Proof that Sepp Blater is an idiot

[TeaLeaf]

http://deadspin.com/fifa-insists-women-play-on-turf-even-though-they-hate-1621487750

Both pictures display a total misuse of a pair of legs.




The peition to get Sepp to change (or insert) his mind:
https://www.coworker.org/petitions/fifa-the-world-cup-should-be-played-on-natural-grass

[Lameduck]

Knowing FIFA as we do, whats the chances that a stuffed brown envelope has passed from the turf manufacturers to 'associates' of the
FIFA representatives ? :eyebrow:

Petition signed.

[Snokio]

Seen some injuries playing on this turf first hand, these are more friction burns, nasty stuff

[Tutonic]

Blatter's a massive prat, no doubt about it, but artificial turf is absolutely fine if it's a high enough standard.

Saracens play rugby on it, and are yet to have any issues with injuries caused by the pitch. In fact, the players love it and it produces fantastic games.

It's totally wrong that women should be forced to use it when the men are allowed to veto it, but if it's a top quality pitch it shouldn't be an issue (pro men's teams should start looking at it if they're not already).

[Sparko]

I'm sorry but there is nothing better than playing, in my case football, on a natural surface and getting muddy as hell with grass stains all over the place, especially in the winter.

I train every week on a 3G pitch, which is apparently the 'perfect surface' but I get more injuries from training on that surface than in a game on a Sunday at a random field that is terribly uneven.  It's not just burns either, I have rolled over on my ankles quite a few times due to feel under foot.

The thing is you can't do certain things that you can do on a natural pitch, like slide tackles and go in for a 50/50 ball because you know you will lose all you skin on your leg.

Also when you do get a burn it takes months for it to repair. I still have burns on my knee caps from 5 weeks ago!

[TeaLeaf]

The rugby version of the 4g had twice the pile depth of the football version, so is a great deal more forgiving.  

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Sparko]

The rugby version of the 4g had twice the pile depth of the football version, so is a great deal more forgiving.  

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

But you need firmness in football, I can understand why that would benefit rugby but the more give in a pitch is less advantageous in football. It needs to be more solid.

Not only that but you end up finding those little black beads in you boots for weeks that the surface is laid on

[Tutonic]

I've actually been on the Saracens pitch - they open it up to spectators before & after matches. It would be perfect for football, and doesn't have the infamous black beads (more of which now live in my flat than on the local pitch :sideways:)

It's leaps and bounds ahead of your bog standard 3G pitch, it's a shame more people haven't had a chance to feel it for themselves. I gave myself a serious friction burn on a 3G pitch last year (which needed hospital treatment), so I know how much it sucks - this stuff is way, way better.

[Milli]

Football should be played on grass - full stop.  There's nothing in the world that can compare to it (at the moment).

In my area there are more and more 3 and 4G pitches appearing mainly due to weather calling off games and grants available for clubs.

But I've played on a park that has the deep pile for rugby and it isn't a bad surface to play on but still isn't right for football.  Palmerston park (home ground of queen of the south (Scotland league 1 side)) has a "4g" surface and I think l its shambolic - I actually think they cut corners with the installation as believe their park was under investigation and may have to be pulled up and re-laid.
Probably the best artificial park I've played on is at galabank (Annan athletic - Scotland 3rd division), its a very good surface with decent depth of pile.
But all have the same problem - being artificial - and the injuries you can sustain from artificial parks can be horrendous.  Knee ligament injury being my main concern although this risk can be reduced with disallowing the use of bladed sole boots (blades tend to grip the turf more - and artificial turf doesn't give way quite like real turf so what's next in line to give way??? Yup ankles and knees)

[TeaLeaf]

More proof from Deadspin.

http://screamer.deadspin.com/fifa-weeklys-sepp-blatter-profile-is-a-marvel-of-propag-1626525148

The actual magazine (containing the article) is here:
http://www.fifa.com/mm//Document/AF-Magazine/FIFAWeekly/02/42/53/96/Weekly_LowRes_44_en_Neutral.PDF

[Lameduck]

Love it, especially the bit calling him  'a corrupt, rat-faced vulgarian'.