The 'Stitched' Pitch – A Modern Marvel or a Troubled Turf? | OneFootball

But what of that newly hallowed pitch? Have the groundsmen brought with them their famous "Keep Off The Grass" signs from Goodison Park?

It has become a truism of modern football that the playing surface is a key part of the Premier League product. The days of natural grass pitches that ripped up to form ugly mudbaths in the depths of winter are happily a distant memory, replaced by pristine carpets of green that are meant to facilitate the fast-paced, high-intensity game we now crave to see.

At the heart of this revolution is a fascinating and complex technology: hybrid turf. But as Everton prepare to start life in earnest at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium, a curious story has emerged that asks a difficult question: is this technological marvel as flawless as we'd like to believe?

The concept of hybrid turf is simple yet ingenious. It's a blend of natural grass and synthetic fibres, designed to give clubs and players the best of both worlds. Traditional natural grass, for all its aesthetic beauty and "feel" benefits, is fragile. It tears, it divots, and it quickly becomes unplayable with heavy use or poor weather.

Artificial pitches, while durable, are often criticized for their different playing characteristics, and more recently, for their potential to increase injury risk. Hybrid pitches, such as the SISGrass or Desso GrassMaster systems used at many Premier League grounds, aim to achieve a compromise that preserves the appearance and finish of a mown grass sward, while giving it hidden inner strength and resiliency to resist a battering from boots and studs.

The process is a marvel of engineering. A natural grass pitch is grown on a specially prepared sub-base but, before the final seeding, millions of synthetic fibres, typically polypropylene, are stitched vertically into the soil. These fibres, which are only a few centimetres long, are injected deep into the rootzone by computer-controlled machines. As the grass grows, its roots intertwine with these synthetic strands, creating a dense, interlocking matrix. This reinforcement has a number of significant benefits:

Enhanced Durability: The synthetic fibres act as a kind of internal scaffolding, preventing the grass from tearing out in chunks. This means the pitch can withstand far more usage — training sessions, multiple games, and concerts — without degrading.

Improved Stability: Players benefit from a more stable and consistent surface, reducing the risk of a foot "slipping" or getting caught in a divot. The ball roll is truer and more predictable.

Superior Drainage: The reinforced rootzone is better at handling heavy rainfall, as the stitching helps maintain the integrity of the drainage layers beneath.

Faster Recovery: A damaged area of the pitch can regenerate more quickly because the underlying structure remains intact.

This technology has become the gold standard. Every Premier League club now uses a form of hybrid pitch, and the system is ubiquitous at elite venues across Europe. It’s a testament to the success of the technology that the debate has moved from "should we use it?" to "which system is best?"

Which brings us to the new Hill Dickinson Stadium, and the peculiar tale of the pitch. Earlier in the year, as the stadium neared its completion, it was announced that the new SIS hybrid pitch, installed specifically for the initial test events, was to be dug up and re-laid!

The club's official statement from April 2025 framed this as a planned "refurbishment" — identical to the yearly maintenance at Goodison Park. They explained that the pitch was grown over winter for the test events and would be removed to allow for the growth of a "world-class" surface during the more favourable spring conditions.

However, a different narrative has surfaced behind the scenes. Whispers in the media and on fan forums suggest that the decision was not simply about seasonal growing cycles. There were reportedly concerns from players and coaching staff about the surface's firmness and potential to cause injury. While there is no official confirmation of this, it's a topic that demands a closer look.

The potential for injury on hybrid surfaces is a complex and often debated subject. While many studies have shown that modern third-generation artificial pitches do not have a significantly higher injury rate than natural grass, the data on hybrid pitches is more difficult to parse.

The key lies in the interaction between the player's boot and the surface. When a player plants their foot to change direction, the shear force on their ligaments — particularly the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee and the ligaments in the ankle — is immense.

Some research has indicated that artificial or hybrid surfaces can have a higher rotational traction than natural grass, meaning the boot is less likely to slide and more likely to lock into the ground. This can transfer the shearing force up the leg, increasing the strain on the knee and ankle.

Furthermore, the firmness of the surface is a critical factor. An overly hard pitch, even with its reinforced structure, can increase the impact on a player's joints and lead to overuse injuries.

So, could the initial Hill Dickinson Stadium pitch have been too "tight" or too hard? Was the weave of the synthetic fibres too dense, or the underlying soil mixture not quite right? These are the questions that circulate, and they are not without merit.

The grounds staff, in their meticulous pursuit of a perfect playing surface, must find a delicate balance between durability and player safety. A pitch that is too soft and easily cut up is a problem… but one that is too unyielding and unforgiving can be even more dangerous.

The decision to completely re-lay the pitch at the new stadium, rather than simply undertaking a routine refurbishment, hints at a more fundamental issue. It suggests that the initial construction or layering of the surface, in some way, failed to meet the exacting standards required for a top-tier Premier League pitch.

While the club's official stance is that the work was always planned, the timing and extent of the intervention, as well as the unofficial chatter, strongly suggest that player welfare was a major factor.

As the Everton team prepares to move into their new home, we can be confident that the pitch they finally play on will be as good as it gets. It will be the result of a multi-million-pound investment in the latest hybrid technology, meticulously cared for by an expert team.

But the brief, unsettling tale of the first pitch serves as a valuable reminder that, even in an era of incredible technological advancement, the human element — the subtle, tactile relationship between a player's boot and the ground beneath their feet remains the most important variable of all.

Reader Comments (24)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()

Dennis Stevens 2 Posted 07/08/2025 at 09:50:50

Interesting article, Michael.

It set me to wondering whether the reports we hear of women footballers suffering certain types of injury at a higher rate than their male counterparts could have something to do with the fact that the pitches they play on are designed for men to use?

Furthermore, could this prove to be one of the advantages of the women acquiring Goodison Park as their own home ground? The pitch there can be developed specifically to meet the needs of women footballers and, hopefully, this may lead to Everton players being less susceptible to these injuries, perhaps?

Dave Abrahams 3 Posted 07/08/2025 at 09:52:39

To be honest, Michael, I have enough problems worrying about the people who play on this pitch to start fretting about the pitch as well.

Ted Roberts 4 Posted 07/08/2025 at 10:18:25

Michael,

As interesting as your article is, I must confess that Dave's #3 made me giggle.

Dennis @2.

I never knew you could get different grass for men or women.

Danny O'Neill 6 Posted 07/08/2025 at 10:21:37

Thanks Michael,

I did comment on previous posts on this subject. Yes, the pitch, to me, did look "soft" on the foot at the 2nd test event.

I always found 3G, 4G and now 5G hardest on the legs. You would feel it in your ankles and knees for days. Much better than the original Astroturf pitches though. You would be finding sand everywhere.

In the absence of statistics, the old pitches were much worse and injury inducing. Mud baths in the winter made them hazardous and then, when they eventually dried up in the spring, as you say, hard as concrete. Equally hazardous.

Probably the worst pitches I played on were in Cyprus. Due to water restrictions, they were fed with sewage and farm fertiliser to maintain a patch of green in otherwise brown surroundings. Fine to play on, but if you caught a nick or graze, an infection followed. Nothing that mother's default cure for everything, TCP and cotton wool, couldn't sort out!!

It's common practice to re-lay the pitch before the new season, so I am sure they will get it right.

Raymond Fox 9 Posted 07/08/2025 at 10:46:02

You need grass that is deep-rooted and it needs time to get its roots down.

If you don't give it sufficient time and it is played on, the danger is it's ripped out, especially if the turf is wet.

A pitch can look nice without being fit for purpose

Si Cooper 10 Posted 07/08/2025 at 11:03:28

Dennis (2), there are leg injuries women will be more susceptible to purely down to skeletal differences between the sexes (pelvis and hips arrangement).

I would have expected there to be a standard, validated way of laying these hybrid pitches. Hopefully we haven't just employed some divvies or tried to be revolutionary.

Until reading this, my biggest concern would have been some unforeseen microclimate effect due to positioning of stadium / steepness of terracing creating nightmare conditions when the wind blows in a particular direction or something like that.

Worrying to know someone could mess up the actual composition of the pitch.

Danny O'Neill 12 Posted 07/08/2025 at 11:24:28

Paul.

Guessing now, but as the last test event was in March, and if they have relaid it for the new season, that will have presumably started back in March/April?

What you say. There's no way they would be doing it now. It wouldn't be ready.

Indeed, Si, I appreciate there are physiological differences.

However, in the same way they say they are developing football boots that are specifically designed for women's feet rather than just being a smaller size, it may be that the requirements of pitch performance for women may be different to that required by men.

Having a dedicated stadium could put Everton Women at the forefront and able to reap any advantages that may be forthcoming.

Si Cooper 14 Posted 07/08/2025 at 14:10:01

Dennis, it's probably only in 3 or 4 major leagues worldwide that there is now (and it's limited to very recent history) anything like a ‘standard' playing surface. 99.99% of the world's footballers will play on pitches that play very differently week to week, month to month.

It's not at all likely that anyone is studying ‘pitch performance' with the intention of working out ‘his and hers' variants.

Clothing / equipment is a doddle to customise for the very pertinent physiological differences.

Can you think of any sport that does that in terms of the ground people run on / the snow or ice they glide on / the water they swim in?

I'll have some of whatever is fuelling your imagination.

Si Cooper 15 Posted 07/08/2025 at 14:35:03

Raymond (9), I think the grass does most of it's growing elsewhere and is then transported to the stadium and installed.

As explained in the OP, there is a scaffolding of synthetic fibres that mitigates against the sort of damage you are describing.

There has to be a standard methodology for installing these pitches these days. Hopefully the club haven't tried to be too innovative on something so critical to get right. The variable that is generally the most likely to be compromised is ‘time required to complete properly' due to poor / messed-up planning.

Not my imagination, Si, just reading through the article and the various factors mentioned.

I couldn't help but think that some of those may be different for women compared to men.

Danny O'Neill 17 Posted 07/08/2025 at 15:02:14

I'm not a big fan of modern boots. They are more of a fashion accessory and don't protect the feet.

I always stuck with Adidas Beckenbauers, World Cups or Puma Kings.

Then again, those older than me could probably talk about "Billy's Boots". Those old enough to remember reading comic books will remember.

Leather ankle boots, probably still worn back in the 50s!!

The best pitches I played on? I have to go for Germany. Decades ahead and right down to local / grass roots level. And training on clay / gravel pitches, that were smaller. It was aimed at keeping you on your feet, as you didn't want to end up with a load of gravel in your thigh or arse, and also to keep the ball and move it quickly.

Interesting article, Michael.

I know we are talking about elite level here, but I watch kids' footy 5 or 6 times a week and the improvement in their play when they are on 4G is huge. The passing is great, the ball fizzes across the surface.

I had not considered injury issues, but when one of the children falls on a bone-hard, sandy pitch, I cringe.

On a separate note, a friend of mine took on the upkeep of the pitch at Marine in the 1980s, and was proud of the improvements he made, and told us so now and then!

The Mariners made it to the 2nd round of the FA Cup in one of his seasons. The game was recorded, and Marine scored a cracking goal from a high clearance which became a contender for “Goal of the Month”, so was shown many times on MotD, “Sportsnight” and “Football Focus”.

The commentary went: “The ball is spending a lot of time in the air this evening – and it's no wonder, given the state of this pitch – oh, what a goal!” We've never let him forget it!

Dennis Stevens 22 Posted 07/08/2025 at 22:51:55

Not too sure why you seem desperate to pick an argument, Si. Since when did somebody wondering about something become a hypothesis?

Derek Thomas 23 Posted 07/08/2025 at 23:15:30

Whatever type of pitch we had...still have? at Goodison, just put in the same again thank you.This new even fancier higher tech version seems like a solution looking for a problem.

It wasn't 'broken' - so why 'fix' it?

Slow news day/week ?

Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. Here’s a conspiracy theory for us paranoid androids to get our teeth into … the relaying of the pitch was always planned, just like the club said ?

Despite the gossip column feel to this article, I actually enjoyed reading about grass and turf. My god I am getting old.

Also, Dwerryhouse Lane was bad, but compared to Mab Lane it was like Wembley.