PAUL Hartley has defended the use of artificial surfaces within Scottish football, insisting they are here to stay despite a barrage of criticism.
The suitability of plastic pitches has been thrown into sharp focus this week after Rangers ace Jamie Murphy suffered ruptured knee ligaments on Kilmarnock’s much-maligned Rugby Park turf on Sunday.
Steven Gerrard saw his worst fears realised yesterday when Murphy was ruled out for the rest of the season but, even prior to that diagnosis, the Gers boss stated ‘I think for every club worldwide it's safer to have a grass pitch’.
PFA Scotland chief executive also urged the football authorities to heed the opinions of players, many of whom believe artificial surfaces exacerbate joint issues.
Hartley spent three years as manager of Alloa Athletic, who have a plastic pitch at the Indodrill Stadium, and is now at the helm at Falkirk, widely considered to have one of the best 4G surfaces in Scotland, and says hehas never encountered a spate of injuries.
“As a manager, I was at Alloa for three years and we didn’t have any problems and now at Falkirk I’ve not had any serious issues,” said Hartley. “They are here and they are here for good.
“I think a lot of clubs need astro-turf pitches, in terms of their finances and the way they generate money into the football club.
“I can see the concerns people have, but you need to look at the financial side of the game in Scotland, allied with the winters we have here.
"Some grass pitches over that period are very difficult to play any decent football on. Whereas an astro is true, isn’t affected and can be used by the club and community throughout.”
Hartley also believes it is unhelpful to bundle all artificial surfaces into one group, praising Hamilton’s recently-laid turf which they experienced in a bounce game on Saturday.
Indeed, the variation in quality was underlined in a survey of the top surfaces in the SPFL carried out by PFA Scotland, the Scottish FA and Sports Lab last term, with the Indodrill Stadium ranked in 11th place, ahead of Rangers and Celtic.
“We played at Hamilton’s [SuperSeal Stadium] on Saturday and it was terrific,” continued Hartley. “And, although ours is a little bit older, it has been one of the best astros around, with under-21 and women’s internationals played on it.
“If you look at all the academy players now, they are brought up on these pitches and once this generation hits the first-team they will be used to it.”
Hartley added: “I’ve certainly never heard any complaints and what we say to anyone we are looking at is ‘if you don’t want to play on that surface, don’t sign for Falkirk’.
"We train on it day in, day out and don’t have any problems."
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