Fox Sports, February 2, 2017
“U.S. players have been pretty clear on their preference to play on grass. While not all hate playing on artificial surfaces, they’ve made it clear that they prefer natural surfaces.”
“Former U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann especially hated [synthetic] turf and did most everything in his power to keep his team from playing on it. Even new U.S. boss Bruce Arena has been critical of the surfaces before.”
NBC Connecticut, September 10, 2015
A high school football coach in Connecticut is apologizing after an on-field punishment that left some of his players with blisters and burns earlier this week. Parents cried foul after Stratford High School coach T.J. Cavaliere told his team to crawl on the artificial turf with their bear hands at the school's football field Monday. The drill, on a day where temperatures raced past the 90 degrees amid baking sun, caused some of the players to burn their hands on the heated turf.
The Washington Post, June 5, 2015
“Numerous studies have explored the impact of artificial turf on the game and the body. The conclusion: In fear of injury, players are less likely to use slide tackles; the stress on joints increases; skin abrasions are more pronounced; additional recovery time is needed between matches; and with the ball moving quicker, a pinball effect threatens to destroy the rhythm of the game.”
Duke University Soccer Politics Blog, 2015
"Not only are players concerned about major ligament tears and concussions, but they also speak to the increased stress on the body. Morgan feels that recovery time is an issue as well: 'The achiness, taking longer to recover than on natural grass, the tendons and ligaments are, for me at least, I feel more sore after turf.' "
ESPN, November 13, 2014
"Thierry Henry won't even travel to Seattle in the regular season because he doesn't play on turf. Some of the best players in the world refuse to play on turf. Look, I would play on dry Arizona grass in the heat of the summer before I would play on turf. Every time."
"The sport we play is physical, but when going into a tackle, you are not supposed to be thinking, 'Crap, this is going to hurt, and [it's] probably not worth it.' Turf does that to you. It takes away from how I play and we play soccer. And the back problems. My back is the worst it has ever felt this season as I felt like I was running on concrete every day."
USA Today, October 15, 2014
" 'When I play on grass, my body doesn't ache,' she says. 'It can get sore, but it doesn't pulse and my legs don't ache. When I play on turf, my legs can pulse and ache for up to 24 hours and it could take 3-5 days to recover, whereas grass, after 24 hours I'm ready to play again.' "
Morgan has seen teammates suffer season-ending injuries that she blames on turf, however. She recalled Portland Thorns teammate Nikki Marshall tearing her ACL after getting "caught in the turf" while planting her foot. The turf didn't give like natural grass would have, she says.
USA Today, March 27, 2013
"Other national team members have strong opinions as well. U.S. forward Carli Lloyd tweeted: 'Had a nightmare that the 2015 World Cup was going to be played on turf! … Wonder if the men's World Cup would ever be played on turf? … Always more injuries on artificial turf. Bad enough we played our 2012 Olympic qualifying games on artificial turf. Never thought about WC.' "
Synturf.org, September 17, 2007
"As far back as August 2007, David Beckham openly dissed FieldTurf as a playing surface. 'As a professional athlete, you can't play a game like soccer on that sort of field,' Beckham told reporters. 'You can't ask any athlete to perform at a high level on the FieldTurf.' Most significantly, Beckham said, 'What it does to your body as a soccer player, you're in bits for three days after that.' "
