CLEVELAND — The NFL Players Association is calling for the league to change all of its field surfaces to natural grass, following Aaron Rodgers' season-ending injury. Meanwhile, the league said Rodgers' injury was caused by contact, and their research shows grass isn't any safer for players than turf.
One Northeast Ohio high school says it's about more than that.
Whether you’re playing on synthetic turf, or real grass, keeping a high school field pristine is a tough task.
John Dragas is the athletic director at Madison High School, and he’s making sure the school’s real grass football field is ready to go come game day, and he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty.
“Like three hours, we have a riding striper that gets most of it, but then we have to do each individual hash we have to do by hand,” he said. “It probably took me all by myself today. It probably took me about two and half hours. That’s why there is paint all over me.”
Dragas and the varsity football coach said they aren’t shying away from the debate over whether grass or turf fields are better for players, following the NFL Players’ Association request that the league go back to grass. Madison is one of the few schools left in its division district with real grass, and they’re now facing whether they want to transition to a synthetic grass field.
“Personally I wouldn’t,” he said. “Like I said, there is too many variables. I really think you may see in a few years, people that have it are going to go back.”
The National Library of Medicine took a look at the debate last year and found injury rates to be similar between natural grass and turf, though most of the studies they looked at involving specific injury locations found a higher rate of knee and ankle injuries on turf.
Meanwhile, on the practice field, varsity coach Mike Gilligan is making sure his team has a winning mindset regardless of the kind of field they’re playing on.
“Last year we were a two-win team,” he said. “The year before we were a one win team. The year before that we were a zero win team.”
Gilligan has his own opinions when it comes to the type of surface used for the team’s home field.
“As far as games and playing on grass, I think it is an advantage because most teams are used to playing on artificial surfaces,” he said. “When you get on grass, I think the timing on a lot of pass routes and just your footing is a little bit different I don’t think teams are used to it.”
Both Gilligan and Dragas hope keeping a natural grass field will lead to more wins and fewer injuries.