Do Turf Fields Raise Health Risks?

Over the last few years, there has been growing traction that all turf football fields are not as safe to the players as the all grass fields. Last week that argument was brought up again as Chargers running back Najee Harris will be out for the season after tearing his achilles on the turf field in Sofi Stadium. UW Whitewater has been playing on a turf field at home since 2008 when it was installed in Perkins Stadium. Whitewater Junior defensive back Devin Magli said he actually prefers playing on turf opposed to grass when asked about the two. But he also cited that many grass fields he plays on are not up to the standard of an NFL field or even higher up in college divisions. Magli has also been playing on turf fields for the majority of his life. Coming from Deforest which had turf his whole high school career. That brings up another talking point for local fields. In Wisconsin, many high schools have shifted to turf fields with a main reason being they are easier to maintain than grass fields. Waunakee (who had turf fields installed in 2018) football head coach Chris Graverson said “A perfect grass field will always be preferred. But that’s hard to make a reality for a lot of these high schools.” He also later noted that unless there’s a scientific breakthrough proving turf fields are significantly less safe, their popularity is only going to rise. So the question becomes is it worth paying a lot of attention to this argument? I would say its definitely worth keeping an eye on the media to see if this continues to gain traction as a more prominent idea of suggesting turf fields be banned. But until then, for the foreseeable future turf fields are here to stay.