Turf burns and surface heat affect players at FIFA Women's World Cup

With the FIFA 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada approaching the half way stage of its group phase, teams and players are voicing their concerns over the tournament venues' artificial turf pitches causing bruises and burns, and for the surface’s high temperatures.

As the first senior FIFA World Cup - men's or women's - to be played on artificial turf, the choice of surface for the event has been controversial. At the opening match in Edmonton last Saturday (6th June), the temperature of the playing surface was reportedly 120 degrees.

Following this, Laura Armstrong, who is covering the Women's World Cup for the Toronto Star, wrote "players are concerned about the heat that's coming off of the field because the pitch, the turf is made of rubber and plastic and it sort of roasts in the sun and it's certainly not the case with natural grass.”

Leading players, most notably US star Abby Wambach, last year backed a lawsuit (later dropped) against FIFA alleging discrimination while many players have spoken out against the world football governing body’s decision to for all six venues to have artificial turf.

During the first round of group stage matches, Canadian, Chinese and Norwegians players complained that surface heat caused fatigue to set in quicker and slowed down the game. Norway’s midfielder Lene Mykjåland said after Sunday’s game that it was difficult for either team to "get a decent tempo and rhythm."

Players have also experienced bruises and burns when slide tackling or falling on the artificial turf surface.

After the USA’s opening game against Australia, Wambach said that the surface was “ kind of a nightmare," adding that playing on artificial turf "affects everything" from the way the ball bounces to the bloody "turf burns" the surface leaves on legs and arms.

Germany's Nadine Angerer and Australia's Samantha Kerr, have tweeted photograph showing their bloody legs after their games, echoing a tweet by US player Sydney Leroux Dwyer in 2013.

Wambach said playing on artificial turf forces her to second guess whether to slide tackle to or go for a diving header, since that can result in bloody elbows, knees and hip bones.

30th April 2015 - WOMEN’S WORLD CUP STARS END ‘TURF WAR’ WITH FIFA

20th January 2015 - TURF AUSTRALIA WARNS COUNCILS AGAINST ‘FAKING IT’ FOR SPORTING GROUNDS

3rd October 2014 - LAWSUIT FILED OVER PLANNED USE OF ARTIFICIAL TURF AT 2015 FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

14th June 2013 - TURF WAR OVER SURFACES AT 2015 FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP