April 3 (Reuters) – Denmark’s soccer players have given a
resounding thumbs down to playing on artificial turf and
criticised a club with plans to introduce it next season.
A survey carried out by the Danish players’ union,
Spillerforeningen, showed 96% of respondents would prefer to see
clubs invest in natural grass rather than artificial pitches.
The survey results were published on the website of
international players’ union FIFPro (www.fifpro.org).
“The Superliga players speak jointly and with a clear voice.
They do not want to play on artificial turf,” director of the
Danish PFA Mads Oland told FIFPro.
Eighty three per cent of Danish players believe the game
changes fundamentally when played on artificial turf, with Oland
citing the speed and bounce of the ball and the lack of sliding
tackles as being major differences.
Denmark’s Superliga takes a winter break of almost three
months to avoid playing on natural grass in bad weather.
Superliga club FC Nordsjaelland aims to introduce an
artificial pitch for the 2012-13 season – something 71% of
association’s members say will give them an unfair advantage.
“No matter how you look at it, it makes the tournament
unequal that FC Nordsjaelland will play every second match on
turf that is dramatically different from those of the other
clubs,” Oland is quoted as saying.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor in Stockholm, editing by Dave
Thompson. (To comment on this story email
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