It is now a few decades since the first synthetic sports surfaces emerged from the United States and the technology involved in producing these surfaces has come on in leaps and bounds.
Synthetic turf now has specialist surfaces for cricket, tennis, golf and even equestrianism. These surfaces are already used widely in the States and will be much more common in Australia in the coming years, particularly because of an ever worsening water crisis.
Wyndam City in Victoria announced at the end of 2010 that they would create Australia’s first fully synthetic football and cricket oval at Point Cook. The new surface will be AFL and Cricket Australia accredited.
Here in the west, East Fremantle Football Club has already dipped its toe into the world of synthetic turf thanks to Green Planet Grass installing a new interchange area for the home of the WAFL club. This high traffic area struggled to grow natural grass during the season and it was usually either muddy on wet days or rock-hard in dry weather.
Taking into consideration the dangerous conditions this caused players wearing boots with studs, the Town of East Fremantle asked Green Planet Grass to replace the interchange area with an AFL accredited playing surface which includes a shock pad under the grass.
“This is the same surface that is being installed in the first ever football and cricket oval in Australia at Point Cook in Victoria,” said Jeff Dennis. “Obviously player safety is paramount in sport so we were pleased to be able to provide a viable and sustainable solution for the Town of East Fremantle.”
We believe that many sporting clubs will discover the value of synthetic turf in the coming years and it is a very sensible option for local and state authorities looking for high performance and low maintenance solutions
