Fake Grass
The history of artificial or fake grass is to say the least an
interesting one and arose out of the social desire to in-effect
ward off what could be seen, as far back as the 1950s, as an
increasingly unhealthy tendency by youngsters not to exercise.
History has it that birth of synthetic grass began through
attempts by scientists trying to develop a type of grass that
would not only allow children and adolescents to play on
regardless of the weather condition but encouraged them to do
so, in other words, a surface that they enjoyed using or a user
friendly surface. Hence the advent of fake or artificial grass.
The result was one of the early prototypes of what we now know
to be fake or artificial grass. The earlier types were not only
hard under foot and made for impracticality especially where
sports and children were concerned given the tendencies to fall
but were very unpopular. Conversely, however, in terms of
workability and endurance this surface proved itself worthy,
with the originally playing field where the fake grass surface
was installed lasting twenty years of solid wear.
Claims that in terms of practicalities due to poor drainage and
its tendency to rot fake grass has limited applicability are
unsubstantiated. Furthermore, highly contentious arguments
revolving around the argument that artificial grass causes more
on-field injuries when used in sports-grounds is again unfounded
and may be derived from factions wanting to see this type of
surfacing a thing of the past. The claim by the industry is that
if laid correctly no problems should occur. In fact, if
anything, this type of surface should encourage better drainage
enabling competitive sports to continue play with less
interruption time due to rain.
Today the advances in artificial grass surfaces are enormous and
can