Grass pitches are taking criticism at the Euros, but are there other natural alternatives?

Grass pitches consume a lot of water and frequently need to be replaced, but are the alternatives to natural turf any better? Tens of thousands of tonnes of rubber crumbs and artificial grass from pitches end up in the sea, research shows. Could natural alternatives help to stop the pollution? When Queens Park Rangers installed a synthetic pitch at their Loftus Road ground in 1981, it raised eyebrows. Made of a concrete base with a nylon carpet-like fabric layer and sand spread over the top, the new pitch caused the ball to move faster and bounce further than their opponents were used to. Some commented that QPR were now 'fantastic on plastic', as the ball zipped between players. But not everyone was convinced. One observer saw goal kicks bounce once on the rock-hard surface and sail over the opposition's crossbar out of play. The all-weather surface was hard-wearing in more ways than one – it would leave players with horrible cuts and grazes. QPR's pitch was later removed after England's Football Association banned plastic pitches. In the US, athletes including NFL players have also pushed for changing synthetic field surfaces to prevent injuries. However, natural pitches, made with grass, can also be problematic: they need to be replaced frequently, consume a lot of water, and can turn into treacherous, muddy traps for the players. Pundits covering the matches have criticized the grass pitch in Frankfurt's Waldstadion, which replaced a synthetic-natural hybrid pitch, calling it 'substandard' and emphasizing that slipping and sliding on cut-up turf can impact performance as players struggle to keep their footing. Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said the turf was a 'disaster' and that players 'risked serious injury'. Today, most top-tier football pitches are a hybrid – essentially a synthetic mat through which real grass can grow. These pitches feel like natural grass – the ball bounces consistently, they are softer underfoot and can be resown with new grass each year. Importantly, they are also hard-wearing, much better at draining and can recover quickly, so can be used for things other than football. As the clubs with the biggest stadiums look for alternative ways to make money, in the summer months football grounds are turned into music venues, with acts like Ed Sheeran and Coldplay playing in front of tens of thousands of fans across the UK in recent years. In total, only about 3-5% of the playing surface of these top-tier pitches is synthetic. Importantly, they don't use rubber crumbs: tiny, polluting particles that can end up in the ocean. But, these pitches are expensive and are only affordable to the highest-earning professional sides. For ordinary community pitches, is there a way to make hard-wearing, affordable surfaces, without returning to the 80s and 90s knee-grazers? Modern 'third generation' (or 3G) artificial pitches are made with a shock-absorbing baselayer of rubber which is covered in a matting of artificial grass. This is then coated with a layer of sand and then an 'infill' layer of small rubber pellets called crumbs. This rubber crumb is typically made from recycled car tyres in the EU. Anyone who has played on these pitches will be familiar with how far and wide these little rubber pellets can travel. Hitchhiking their way home in the crevices of your trainer tread. Tucked into gaps between sock and sole. Squirrelled away in the darkest corners of your gym bag. They get everywhere. The rubber also has a habit of finding its way into other unwanted places. Artificial grass can degrade over time into microplastics. A standard 11-a-side football pitch measuring 106m by 71m is covered with 120 tonnes of rubber crumb. Between 1. 5 and five tonnes of rubber crumb is lost to the environment from a full-size pitch every year. When extrapolated across Europe's 51,000 synthetic pitches of various sizes, this means a significant amount of rubber crumb ends up in the environment. Then there's the artificial grass blades – not only from sport pitches including football, golf, rugby and field hockey, but also, private gardens, playgrounds and rooftops with astroturf. One study in Spain found that about half of the fibres were classified as microplastics, as the long blades had degraded into tiny pieces. Most of these microplastics end up in watercourses after being washed down drains. Simon Hann, who studies lifecycle assessments for the consultation and research group Eunomia, says some ground staff might have previously tipped plastic into waterways when clearing pitches of snow. Countries where synthetic pitches and snow are common – like Norway – now have rules to prevent this. In 2023, the EU banned microplastics, including rubber crumb for 3G pitches. From October 2031, this will make maintaining these pitches harder. New synthetic pitches without a rubber crumb will be needed, and organic alternatives like cork, coconut shell and bark are being explored. In one pilot project, an amateur football club in the Netherlands has tested a pitch that combines artificial turf and an organic infill made from olive pits and cork, with a positive response from the players. The olive pits were added for stability, while cork's natural bounciness helped keep the players safe. To make cork crumb, the bark of cork trees is harvested and turned into granules, a process that does not kill the cork tree. Cork also has climate benefits: cork oaks are one of the few commercial forests not felled for harvesting, and a cork tree's carbon storage capacity keeps increasing during its long life. Another issue with rubber 3G pitches is that they can become too hot, and players might burn themselves on the rubber. Cork doesn't have this problem. However, cork may not suit all pitches. In wetter climates, it can get washed away, biodegrades faster and needs to be replaced more often. Waste materials like coconut husk have been used, but the performance wasn't quite as good because you don't get the cushioning as much as cork or rubber. Limiting the environmental impact of synthetic pitches will have another benefit: a natural field measuring 9,000 sq m which is large enough for two 11-a-side pitches, will emit a lot of carbon dioxide, mostly from the production of the plastics in the pitch. But it's no surprise synthetic pitches are popular. With climate change resulting in rising temperatures and increased flooding, synthetic pitches can be used more often. One club is able to spend up to 80 hours a week on a synthetic pitch – and can rent it out to other sides in the community. This is a much higher figure than a grass pitch could support. There are guidelines on pitch use because it depends on the construction, level of football, prevailing weather conditions, and who is playing on it. A soil pitch with no drainage might only be able to support one hour of play per week after heavy rain. With drainage and proper sand and soil root zones, playability might increase to six hours if the weather has been helpful. So what can be done about the community synthetic pitches we already have? Barriers around the pitches and capture devices in all of the drains are very basic and actually quite cheap measures to make sure particles don't just go straight down into the watercourses. Meanwhile, natural turf will probably continue to come under scrutiny should it fall below standard. Uefa said they would look into it, but there's no overnight solution to fixing poor natural grass. For the time being, players might have to get used to sliding about on the natural – but potentially slippery – surface.