Artificial outdoor sports surfaces can be used to play a variety of sports, including football, hockey, tennis, netball, basketball, athletics, and many more. Made from synthetic materials like polyethylene or polypropylene, these man-made sports surfaces are easy to maintain and can be used all year round unlike natural grass sports surfaces.

Artificial outdoor sports surfaces at many sports facilities are commonly used as Multi Use Games Areas where a variety of sports are played- all on the same surface. However, as different sports have different requirements, the artificial sports surfaces can be so designed as to exhibit different playing characteristics. Let us examine some of the unique characteristics of different synthetic sports pitches:

In-filled artificial turf made of polypropylene: This is the most common type of synthetic, man-made sports surface. The technology used in developing such a sports surface has been approved by FIFA. In this case, polypropylene 'grass' fibres about 5 cm long are lubricated with silicon and tufted into a primary cloth. The back of the cloth is then given a latex coating. The whole thing is then in-filled with about 4 cm layer of sand or rubber granules to keep the fibres upright. Such a surface is widely used for playing football.

In-filled artificial turf made of polyethylene: This in-filled artificial turf is made of a foamy material called polyethylene. In this case, the pitch has a base of expanded polyethylene which acts as an effective shock absorber. The lubricated polyethylene grass fibres are shorter and more densely packed than polypropylene fibres. These synthetic fibres are also interspersed with short, curly, spring like fibres that keep the pile upright. In addition, the turf also gets an 8mm filling of rubber granules.

Sand-dressed artificial turf: This variant in artificial outdoor sports surfaces is lightly in-filled with sand. The pile of the artificial carpet is filled with fine sand only up to 5-8 mm from the tip of the fibres. For this reason sand cannot be seen in this type of artificial turf.

Unfilled artificial turf: Some outdoor sports surfaces feature unfilled pile. As a result, such pitches offer greater protection to the players by reducing the abrasive effect caused by sand infill. However, these pitches are required to be sprayed with water frequently, sometimes even prolonged showering is required prior to their use and also during intervals in the game. These water-based artificial sports surfaces are used as elite level field hockey pitches.

In-filled artificial sports surfaces can cater to a wide range of sports. This is possible by varying the length and the density of the synthetic grass fibres, which helps in changing the playing characteristics altogether. For instance, synthetic athletic surfaces are made to tolerate the use of spikes, besides offering protection to players from falls and injuries.