Toronto FC skipper says poor playing surface has ‘really handcuffed’ team

“We’ve tried to continue to play and do everything we need to get the best results but that part has really handcuffed us. I think Bill and Tim (team president Bill Manning and GM Tim Bezbatchenko) have done a very good job of understanding everything that’s going on with it and now moving as quickly as possible to make sure that we fix it both in the short- and the long-term. That part’s been great and hopefully now as we move into the summer months with a new field and with a bunch of new players (returning from injury), we can start to feel like we’re getting things back to where we think they should be.”

Bradley and his teammates will only have one more game — May 25 against FC Dallas — on the existing, tired surface. A new pitch will be installed after the May 26 Toronto FC 2 game. The senior side does not play at home again until June 13 when D.C. United visits.

The groundskeepers have done all they can. But a long, severe winter and unforgiving schedule that saw Toronto begin CONCACAF Champions League play in late February have taken their toll on the pitch.

And it may have also taken a toll on the players. Poor weather in past months forced them to train indoors on artificial turf before stepping out on the soft BMO Field turf for games. They also played on a poor artificial surface in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium and on an icy field in Colorado.

Playing at altitude in Mexico and extensive travel likely also contributed to Toronto’s lengthy list of walking wounded.

Toronto put in a new grass field after BMO Field hosted the Centennial Classic outdoor hockey game in January 2017. After last December’s MLS Cup, club officials debated whether to install a new surface but elected to wait out of the concern that it might not take over the winter.

The new grass will be the fifth in eight years at BMO Field, which has undergone considerable construction to expand and improve the original venue that opened in 2007 with artificial turf.

The plan from now on is to lay a new surface at the end of every season.

Toronto is also going to have another long look at the kind of hybrid turf used by teams like the Green Bay Packers. With about five per cent of the surface synthetic, that type of surface offers more durability.

Even though BMO Field has underground heating, an inflatable cover and grow-lamps, that isn’t enough to preserve grass in the depth of a Toronto winter.

The CFL Argonauts had no complaints about the BMO Field surface last season although they have yet to play there this year.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Toronto FC skipper says poor playing surface has ‘really handcuffed’ team

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