news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 322946.stm A new era has dawned it would appear, so if it is good enough for Widnes, are we likely to go down this road at Newmarket ????

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 322946.stm A new era has dawned it would appear, so if it is good enough for Widnes, are we likely to go down this road at Newmarket ????

We will have to see if the new surface benefits the home side. Wait and see if their injuries are better or worse than playing on grass. Iv'e got to say that its a bit american football to me.

If it's anything like at Huddersfield, you wouldn't know (by looking) it wasn't grass.

It's not like normal astroturf though is it? I thought I had read somewhere that it was a mix of fake and real blades of grass, something like a 1:3 ratio?

correct so as for someone like me that has never played anything but on grass I'm skeptical that it can do the same job

It will need a lot more testing before it gets passed for horseracing mate

I had a walk on the plastic astro turf pitch at Murray field Stadium. It felt superb and had real give in it. Far more than grass would give.

This is quite old news; there was a massive piece about it on Boots N All a few months ago, where the resident numpties suggested that Widnes should use their plaggy grass to gain a competitive advantage over visiting teams, by not allowing them to practice on it. Truly bizarre logic.

Long gone are the days of green carpet laid on concrete. This new stuff is fantastic to play on, its the future

It's amusing when football managers, Harry Redknapp is a great one for this, moan about teams with 'plastic' pitches and having an advantage when, of course, many professional sports teams train on artificial surfaces. Have we/they got any of those planned for the Newmarket complex?

Sounds just like Bradford having corners that aren't flat or Featherstone with their pitch on a slope to me, the home side learns to play to these but visiting teams don't get the chance.

If things haven't changed from the original plans that Frannny Stephenson presented way back last year then yes, there are artificial training pitches planned for Newmarket.

I hope Stanley Rangers can get use of one, it's getting bloody cold standing out on Limepit Lane of an evening thesedays.