the noon midweek game between the Metros and the Wizards where Conrad had trouble.
Re: Oh, come on... True. The thread title is quite misleading. I've played on Field Turf a few times, not often enough to provide anything more than anecdotes. It runs like real grass, none of the bounce you get off Astro Turf. But you can easily get your cleats caught in the gravel and I noticed that my feet started to hurt about an hour in. Plus, the dark gravel reflects heat, making it really hot in the summer. Otherwise, I forget that I'm playing on plastic. Let's just say that it's nowhere near perfect and I prefer the real thing. But it's miles ahead of Astro Turf and I prefer it over an uneven or torn up natural field.
not much you can do about the amount of heat those fields kick out i've worn some great running shoes for heat... but if you run on asphalt during the hottest part of the day in the summer... you're asking for it just like you're asking for it with fake turfs in the summer for soccer football is fine... they barely play 15 seconds in a row, it's more up and down... less lateral... soccer... you can't do it... it's non-stop... all about...
Artificial turf is an improving technology, which makes me fairly convinced that once they figure out some way to channel heat from the field (I imagine in the same principle that water is drained from some fields after inclement weather), someone like you will come back and figure out some new reason like to like artificial turf.
Artificial turf may be an improving technology, but that doesn't mean it's good right now. If they fix the heat issues, that will mean one of many problems is gone. Are there any injuries that can happen on grass that can't happen on even new and improved turf? People often bring up Armas' blow out knee that happened on grass. That would have happened on turf too. Wolff blew out his knee on turf last year, and that would not have happened on grass.
Re: Re: Oh, come on... I play two games a week. One on the artificial turf and the other on natural grass. The natural grass field isn't all that good. I don't know what it is about the artificial grass, but I always have swelling in my bad knee after playing there. The same does not happen on natural grass. I think, perhaps, the artificial grass has too much grip when turning and stopping and ends up putting more stress on the knees. Shoes, too, I have been told, make a difference. I do wear cleats on both and many have suggested I switch to running shoes for games on the artificial turf.
My feeling is that playing on fieldturf can inflame your joints because the traction is very good. does any one have any actual studies depicting the injury ratios between turf, grass, and fieldturf? Grass forever!
Anyone involved with Wolff and his injury claimed it was caused by the turf. While they may be wrong, they're certainly more capable of judging than you or me. Armas' injury was a no contact, practically no stress injury. It could have happened while walking down the street.
Injuries happen on the real stuff too. Thats why you need to collect injury data on a new type of artificial turf before you can say that its better or worse than the real grass. Not saying that Articficial turf isnt a contributing factor, but before you start claiming that its the surface you have to get an idea of how many of these could just as easily happened on a grass field. Hence this thread should really have a '?' at the end of the title, since we dont really know for sure if it was due to the turf, its just suspected it is.
Should we also make a list of players injured on grass fields? Chris Armas Mathis Buciagra Whitfield Reyes (all ACLs on grass) I'm sure there are more...
Don't know if it means anything, but the Crew didn't even take Maisonneuve on the trip to NY last weekend because of the FieldTurf. Didn't want to risk his ankle, apparently.
The natural grass of Gillette Stadium. Sasha's injury occurred at the HDC. Chris Armas last year was on grass as well. Conclusions? Turf: bad. Grass: better.