The Weekend Dossier: Plastic has proved fantastic as Maidstone make strong pitch for an artificial future

GLENN MOORE: The £350,000 pitch was a gamble but normally it’s in use from morning till night

Youngsters train on Maidstone’s 3G pitch (Ian Tucker)

At this time of year managers like to describe every game as a "cup final". For Maidstone United, this weekend brings seven cup finals.

The biggest, like most matches so labelled, is a league game. Maidstone visit Dulwich Hamlet knowing victory (or Hendon failing to win at Grays Athletic) will effectively secure them the Ryman League Premier Division title and, with it, promotion to the Conference South.

But back in Kent, at the Stones’ Gallagher Stadium, there are three real cup finals, for adult amateur teams, followed by three more tomorrow for Sunday league teams.

It is a schedule to send most football club groundsman into paroxysms of fury, especially as Maidstone still have a home match to play, but John Harvey is as unconcerned by the hectic use of his pitch as he is by the weather forecast. The turf he oversees is made of artificial grass.

At elite level “plastic pitches” still conjure up bad memories of the bouncy, joint-jarring, skin-shredding surfaces used by Queen’s Park Rangers, Luton, Oldham and Preston in the 1980s. At grassroots, where waterlogged grass is a problem, they are viewed as the solution to a participation crisis, rescuing players from the annual swathe of postponements.

Maidstone is where these two worlds meet. The club is on its way back from a boom-and-bust period during which they climbed into the Football League in 1989 only to be ejected three years later after going bankrupt. Using the old club’s youth team, they reformed, beginning at the 15th tier of the game in the Kent County League Fourth Division. Despite being exiled in Sittingbourne, then Ashford, they slowly climbed the leagues only to be again mired in financial distress seven years ago.

New owners arrived, among them Oliver Ash. “We were trying to work out a sustainable future,” he said. Putting a 3G pitch in their new ground, their first back in Maidstone for 11 years, was the £350,000 solution. “It was a gamble, but it was obviously the right thing to do,” said Ash. “On a normal day it is in use from nine in the morning to late evening.”

Aided by a town-centre location, the Gallagher has become a community hub. The youth, girls and disability teams use it, and two evenings a week it stages six-a-sides with 200 amateur players. Obviously some of these become paying fans – gates have averaged 2,000-plus since Christmas.During the week it also hosts the club’s football academy, which provides a two-year course to sixth-form age students, teaching the BTEC Sport Award and FA coaching qualifications. Among the coaches is first-team manager Jay Saunders, who also coaches, along with his players, at the kids’ holiday camps. Many clubs run football schools, but few have the allure of being on the club’s pitch with players as coaches.

Added to this is the rental revenue, such as the Kent FA hiring the ground for those cup finals. When I dropped in this week the Football Association was using the facility to conduct a two-week Uefa B coaching course. “The rental income is £100,000-£150,000 a year and that can be doubled by the indirect income benefits,” said Ash.

Then there is the professional advantage. Games are never called off, ensuring no fixture pile-up (and regular gate money) and passing football is encouraged.

Critics argue it gives teams an unfair edge, and the Stones do have the best home record in the league – but they also have the best away record. Saunders said the pitch is an advantage, but mainly “because we never get training sessions called off”. He added: “We are used to a perfect surface every week and have to adjust when we go away from home. Last year we had players who were very good on here but struggled away.

“It is a massive plus when signing players. Also from four-year-olds up the kids train on it and get to link with the first team, that helps bring through young players.”

But when Maidstone began this season it seemed promotion would be bittersweet as they would have to rip up the pitch. It was good enough for Fifa World Cup matches, but not for the Conference. Eventually, after Maidstone threatened legal action, and the FA led the way allowing use in the FA Cup, the Conference relented. Other Conference clubs are now planning plastic.

The next step, for team and pitch, is the Football League. Earlier this season it seemed artificial pitches would be allowed but the motion fell after the PFA argued it would cause more injuries. Saunders does not agree. He said: “We’ve had lads played nearly every game for three seasons and they’ve not had problems. I have a back problem myself but played on it many times with no problems. The only injury we’ve had was due to a bad tackle, but we’ve suffered them on grass pitches.”

Grass is far from perfect. Blackpool’s beach is the obvious horror but recently opponents have complained about Anfield, Selhurst Park and Loftus Road, while surfaces at Wigan, Bradford, Barnsley, Coventry and York have been criticised.

There are already a dozen artificial surfaces in Scotland, including Hamilton and Kilmarnock in the Premiership, and Ash is convinced it is a matter of time before they spread south of the border.

“3G has a place in Leagues One and Two. It could really benefit clubs,” he said. “I spent a lot of time lobbying [the Conference] but I think the next stage will fall into place as the advantages of 3G come to the forefront and people realise they are not minefields.” Indeed, they are the future.

Glenn Moore's five-a-sides

1. Lack of central defenders is not unique to England

It seems it is not just in England where the art of defending is in decline. A look at the centre-halves “performing” in this week’s Champions League quarter-finals suggests it is a Europe-wide issue (it is not, though, a problem if you are a spectator – or an attacker).

2. No need to pity Manchester’s stars

Shock, horror, Manchester United stars “to be forced to train at nights” as Louis van Gaal installs floodlights at Carrington. Old news for non-league and female players, who have trained at night for years, usually after doing a full day’s work.

3. SPFL was wrong to make special case for Rangers

Whatever possessed the SPFL to think it would be acceptable for Hearts v Rangers to kick off a day after the rest of the Championship programme had finished? The decision to revert to all matches being played at the same time is welcome, but it should never have been in question.

4. Help push football to share its wealth

Unhappy at football’s inability to share its wealth? Join the Football Action Network’s flashmob this lunchtime picketing the HQs of the three main political parties in an attempt to pressure them into enforcing reform. http://thefan.org.uk/

5. Khan sets the tone – why can’t footballers follow?

Amir Khan invested £700,000 of his earnings on a community facility in Bolton where kids train for £1 a session and aspiring boxers can further their education while being coached. Why can’t footballers give something back to their communities the same way?

Follow Glenn Moore on Twitter @GlennMoore7