Why has this petition been launched?

A passion for natural grass is something we all share, whether from our own sporting experiences or the professional work we undertake on a daily basis.

Following years of underinvestment in basic maintenance of natural grass pitches - which play host to our nation's grassroots football in communities across the country every week, they are at risk of being lost in favour of shared synthetic surfaces.

As part of the FA Chairman's England Commission, Report 2, October 2014, Greg Dyke (FA Chairman) has asked for £230m to be funnelled into installing 283 synthetic surfaces designed to operate as centralised football hubs in England's major core cities, Greater London and then the next 20 largest Local Authorities.

The primary justification for this is largely due to the poor condition of some of the UK's open spaces and how these dilapidated facilities turn people away from the sport.

We agree that natural grass pitches are in poor condition, but we disagree that centralised hubs are the cost effective or broadly accessible solution to solve this problem.

We disagree that grass pitches cannot provide a quality playing surface. Current maintenance regimes are virtually non-existent, but more regular mowing, aeration, compaction relief, weed killing and general weekly care, would make a vast difference to the quality of natural grass pitches. Proper maintenance would consign the current image of mud baths and matches being cancelled to history. What's more, all of the money for this would come from the proposed £230m investment.

For a fuller explanation of why we believe this issue makes financial as well as social sense please read this article.​

A player’s perspective can be found here. Courtesy of the Daily Record.

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Dave Saltman