NFL Gamers Affiliation government director Lloyd Howell advised the media on Tuesday that 92 p.c of NFLPA members need to play on pure grass, citing charges of accidents, basic soreness and burns as the rationale a lot of the union desires to maneuver away from synthetic turf.
“It’s not rocket science,” Howell said. “Ninety-two p.c of our union desires grass. That’s compelling. The underside line is, it’s unquestionable that our union desires to have a working situation the place they play on grass.”
Whereas the price and energy of sustaining synthetic turf is undeniably lower than caring for a pure grass area, gamers additionally spoke to the media about why grass is preferable to turf. Chargers operating again Austin Ekleer described the quantity of “turf tape” he has to put on in an effort to stop burns on his legs and arms. “It hurts,” Ekeler mentioned.“Turf is rather a lot more durable floor.” Bengals security Michael Thomas concurred, including that even weekday practices on turf left gamers sore heading into NFL video games.
Whereas rising expertise and different variables make an damage fee on turf troublesome to determine, in a paper revealed final yr within the American Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers discovered 16 p.c extra accidents per play on turf versus pure grass, and concluded that non-contact accidents occurred at a good larger fee on turf, about 20 p.c extra accidents per play.
Anybody who has performed a sport on synthetic turf is aware of it’s not the identical as enjoying on grass, although turf has come a good distance because it adorned the yard of The Brady Bunch. The sort of turf that was generally used within the Nineteen Seventies and 80s (which was principally concrete with a plastic carpet over it) has gone out of fashion, and the newfangled turf, together with its “rubber crumbs” has grow to be ubiquitous on playgrounds and athletic fields nationwide. That’s why it’s unlucky that a number of research and lawsuits have begged the query of whether or not synthetic turf is chemically extra harmful to athletes than 16 p.c extra sprained ankles have led us to imagine.
It’s not a query with out advantage. In March of 2023, the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed a bit investigating whether or not the turf the Philadelphia Phillies performed on at Veterans’ Stadium from the Nineteen Seventies to the early 2000s triggered six Phillies to die of a uncommon type of mind most cancers. “The speed of mind most cancers amongst Phillies who performed on the Vet between 1971 and 2003 is about 3 times the common fee amongst grownup males,” the story reported. After having the previous turf analyzed, the Inquirer’s investigation “discovered that turf contained 16 various kinds of PFAS, or per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances — so-called ‘ceaselessly chemical compounds,’ which the EPA has mentioned trigger ‘opposed well being results that may devastate households.’”
Whereas turf has definitely come a good distance for the reason that days of Tug McGraw and David West, it’s sufficient to provide anybody pause about enjoying on synthetic turf, particularly in the event you’ve ever had your youngster come residence from a sport coated in “rubber crumbs,” the byproduct of previous tires diced up and sprayed all around the area to create a cushion for athletes. I used to be current for multiple soccer mother sidelines dialog that started, “Are we actually okay with our children enjoying on these items?”
Based on the Washington State Division of Well being, dad and mom haven’t any want for concern. After learning a school soccer coach’s checklist of gamers who developed most cancers after having performed on turf with rubber crumbs, the Department’s website concludes, “Based mostly on what we all know as we speak, the Washington State Division of Well being recommends that individuals who take pleasure in soccer proceed to play no matter the kind of area floor. Our advice is predicated on our investigation and the out there analysis on crumb rubber which presently doesn’t recommend it poses a big public well being threat.”
Nevertheless, not everyone seems to be shopping for it, and legislation companies throughout the nation have begun researching the problem in preparation for potential class motion lawsuits. Private damage attorney Jared Firestone wrote of rubber crumbs in 2022:
“The rubber is reclaimed from disused automotive and truck tires, which comprise dangerous contaminants like lead and benzene. As soon as distributed over a area, they’ll launch these toxins at dangerous concentrations.
Along with benzene and lead, the checklist of poisons which were found on synthetic turf fields consists of mercury, polycyclic fragrant hydrocarbons, heavy metals, arsenic, and different carcinogenic compounds.”
And whereas the considered anybody, from professional athletes to young children, rolling round in an enormous pile of lead and benzene appears like a horrible thought, scientists declare that the presence of chemical compounds doesn’t imply that people can or will soak up them in quantities adequate to trigger most cancers. The Washington State DOH web site additional says, “The out there analysis suggests exposures from crumb rubber are very low and won’t trigger most cancers amongst soccer gamers.” That’s not all that reassuring, particularly when the Phillies of the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties had been possible advised the enjoying floor on the Vet was protected, too.
Having had kids who performed each soccer and soccer, I can inform you with out query that children enjoying soccer spend much more time on the bottom, rolling round in all these rubber crumbs. They arrive residence with them of their hair, their ears, inside their socks and sneakers. Not solely had been they all around the within my automotive, however they adorned the lobby of my home continuously, irrespective of how a lot sweeping and vacuuming they did. Now, studying about all of the “forever chemicals” these crumbs contained makes me uneasy, at the same time as a mother whose kids are absolutely vaccinated and bathed in sunscreen each summer time.
Dangerous chemical compounds are so ever-present in our society that we in all probability come into contact with dozens of them every day. However after we can restrict our interactions with them, we must always, even when there may be not (but) analysis instantly linking them to most cancers. Whereas gamers expressing their concern of accidents and different bodily points with synthetic turf needs to be sufficient for stadiums to chew the bullet and spend money on grass, it’s arduous to think about any NFL proprietor desirous to pony up the prices of sod set up and upkeep.
The NFL’s inaction on this matter is galling, particularly when so many stadiums are capable of swap again to a pure floor when professional soccer involves city, as FIFA usually mandates pure grass surfaces when high-level matches come to city. For the 2026 World Cup, FIFA is demanding that eight of the 16 venues internet hosting matches throughout the US, Mexico, and Canada set up pure grass fields for the event. If stadiums can give you pure grass when EPL groups come to city on summer time excursions, they’ll do it for NFL groups, as properly.