Tanzania: Storm Gathers On Artificial Grass Turf

analysis

Complaints over artificial grass in stadium turfs that swept across major global leagues have been recently reported in Tanzania and its football governing body (TFF) reacted quickly by suspending some games.

TFF has ordered the matches, which were to be held at the re-opened Uhuru Stadium shifted to the National Stadium while appropriate measures to tackle the problem were underway.

Similar to the complaints raised by professional players in major European leagues, the local players and club officials have claimed that the artificial grass system at the re-opened stadium is poor, hence threatens the health of the players using it.

Artificial grass pitch, which is now popular worldwide, has been introduced in several stadia of Tanzania with experts claiming its system is environmental friendly and less costly. Several clubs have raised complaints on the safety and health concerns on the poor condition of the artificial turf at the Uhuru Stadium claiming several players have been injured after playing on the worn-out of the turf.

Simba, who claim a pilot seat in Tanzania Premier League table, went ahead to officially report to the stadium owners and the football governing body. TFF, through its Head of Communication, Alfred Lucas, announced to have shifted two Round Six matches from Uhuru to the National Stadium whose turf is claimed to natural and conducive for the game.

TFF timely move to stop usage of the stadium was reached to give a room for fixing the artificial grass problem before extra damage is done to both the pitch and players.

Several topflight league clubs who have been using the Uhuru Stadium in the premier league, said the reconstruction of the stadium had neglected the turf as it focused only on stands. Since the official reopening of the stadium, the matches, which were earlier planned to kick off at the National Stadium, were shifted to Uhuru whose capacity is 30,000 spectators.

The teams that first tested the stadium included Simba, African Lyon, Uhuru, Ruvu Shooting and Azam, all complained about the poor condition of the artificial turf, which they said to have inflicted injuries to their players.

The artificial turf laid at the stadium is said to have been worn-out and so have raised a number of safety and health concerns to the clubs and players. They claim, the turf causes abrasions or burns to a much greater extent than natural grass.

Simba were the first club to raise complaints about the condition of the pitch after about three of their players including their Zimbabwean defender Method Mwanjali, who sustained a big scratch/ abrasion on his thigh after a sliding tackle attempt during their game against Azam last Saturday.

Other complaints came during the African Lyon and Toto Africans match.

African Lyon complained about the injuries their players sustained due to the poor condition of the artificial turf. The complaints, which have recently raised alarm to many football stakeholders, who are looking to see it wisely tackled before more harm is done to the players and other users of the stadium.

There are several health and safety concerns that have been raised about artificial turf worldwide. Looking further, Tanzania must visit other areas and see how the issue was tackled while also trying to see the real effects of the artificial grass.

The experts have seen the artificial grass system in both positive and negative advantages. There is a surface of synthetic fibres made to look like natural grass which are most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass.

Some of the positive advantages of the artificial turf are that they stand up too heavy use and requires no irrigation or trimming. Domed or partially covered stadiums may require artificial turf because of the difficulty of getting grass enough sunlight to stay healthy.

But there are negative side of the artificial turf too, that include limited life, periodic cleaning requirements, petroleum use, toxic chemicals from infill which heightened the health and safety concerns of the users.

The use of synthetic turf systems, which feature longer fibres and sand infills was introduced before the third generation system, which is most widely used today. In February 2001, came the system that offers infills that are mixtures of sand and granules of recycled rubber, this, however, has received criticism from players on the surface saying it among other things, it may exacerbate injuries.

A full international fixture for the 2008 European Championships played on 17 October 2007 between England and Russia was on an artificial surface, which was installed to counteract adverse weather conditions, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. It was one of the first full international games to be played on such a surface approved by both FIFA and UEFA.

However, UEFA ordered that the 2008 European Champions League final hosted in the same stadium in May 2008, must take place on grass, so a temporary natural grass field was installed just for the final.

However, players harshly criticised the field saying it caused many injuries as a result of the harder surface. When Johan Cruyff became the advisor of the team, he recommended the switch to natural grass, which the team did in 2012.

And since then there have been a number of health and safety concerns raised about artificial turf as there are also significant concern regarding a plausible link between artificial turf and cancer as some artificial turf uses infill such as silicon sand or granulated rubber, referred to as 'crumb rubber.'

Concerns have been raised about cancer incidence in players, particularly goalkeepers, who are in more frequent direct contact with artificial turf.

University of Washington goalkeeper coach Amy Griffin has collected data about athletes with cancer who have played on turf containing 'crumb rubber'. As of 2015, her list of 200 athletes with cancer contained 150 soccer players, 95 of whom were goalkeepers.

Tanzania, among the earliest African nations to adopt artificial turf, needs to be alert and approach the issue cautiously as artificial turf which is being widely promoted as a cost-efficient, environmentally- and user-friendly product can be a real danger to the health of players despite being promoted as the best replacement of the natural grass on sports fields.