Omniturf is a brand of sand in-filled second-generation artificial turf. It was the first artificial surface to be used by an

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

club.

United Kingdom

The first club to install this 'plastic grass' surface was

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

who installed the new pitch for the start of the 1981/82 season. Despite much publicity around the supposed unfair advantage the pitch would provide Rangers, they proceeded to lose the opening home Division Two match on the new surface by 1-2 against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

. The pitch did prove to be successful for Rangers though, as they reached the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

Final in the 1981/82 season (as a 2nd Division club), and then won the (old) 2nd Division Championship the following season. The innovation at

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

brought mixed results, for while the ball ran smoothly enough over the hard surface, it was unpredictable when allowed to bounce. This caused confusion among defenders and goalkeepers in particular. The Omniturf pitch lasted at Rangers'

ground for seven seasons; the pitch was torn up at the end of the 1987/88 season. Other Football League clubs which also laid similar artificial surfaces during the 1980s were Luton Town,

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

, and Preston North End.

United States

For

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

, Omniturf was installed several college football stadiums in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Its first major venue was Autzen Stadium at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in Eugene in 1984. It had generally favorable results and installed a second field in 1991, which was used until 2000, when the stadium used Nexturf the next year; it switched again to the current FieldTurf in 2002. Martin Stadium at

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

in Pullman switched to Omniturf in 1990, and used it for a decade; like Autzen Stadium, it now uses FieldTurf. The

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

in Columbia had Omniturf at

Faurot Field Faurot Field ( , ) at Memorial Stadium is an outdoor sports stadium in Columbia, Missouri, United States, on the campus of the University of Missouri. It is primarily used for football and serves as the home field for the Missouri Tigers' progra ...

from 1985 through 1994, with less favorable reviews. In the early 1990s, the surface was panned by both Tigers and opponents alike as one of the worst in college football. In 1992, the coaches in the Big Eight Conference issued a statement that Faurot Field's surface was "a detriment to the home and visiting teams and takes away from the integrity of the game played on such a field." Missouri had a natural grass field prior to 1985, and returned to it in 1995. The stadium has since switched to a FieldTurf surface.

Canada

The only major installation of OmniTurf in Canada was for the Canadian Football League's

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in ...

's stadium, Taylor Field in Regina. It was installed in 1988 and stayed until the end of the 1999 season.

References

{{reflist, 2 Artificial turf Queens Park Rangers F.C.