Fake Grass To Astro Turf: Artificial Grass Terminology

Grass is a word we all know. Simple, clear and unequivocal in meaning. As a manufacturer of artificial grass, however, we are very much aware that there is no, one, single accepted term that describes the product we manufacture.

For example, we have some customers who never use the term artificial grass but instead call it fake grass and some who prefer the phrase synthetic grass; there are even people who call it plastic grass or faux grass. As if all of this weren't enough to confuse the issue, there are those who don't even use the word 'grass' but prefer the word turf - hence we find ourselves referring to an artficial turf email request or a telephone call about synthetic turf. There are also people who, in a similar way to using the term hoover for a vaccuum cleaner, use the term astro turf. Already in this one paragraph we have used no less than 8 different sets of terminology - and all to refer to the same thing!

All of this of course is at the consumer end of the spectrum and there's an entirely different set of terms used on the production line such as we have in our artificial grass factory here in the UK. On any given day you will hear a range of terms bandied about amongst our technicians - words that most people will never have heard of - such as creel, collector board, yarn sheet, dtex and fibrillation.

As the only UK artificial grass manufacturer selling direct to consumers, we enjoy a unique position of authority when it comes to understanding and explaining artificial grass terminology. This has enabled us to write our own artificial grass glossary which brings together both everyday and manufacturing terms. Hopefully it will benefit both our customers' understanding of artificial grass and also that of our growing network of distributors. Apart from that you never know, you might get asked at the next local pub quiz what a creel is!

FIFA President's Pitch For Artificial Turf In 2010

Artificial turf recently received one of its biggest 'thumbs up' yet for use in high profile, world class sport: the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The event will take place in Africa and the climatic conditions that prevail there have been causing concern to its organisers for some time. With natural grass turf, the weather has to be considered and in many African countries the rainy and dry seasons make it difficult to produce and maintain top quality soccer pitches. The quality of the playing surfaces is always a crucial factor in top level soccer; indeed the final outcome of an important game can sometimes be influenced by how a pitch is playing. With these factors in mind, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has publicly suggested that artificial turf pitches are worthy of consideration for use in the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Commenting on the disappointing quality of the 2008 Nations Cup grass pitches in Ghana, Mr. Blatter pointed out that an artificial turf pitch offers players the same conditions all year round. In other words it's a matter of consistent quality.

As President of FIFA, Mr. Blatter is well aware of the importance of all he says. It is therefore been all the more surprising to many sports critics and fans that he went so far as to say:

"Artificial turf is the future"

Not surprising to us however! Within our Group we have a specialist company (SIS) that builds both natural turf and artificial pitches.

A more detailed account of Sepp Blatter's recent comments can be found on Eurosport.

Photograph: Artificial soccer pitch installed by SIS.