QPR’s plastic pitch was like playing in a car park, recalls star Hendrie

THEY used to be something of a national joke.

Plastic pitches at QPR, Luton, Oldham and Preston gained a risible reputation with players and spectators.

The ball pinged around as though made of rubber, players lost their footing at the drop of a hat, while carpet burns became an occupational hazard.

The football itself was comical to watch as players struggled to cope with the synthetic surfaces.

That, however, was in the Eighties, when plastic pitches were of a sand-based variety.

Now, with improvements to artificial turf having advanced considerably, there are growing calls for a return to synthetic surfaces in the Football League.

Several lower divisions clubs – including Rotherham United – believe they could help cut costs and raise revenue, while failing to compromise the quality of football.

Crucially, it means clubs could play and train on the same pitch – meaning additional training facilities would not have to be funded – and such pitches hired out for community use.

John Hendrie, the former Bradford City, Leeds United and Barnsley striker, has lent his support to a bandwagon that has already rolled into the Football League debating chamber and which is set for further deliberation next year.

During the course of a distinguished playing career that began in 1981, Hendrie played on all the old plastic pitches and believes their modern counterparts are light years ahead in quality and comfort.

When Hendrie, 48, was plying his trade, injuries were a constant concern as footballers were effectively asked to perform on concrete, which made sharp turns difficult and sliding tackles as dangerous as a walk through The Bronx.

But with the advent of such as 4G (fourth-generation grass) pitches and rubber-based surfaces, Hendrie believes the goalposts have moved and that there is a genuine case for embracing change.

“I would definitely support the idea of bringing back artificial pitches,” said Hendrie, who lives in West Yorkshire.

“The pitches have come on leaps and bounds since the Eighties and there is a genuine argument for having them in a footballing and commercial sense.

“When it comes to the football side of things, I think a lot of supporters would much rather see a good game played on a true pitch rather than on a pitch which is boggy and muddy, for example.

“That way, you’d be much more likely to get a better spectacle.

“From a financial point of view, it would be a great way for some of the lower division clubs to generate more money.

“They wouldn’t have to pay for additional training facilities and could rent out the pitch to the local community.

“I don’t think plastic pitches need come back at all levels of the game; most pitches at the top level are like bowling greens, while those clubs have excellent training facilities in any case.

“At lower levels, however, they can’t always afford quality training facilities, so there would be a number of benefits in my opinion.”

As a teenager at Coventry City, Hendrie can vividly remember playing on the old plastic pitch at QPR.

He says there is no comparison between that surface at Loftus Road and the likes of the 4G pitches which make for a viable alternative to grass.

“The pitch at QPR was like playing in a car park,” he said.

“The bounce was laughable and you had no chance really because the ball used to go flying over your head.

“If you went in for sliding tackles on that pitch you took your life into your hands; not that I ever went in for sliding tackles.

“It really is chalk and cheese to the pitches nowadays.

“On the old AstroTurf pitches, if you went down under challenge you’d be very sore afterwards.

“You’d get burn marks and that type of thing.

“In fact, people used to play hockey on those pitches because they were virtually a mat.

“The difference with the new synthetic pitches is that they are rubber-based.”

Hendrie believes attacking players like himself benefited from the old plastic pitches precisely because defenders struggled to tackle.

It meant he was not forever anticipating a crunching challenge from a big centre-half as might have been the case on a normal grass surface.

One attacker who undeniably prospered on the old surfaces was Andy Ritchie, the former Oldham striker who scored more than 100 goals for the Latics and helped them win promotion to the top flight in 1991.

But even Ritchie suspects the plastic pitches were to blame for several injuries.

“I had my best times in football with Oldham, but a few players from that team got injuries,” he recalled. “Frank Bunn had to retire with a knee injury, I had to have a disc out of my back when I was 30, Andy Barlow had knee problems – so did Earl Barrett.

“Of course, it’s hard to prove whether it was the pitch.

“But my surgeon said to me, ‘It wouldn’t have helped your situation’.”

Hendrie vividly remembers his own trips to play on the plastic surface at Boundary Park.

He recalls such visits were not averse to a spot of gamesmanship from the home side.

“Whenever we played at Oldham, they used to let you train on it the day before to get used to the pitch,” he added.

“But then, in the lead-up to the game, they’d flood the pitch so there was a completely different run of the ball to that which you’d got accustomed to in training.”

Since plastic pitches were outlawed in the Football League, improvements in technology have seen a number of top-flight clubs introduce them in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Russia.

England famously lost 2-1 against Russia on a plastic pitch in a Euro 2008 qualifier at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, while Tottenham Hotspur met Swiss team Young Boys in a Champions League play-off match in 2010 on another synthetic surface.

Several lower-division clubs in Scotland also use them, while the Football Association permits their use in such competitions as the FA Trophy, FA Vase and Women’s Premier League.

Although it may still be several years before they come back into the Football League, do not be surprised if Hendrie and all those in favour get their wish.