Amateur football game on artificial turf: Players' perceptions

The purpose of this study was to establish whether players' perceptions in football competitions played on artificial turf can be influenced by the pitch under examination, the kind of infill material used, the weather conditions and by player's role in the team. A multifactorial statistical analysis was made of the results obtained from over 1600 U.E.F.A. questionnaires completed by amateur footballers. Pitch and weather factors were demonstrated to be relevant to the aspects investigated. Conversely, the players' role and the infill material were significant for only a few aspects: for each variable, the analysis indicated the most favourable conditions. Overall, the analysis provided insight into amateur players' favourable feelings about artificial turf, compared with its natural alternative (actually made of earth, without grass in the case of amateur players). (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.