Supporters have criticised a football club's plans to replace its turf with a so-called 'plastic pitch'.

Carshalton Athletic has confirmed it is looking into the possibility of replacing the grass at the War Memorial Ground in Colston Avenue with a synthetic pitch.

It is thought the proposal will reduce maintenance costs and reduce match postponements in the winter, but fans have hit out at the idea.

Niall McCrae, who has supported The Robins for more than 20 years, said: "I'm not a vociferous opponent of [Carshalton Athletic chairman] Paul Dipre but this is the straw that's broken the camel's back.

"I've spoken to other supporters and everyone thinks this is a terrible idea. It's wrong from a football point of view because this is not the surface that football is supposed to be played on, it's wrong from an ecological point of view because this will mean the loss of a big patch of grass and it could even be wrong from a moral point of view as the ground was opened as a war memorial.

Mr Dipre confirmed the club is investigating installing a 3G pitch - made up of a synthetic layer covered in rubber crumbs with grass-like plastic fibre protruding.

3G pitches are designed to perform like grass and manufacturers claim they reduce injuries and remain in good condition without expert maintenance.

Mr Dipre said: "3G is like goal-line technology, in a perfect world we would be better off without it."

Queens Park Rangers adopted an artificial pitch in the 80s but the move was widely criticised by players and fans who said the surface made the ball bounce around too much and gave players carpet burns when they fell on it.

 

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