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Next Game: Scarborough In The League At Edgar Street On Tuesday 19th November At 7.45pm

Monday, February 15, 2016

3G Pitches - Are They Dangerous?


Merthyr have got one, Coleshill have got one and there's little doubt they would have been very useful at lots of Midland Premier league clubs this winter.

But an article in the Daily Telegraph casts doubts on whether 3G pitches are safe.

The paper says that 'rubber pellets added to artificial pitches to give them bounce contain toxic chemicals including mercury, lead, benzene and arsenic and there are fears they are causing illnesses in players - particularly goalkeepers who come into closer contact when they dive for the ball.'

The article quotes a former NHS boss, Nigel Maquire, who claims his goalkeeping son Lewis, 18, developed Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"He used to come home with his kit covered in the stuff. We'd have to scrape it off," said Maquire

"Goalkeepers like Lewis dive dozens of times in training so they breathe it in or swallow it and it gets in their grazes. The more I look into it, the more horrified I am. Anyone who thinks swallowing half a teaspoon a week of that stuff is a good idea is barking mad."

Maquire wants a stop on any more 3G pitches being installed. Campaigners in the US have linked synthetic pitch use to more than 150 cancer cases. 

"It is obscene so little research has been done," he said. "This multibillion-dollar industry is conducting an industrial-scale experiment on our kids - it's a scandal."

A Football Association spokesman said: "We are aware of the concerns and are monitoring industry research as well as conducting our own." 

Full article at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/12157436/Fake-football-pitches-gave-my-teenage-son-cancer-says-former-NHS-boss.html