Say the words “plastic pitch” to supporters of a certain vintage and images of wildly bouncing balls and goalkeepers wearing tracksuit bottoms to avoid carpet burns naturally come flooding back. But while the first-generation artificial surfaces used by Luton, QPR, Preston and Oldham in the 1980s have long since been consigned to history the continuing debate over the suitability of modern 3G pitches will come to the fore on Sunday.

Sutton United’s National League play-off semi-final against Boreham Wood at Gander Green Lane sees the part-timers from south London attempt to round off a remarkable season by securing promotion to the Football League for the first time in their history. The only snag is that, under EFL regulations that ban artificial pitches, Sutton would not be allowed to begin next season in League Two and would instead face demotion to National League South if they did not replace their surface.

“It’s not what we would like but that is what we will have to do. It’s as simple as that,” admits the Sutton chairman, Bruce Elliot, who estimates that a new hybrid grass pitch will cost around £300,000. “We’ve been through the wringer this season but we’ve failed dismally to convince the EFL that the question of artificial pitches should even be on their agenda.”

Clubs in the EFL were invited to submit their view on the potential use of synthetic pitches at the start of the season, with the debate set to be continued at June’s AGM. Yet calls for another ballot have so far been resisted despite a tied vote on the issue in November 2014, while the Professional Footballers’ Association is among the staunch opponents having cited concerns about costs, increased likelihood of injuries and the “more direct” style of football artificial surfaces have been accused of promoting.

Technology has moved on hugely and it’s difficult to put your finger on exactly why there is so much opposition Bruce Elliot, Sutton United chairman

“If you talk to chairmen in the EFL, then they don’t seem very keen,” says Elliot. “But when you actually ask them about why they object to it, they say: ‘Well of course we do train on it.’ So if it’s good enough for training, so much for injuries to the players. That argument goes soaring out of the window. There’s definitely people who still remember the old bouncy pitches. But people aren’t using the same computers they were using 30 years ago, so why would you think that what happened at Luton and QPR is anything like what is happening now? Technology has moved on hugely and it’s difficult to put your finger on exactly why there is so much opposition.”

Sutton paid £500,000 to lay their pitch in 2015 and have enjoyed a meteoric rise since. Promoted from National League South in the first season, they secured a mid-table finish in the National League as well as making it to the fifth round of the FA Cup last season. Sutton’s players remain part-time, with much of the club’s income generated by renting out their facilities to the public during the week.

“It still looks as good as the day it was laid,” says Elliot, who estimates that the pitch could last for another eight years. “I’ve not heard the one about high costs before. But if that is one of the objections, then it makes the whole process even more ludicrous. Nobody is forcing anyone to have a 3G pitch. All we’re asking for is that clubs in League One and League Two have the opportunity to put one down. There is an investment and we had to borrow money to do it but the financial model that’s around it is unbelievable. It’s used seven days a week, all day every day.”

Sutton’s Craig Eastmond tussles with Granit Xhaka of Arsenal during the sides’ FA Cup fifth round match at Gander Green Lane in 2017. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

The Football Association’s chairman, Greg Clarke, guaranteed last week that all proceeds of the pending £600m sale of Wembley to Shahid Khan will be used to fund grassroots football, mentioning that “one in seven games was lost to the weather during the winter months and only one in three pitches in England was considered adequate to play on”. The FA Cup has permitted the use of artificial pitches since 2015 and a study last year found they provided “durable, safe, year-round playing surfaces, able to withstand intensive use and all kinds of weather”.

“There’s a huge lack of facilities across the country,” says Elliot, “and that’s why the FA is so keen to push more because it guarantees that [people] don’t have to look at the weather forecast or ring up to see if the game is on. The days of pitch inspections are gone or at least they should be.”

Sutton’s chances of reaching Wembley for a fourth time (and first since they were beaten in the final of the 1980-81 FA Trophy final) rest on Sunday’s meeting with Boreham Wood, who are also part-timers and defeated Fylde on Thursday night. The new National League play-off system ensures the teams that finished second and third host semi-finals at home, with Tranmere set to face Ebbsfleet, who finished sixth, after their shootout victory over fifth-placed Aldershot.

“We’ve tried to think of it as a win-win,” Elliot says. “We’ve had a brilliant season just to get to the play-offs as a part-time club. If we get promotion of course we’re going to take it and lay a new grass pitch. If we don’t, it’s not a problem is it? We’d have another go next year.”