Dunfermline join UEFA turf club

September start
Dunfermline played their last match on the stadium's natural grass at the weekend, when they drew 0-0 with last season's UEFA Cup finalists Celtic FC. The natural turf will now be replaced by an artificial playing surface of 'XL' turf, manufactured in Canada, which meets UEFA's requirements. The first match on the new surface is scheduled to take place in late September, when Dunfermline entertain Hibernian FC.

Other venues
Five other venues are involved in the UEFA project. Games have already been taking place at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, the new Salzburg stadium in the Austrian city and the Eyravallen stadium in Orebro, Sweden, as UEFA reinforces its studies into artificial pitches with a view to their possible use in UEFA competitions in the coming years. Three clubs - FC Torpedo Moskva, SV Austria Salzburg and Örebro SK - have been playing domestic league matches on the artificial surfaces.

Another two pitches
As for the other two venues, an artificial turf surface made of the Dutch product 'Edelgrass' has been installed at the De Polman stadium in the Dutch town of Almelo, used by Dutch second-division side Heracles Almelo, and a friendly match was played on the pitch earlier this month. The artificial surface at the Atatürk stadium in the Turkish city of Denizli, home of the Denizlispor club, will be ready later this year.

UEFA subsidy
The clubs which play at the venues receive a UEFA subsidy of €195,000. In return, they are being asked to co-operate with UEFA. The research carried out at the six venues will centre on interactions between the players and the field (biomechanical tests), the safety of the players, and injuries (player-field impact and player-player impact), to enable a comparison to be made with natural grass playing surfaces.

2005 target
The project target is that sufficient feedback and research results should be available by 2005, to enable a decision to be taken subsequently about the use of artificial pitches in European competitions. UEFA is also to hold talks with world football's governing body FIFA on the differing artificial turf standards required by the two bodies, and it is hoped that an agreement will be reached by the end of the year.