Benefits of 3g Sports Pitches

3G sports pitches have become a lot more popular recently due to how people are slowly realising how much more beneficial they are compared to organic pitches. This article will help you understand a lot more about the current argument and allow you to see the benefits of 3G sports pitches.

What is a 3G Pitch?

A 3G pitch is an artificial surface which is made up of fibre blades of synthetic grass. Over time, these types of surfaces have become a lot more popular due to the increase in technological development within the industry. Check out our sport surface page to learn more about this specification and other options.

The major problems of original artificial grass were how the turf didn’t look natural enough and how it felt completely different. These factors did put a lot of people off the surface as people wanted to keep the looks and feelings of natural grass. As time went on and improvements of the surface occurred, 3G pitches are now incredibly hard to differentiate from natural pitches.

Improvements on looks and feels have made it a much more viable option for big sporting events as in the long run, money is being saved in maintenance costs. At present, the FA state that there is currently 889 3G sports pitches throughout England alone. With this number, you can clearly see how the popularity of these surfaces has increased.

It’s for this reason that 3G pitch construction has become more in demand than ever here in the UK, with more and more commercial and domestic interest from across the country.

Main Advantages of 3G Surfaces

3G surfaces provide a lot of benefits for the owner and the users over a wide variety of different factors. Some of the strongest advantages that people usually witness more than others include:

All-weather surface – Many organic pitches suffer from one major problem. Weather. Rain can leave huge, muddy puddles and the heat and sun can turn the grass to a brown colour. With 3G synthetic turfs, they don’t suffer from this issue at all as the drainage can handle the rain and the surface itself can handle tough heat conditions for months.
Reduce the risk of injury – One way to ruin someone’s match is with an injury. Players, clubs and fans hate it equally. 3G pitches however reduce this risk hugely by having an underlay that can absorb the impact of trips and falls.
Frequent use – Pitches can end up having ‘dead zones’ where a lot of foot traffic has occurred on top of it, resulting in the organic grass dying and leaving uneven patches. The fibres in the 3G synthetic turf can withstand this pressure a lot easier than organic blades. Keeping this in mind, you could decide to start renting out the pitch to other clubs, groups and people without the worry that the turf will get damaged through excessive use.
Low maintenance – Cutting the grass, applying fertilizer, watering it etc. can be incredibly tedious for people who own natural turf. It requires a lot of energy, time and even money. Synthetic grass can solve this issue due to how it doesn’t need this much care. The only thing needed is just a regular brush down to remove any debris from the surface. View this page for more details on maintaining sports flooring.
Specific requirements – To achieve a certain look with natural grass, can require unnecessary labour and effort and still, you’re not guaranteed the look you want. 3G turf can come in a wide variety of colours, patterns and depths, really allowing you to have full control over how you want it to look.

Points like these can really help you understand how beneficial these types of surfaces are than just regular, natural turf. In addition, 3G turfs are environmentally friendly as it requires hardly any water. Less water means less money spent on water bills, alongside knowing that less water is being wasted.

Why Have a 3G Football Pitch?

3G pitches are often preferred by a wide range of different people. From football clubs to leisure centres, these turfs have become a lot more popular over recent times compared to natural turfs. By knowing this, you can see how different groups of people are starting to see the great application of 3G synthetic turfs.

Synthetic turfs are a great way to engage people in sports as they provide a comfortable environment to play games instead of an uneven playing field. Life spans of these surfaces have increased a lot over the years and can increase even more if regular maintenance is carried out on them to avoid any unnecessary damage occurring.

Disadvantages of Natural Grass for Sport

Natural grass is okay, but many people can start to notice the disadvantages that this type of turf comes with once it is compared with synthetic turf. Some of the major points that are noticed include:

Muddy and puddles – When it rains, natural turf can suffer badly and become waterlogged. Water can’t be drained as quickly and so; the pitch becomes incredibly muddy and messy. Alongside this, puddles can form which will lead to grass blades drowning and/or contaminants starting to appear in certain areas (moss/algae).
Winter is dreadful – Winter can become a natural grass owner’s worst nightmare. Temperatures during this time are usually incredibly low, resulting in freezing temperatures occurring and making the grass blades more brittle. With this, grass can end up dying quickly and so, patches of hardly any grass will start to appear. Of course, the pitch can also become rock hard and more dangerous if someone slips and hurts themselves on it.
Maintenance is needed – Time, labour and money can become heavily drained due to the requirements natural turfs need. People can get lazy however and don’t want to do these tasks and because of this, their pitches end up showing signs of dying and therefore users will start to notice problems with it and be put off by it. The same goes for natural garden surfaces, see our artificial turf lawn page for more details on synthetic products.
Difficulty with runs –A huge part of most sports that are played on these types of pitches is running. It can lead to a game being won or lost if the team have a great pace and stamina. Problem is, if the pitch has lumps, holes and/or slippy areas, players will find it incredibly difficult to make strong runs on it. Injuries and complaints can start occurring a lot more often than usual.
Patches and weeds – Natural pitches can have problems with patches and weeds, even if maintenance is carried out to an effective level. Weeds and patches can affect the playing qualities and appearance of the sport surface.

Problems like these can end up lowering reception towards the pitch and ruin a lot of chances of renting out the pitch to others to earn a bit of extra money on the side. Linking to that, these types of pitches can’t handle many people on them at a constant rate which can ruin a lot of the chances of renting things like this.

Find Out More

Get in touch with our team to learn more about the benefits of 3G sports pitches and to see how they are installed. We would be happy to provide more information and give a quote if you are thinking about installing one of these facilities.

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