FIFA is experimenting with artificial turf in advance of the 2015 Women’s World Cup, and several players on the US Women’s National Team have been open in expressing their displeasure over the playing surface. One of the many complaints players have had is that artificial turf can get extremely hot and uncomfortable.
“The temperature on the turf field today,” Alex Morgan wrote on Twitter Saturday along with the photo you see above. “How is this healthy for us?”
Earlier this month, Kobe Bryant shared a photo of Sydney Leroux’s banged-up legs to support the US team in its effort to get FIFA to ditch the artificial turf experiment. Kevin Durant shared the same image on Facebook.
This is @DrinkBODYARMOR athlete @sydneyleroux after playing on turf! #ProtectTheAthlete #USWNT http://t.co/e5NhMgwkCq pic.twitter.com/5jFpl12L8j
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) August 13, 2014
Abby Wambach, the US Women’s team’s all-time leading scorer, believes the turf issue is one of gender inequality.
“It’s a gender issue through and through,” she told Juliet Macur of the New York Times. “This being the pinnacle of our sport, we feel like we should be treated just like the men.”
While more difficult to maintain, most seem to agree that grass is safer than synthetic turf for soccer. As the photo of Leroux’s legs showed, players can get injured just by sliding on artificial turf. With the World Cup still several months away, you can expect the outrage to continue.
