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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Plastic pitch ban to be introduced in Scottish Premiership

Artificial pitches will be banned from the Scottish Premiership, it has been confirmed.

The SPFL has announced that top-flight clubs have voted in favour of phasing out the use of plastic surfaces.

Clubs in the Premiership brought forward a resolution seeking to outlaw the pitches in Scotland's top division.

This has now passed, with nine out of the 12 clubs required to be on board with the move.

Clubs will now have a two-year period to allow for them to plan their future without plastic, and revert back to grass surfaces.

Kilmarnock is currently the only team in the Premiership with a plastic pitch at Rugby Park.

However, the Ayrshire club had already announced their intentions to dig up their current surface and replace it with grass for the 2025/26 season - a year ahead of this recommendation. 

This plan is aligned with the new training centre being built on the edge of the town though, so this must be complete in time for grass to return to Killie in line with this proposed schedule. 

Livingston and Hamilton Accies have both been in the Premiership in recent years with artificial surfaces similar to Killie's.

A Killie spokesperson said: "We have been working towards a return to grass in line with plans for the development of a new training ground being built for the club, more details on these plans will be revealed in due course."

The SPFL board recently approved plans for a Premiership-wide project to work with a leading pitch consultancy firm, which is regularly used by UEFA, to improve the standards of grass pitches in the cinch Premiership.

The SPFL will be engaging with Premiership clubs on this project ahead of the new season.

Dundee came under fire from a variety of stakeholders in Scottish football for the state of their grass pitch in the spring.

The surface at Dens Park struggled with drainage and heavy rainfall at various points throughout the year saw five games called off in the City of Discovery.

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