Need banning !

Never mind this 4 G or whatever ball bouncing like mad and an obvious advantage to the team more used to it, reason it’s banned at league level and it should be banned here too

I agree and if they go up will have to have a grass pitch so how can the National league a feeder league to the EFL allow it or indeed the FA.

completely agree Loyal and I said as much on the League 2 thread.
It's an absolute joke, don't think its any coincidence that both Betty's boys and Sutton both had them the years they went up

Such an advantage to have, needs banning its a joke its even allowed.

It's a bit like saying a netball team can have 6.5 ft players and the other teams can have a maximum of 6ft players

it’s more like the cricket, yes it’s the same for both sides but is a reason home teams dominate and so used to conditions, it skews it in favor of the home side way too much

They are awful. For me they spoil any enjoyment I get from watching footy. I won’t go to a game played on a plastic pitch.

In KP post match interview after the Bromley game he said Pools train on a 4G pitch, maybe that’s why we can’t play very well on grass ?

i actually used to love them for running on anyway. the only advantage they really give a side is that they recruit players who like them and can play on them. they have also improved over the years and can see them improving even more if they were allowed in the league. at least the bounce is the same throughout the game but luckily they have lost their real need as mudbaths are a thing of the past now with modern pitches. give me a plastic pitch anyday after years of ploughing through mud where i felt i was running on the spot.

I dont see how Bromley and the likes want to have one anyways - given they probably train on one too but every other pitch they come across is a NL standard grass boggy dump (Bar say Pools and Chesterfield with the better pitches). The way some players react to grass and these pitches totally differs, i know when im playing on the 4G compared to grass i get different aches and pains in different places. Just no give or real bounce for impact on the 4G, plus it hurts like hell when you slide on the thing!

Saturday was ridiculous in my opinion

There was one incident in the 2nd half where one of their players played it into the corner and the ball just died perfectly, either he is as skillful as Paul scholes or they know the bounce of the pitch and where it dies etc,,,

Apart from that it was way too bouncy and not appropriate for professional football

I think the usual reasoning for them is that the club can generate more income by hiring out the pitch 24/7 to the local community.

Yep, that is exactly it. It enables the club to be more of a "commnunity entity". I have mentioned it before but I will repeat myself: during their FA Cup tie with Blackpool in the half time interview, their chairman boasted that a 1000 people a week used the pitch at Bromley. Dunno if that was an exaggeration or not but it sums up what they are trying to achieve. Brings in money and greater community profile.

I believe Sutton had a plastic pitch for many years before they finally got into the FL.

Fact is, the playing surfaces differ in ball performance significantly.
Therefore, all playing surfaces should be either grass or artificial…and given that any team aspiring to league status needs a grass surface, the artificial surface should be banned at this level…it’s just common sense.

i,m too lazy to look up the stats to see if teams with an artificial surface have a better than average points at home and a worse record than the average when they play away on grass. there must be something out there to show that these tea,s have a big advantage by playing on one. shit players will be the same on any surface but a boggy pitch is a bigger leveller than a plastic one.