Maine bucks trend toward real grass

PORTLAND – At a time when many professional teams are returning to grass fields after more than three decades of using artificial turf, the opposite is true in Maine.

Next fall, a synthetic surface called FieldTurf will blanket Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The stadium is the sixth field in Maine to convert to synthetic turf, and the second to use FieldTurf.

City officials say the fake grass is will enable the stadium to accommodate all the teams and activities that want to use it.

“You can use it in inclement weather. It’s low maintenance. Hours of use are three to six times what you’d get from a normal turf field. All of those things make it a very attractive product,” said Portland City Councilor Nathan Smith. “In communities where land is at a premium [and] there are high levels of sports participation, this is a natural.”

Bates College, Maine Maritime Academy and the University of Maine in Orono all have turf fields. MBNA, the credit card company, installed a field in Lincolnville, located on Route 1 between its offices in Camden and Belfast. Bowdoin College and Yarmouth High are putting in turf fields this summer.

Synthetic turf has long been the topic of controversy because of a perceived higher incidence of injury. But according to the makers, FieldTurf is a cutting-edge material, made from synthetic grass blades woven into an infill base of sand and cryogenic rubber.

They say it allows a foot to be planted and pivoted very similarly to the way it would on grass, and say claims FieldTurf causes fewer injuries than regular grass.

By choosing synthetic turf, Maine is bucking a trend. The National Football League and Major League baseball have been slowly switching back to grass in the last several years. Newly built stadiums are getting real grass and, in the NFL, only nine of 31 teams have artificial turf, compared to many more 20 years ago.

“It is a very highly controversial topic,” said Dr. Tom Murray of the Sports Medicine Center of Portland. “It’s been going on for 20 years now. You bring it up in a room of doctors who take care of sports teams and it’s always a hot discussion. We don’t really know … we don’t really know what the injury rates are and how that compares to grass.”

Portland officials believe the benefits of synthetic turf at Fitzpatrick, and its natural soft feel, will convince even skeptics of its merit.

“It’s something that will enable us to really leverage the use of the field substantially. It will provide more opportunities for the kids and it takes some of the pressure off some of the other fields when they’re used so much,” Smith said. “It’s taking care of a pent-up need.”

If response is positive once the field has been thoroughly used next fall, the city also may put an artificial surface on Deering High’s Memorial Field and at the Reiche School.

“This spring pretty much explained why we had to get a turf field,” said Jac Coyne, sports information director of Bowdoin. “Our first home game was scheduled to be played March 30. Our teams didn’t get outside to practice until April 23. We missed a ton of games this year.”