McLeish blasted in pitch battle

Critics invited to view pitch

A plastic pitch supplier has urged the Scottish Premier League not to make all clubs pay for the failure of the surface used by Dunfermline Athletic.

The SPL will on Thursday consider a motion to ban synthetic surfaces.

But ERDC director David Brown said: "The Fieldturf pitch at Hamilton has attracted much praise.

"It is important that an entire industry and some excellent products are not damned on the basis of one very poor product."

Dunfermline's pitch, much criticised by rival clubs, was branded a failure following a Uefa-funded experiment.

And, although Europe's governing body has passed the use of more successful surfaces for its competitions in future, Dundee United have put forward a motion to stop their use in Scotland's top division.

The entire sports surfacing industry was very concerned when Dunfermline chose the XL Turf product ERDC director David Brown

They have gained the support of Rangers, while others like Kilmarnock appear likely to back United, but Brown hit back at the weekend suggestion by Ibrox boss Alex McLeish that such surfaces cause more injuries.

"He claims that there will be retrospective claims from players who are injured on such pitches," said Brown.

"If a player is sent out to play on a hard pitch on a cold winter's day, would he be entitled to claim for any injury sustained?

"North America is one of the most litigious societies in the world.

"They are also the largest adopters of synthetic surfaces for all sports and yet the deluge of claims for injury from sportspeople predicted by Mr McLeish is relatively small and does not have any focus on the synthetic surface.

"The claim that playing on synthetic grass will shorten a player's career is again totally unfounded.

"The anecdotal medical evidence Mr McLeish refers to comes from one club, HJK Helsinki, and is based on short experience and, if scientific in its nature, is taken over too short a period to be valid.

"The Uefa study into football injuries shows, quite rightly, that it is too early for this scientific study to be conclusive, but early indications are that there is no difference in results on both surfaces, with an early possible indication of fewer ligament injuries on synthetic.

"One issue to be borne in mind is that Uefa has now sanctioned the use of synthetic turf for all competition under its jurisdiction.

"This could see top Scottish teams playing away matches on the best synthetic grass as there is little doubt that many European clubs will opt for synthetic in order to have safe consistent surfaces throughout the entire season.

"The debate and the motion before the SPL on Thursday needs to acknowledge that the issue is not whether or not to have synthetics but is more about the suitability of the choice made by Dunfermline.

"The entire sports surfacing industry was very concerned when Dunfermline chose the XL Turf product, as we feared it might set the industry back several years."

Dunfermline are currently installing a new version of XL Turf at East End Park and hope to play their first match on it against Hibernian on 19 March.

"The new Dunfermline pitch may well play better than the old one and, from an industry perspective, I hope so," Brown added.