How have soccer pitches improved over the years?

Soccer 101

TSS

Sports, Soccer

4.9 • 822 Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we revisit a topic that we've only touched on briefly in the past: soccer pitches. We get into dimensions and the like, but (inspired by this article from The Athletic), we spend much more time discussing the history of soccer pitches and how their construction and maintenance has evolved over time. From livestock grazing to keep grass length down to moisture meters telling robots when it's time for a watering, we've come a long way! WE HAVE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL! ⁠We're posting all our episodes here⁠! Smash the like and subscribe etc.! JOIN THE TSS+ PATREON! Check out our Patreon, which houses bonus podcasts, access to our exclusive Discord, blog posts, videos, and much more. ⁠Become a member today at patreon.com/totalsoccershow⁠!

Transcript

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0:00.0	This athletic podcast is brought to you by FedEx. FedEx is an official sponsor of the Champions
0:05.9	League. As a trusted global logistics service provider for businesses around the world,
0:10.5	FedEx are looking to shine a light on the innovative, small and medium-sized businesses working
0:14.9	in the football industry that have shaped the game today and are contributing to a thriving future.
0:19.6	We call these the FedEx Champions of Business.
0:22.2	These businesses have grown themselves whilst also building a foundation for success for
0:26.2	today's clubs and star players, whether that be at grassroots level, through performance
0:30.2	and analytics or the development of the fan experience to name just a few.
0:34.3	Go to FedEx.com slash champions to find inspiring stories from businesses in football.
0:39.2	That's FedEx.com slash champions. Welcome everybody to Soccer 101.
1:01.6	Thank you, as always, for joining us.
1:03.6	My name is Taylor Rockwell, and this week we're talking about a topic that mirrors the history of soccer itself, its football pitches.
1:10.4	The evolution of soccer pitches reflects the game's journey from casual pastime to global professional sport.
1:16.5	What began as simple fields of varying quality, but usually poor quality, transformed into engineering systems designed to optimize player safety, ball movement, consistent playability throughout the year,
1:31.3	utilizing some crazy technology that I did not know existed.
1:36.5	Graham Ruffin, was there any particular bit of technology you learned about in preparing for this show that you either didn't know about or became fascinated by, or maybe slightly intimidated by, as was the case for me?
1:43.1	Hello, Taylor Rockwell. I think the light, the heat lamps, which I have seen in stadiums previously,
1:48.7	they always appeal to me as a Scot.
1:50.9	I just think, like, I just get underneath them, get a nice summer glow.
1:56.0	They always appeal to me.
1:57.3	And they're always huge as well.
1:58.8	Like, they must be so expensive.
	...

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