ABSTRACT
Today, artificial turf is becoming more and more used for soccer, especially with the development of the so-called ‘third generation’ turf, which consists of a sand and rubber-infilled structure. The most inherent problem of artificial turf is injury due to sliding. A statistical survey by ISA Sport (Joosten, 2003) has revealed that 62 per cent of the football players considered that artificial turf is unsuitable for making sliding tackles and that there is a need for the development of a method of measurement in order to define a sliding tackle. The existing testing devices for sliding, used by FIFA and UEFA (Boisnard, 1999; FIFA, 2006), focus on the coefficient of friction (COF) between a silicon artificial skin and the turf, as well as the abrasion caused to the skin. However, a crucial variable in the process of skin burning, the temperature, cannot be measured. The aim of this study was therefore to develop a new test device that can assess how well different types of turf are fit for sliding on them. This sliding tester, consisting of a ramp and a sledge with an artificial skin, provides a very realistic approximation of sliding in soccer, considering realistic values for player speed and mass which can be varied. The increased temperature during sliding as well as the friction is measured, in order to assess the risk of burn wounds.
